Writing, referencing others, any tips much appreciated.

EDIT -

I should add that I'm using the Harvard referencing standard.

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How do, I've been writing again recently as I'm back in education but I'm a bit unsure about how I should be writing and some aspects of the referencing.

What I'm not too confident with is the "academic style"; how I should express and present points and arguments around this. As I understand I can't actually have an opinion, rather everything has to be validated by a reference. But in doing this I would end up with every sentence being referenced, and potentially large slabs of quotations. I'm not to bad at formulating an opinion and expressing myself, but I'm quite unfamiliar with the process of doing so in an academic sense.

With the referencing I understand that some sources are a no-no (wiki etc) but what about something that's been edited rather than written? I was looking at something earlier that was 'Editied by John Doe' rather than written by him. I think it was a collection of industry professionals approaches to the subject or something of the sort (it was on databases)

Any pointers very welcome, sorry if this is in the wrong section I was unsure where to post

Thanks!

I do know for Law, you have a particular set of rules called OSCOLA (you should be able to download a quick reference guide somewhere). That tells you the basic way of citing a source. What I'm saying now is what I learnt in Law school, remember that.

most teachers tell you to be humble when discussing something. You're not deemed to be knowledgeable enough to talk authoritatively on a subject. That being said, you don't (and shouldn't) have to reference each and every line.

Quotations aren't generally the best thing. They're not outright wrong to use, but keep their use very limited. You shouldn't be relying on them a lot/entirely.

You can have an opinion, but it must be backed up with a reference. You read around a subject and decide which people you agree with and use the evidence to say why. It's true that most work in a paragraph will be referenced apart from the first sentence and the last one or two. Edited books are fine but you need to name the person who actually wrote the bit you are referring in text and not the guy who edited it. Then in the bibliography you name both people.

Cheers RKXY, sos for the latent reply. We're using the Harvard referencing, I should have included that in the OP (though I'm sure there are many similarities)



Absolutely, I would never put something forward as a fact really, but sometimes when you've attended a class and (supposedly!) learnt it there's an inclination to just write it. I often find that I'm writing something then having to find something to back it up, even though it's just saying the same thing that I wrote. I guess this is just part of it though


No, they feel a bit ugly to be honest.

But one thing I get confused about sometimes is the paraphrasing of something, at what point the information becomes abstracted enough for me to express it with any reference etc.

Thanks!




Cheers Jelly - I might use an example here to see If I'm understanding

Here's a source -



Here's an excerpt of what I have written that refers to this writing :




So in this example it was something that I already knew, but as my sentence was going to be something along the lines of



I thought that this sentence might be me presenting something as a fact, and that as a result I should provide a reference for it.

Would be great to get an opinion on this example.

Thanks!

Well, what I've done is read multiple books and online sources on the subject, put it into my own words (whilst still writing academically), and then added the reference at the end of a paragraph usually. If I'm taking a quote/using a combination of references, then I obviously add the references somewhere in the middle of the paragraph also. I've cited the same source multiple times... but my last three (2500-2750ish word) assignments had about 10-15 different references at the end.

Thanks Jelly, If I may ask something else (not sure if these should be separate posts; they seem fairly trivial)

What's the verdict on citing the same source multiple times? I'm not sure how this is looked at, as if there is a decent text on the subject it may contain lots of information relevant to the essay. I've heard that it's frowned on though, so perhaps there's a rule of thumb here.

cheers

Cheers Kathy - I don't think that approach would be acceptable for our work, we're expected to give in text citations , which I guess yours is, but as far as I can see they are expected to be placed immediately after the related material (at the end of the sentence)

What referencing standard are you working to?

Thanks

All Access courses use Harvard referencing afaik. I'm not sure if you misinterpreted what I said...? I obviously place the reference immediately after a quote.

Unless I'm stating something specific (e.g. King (2005) believed that...) then I generally just add the reference(s) I used for a paragraph at the end of it. I add them immediately after each relevant sentence throughout a paragraph if I have used a boatload of references for a particular part of my assignment.