FINAL PROJECT (CE3216) Referencing, Plagiarism and Reading Skills SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Dr. DEEPAK T. J

FINAL PROJECTFINAL PROJECT(CE3216)(CE3216)

Referencing, Plagiarism and Reading Skills

SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERINGSCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Dr. DEEPAK T. J.Dr. DEEPAK T. J.

Reading Academic Reports and Reading Academic Reports and PapersPapers

• It is an important skill for an engineer to be able to read technical reports and papers quickly and efficiently

• In order to do this, you need to know what you are looking for and how to find it

• You need to be able to focus on important issues quickly and assess whether you need to study the document in more detail and, if so, which parts of the document are most relevant

• “What sources are available?”

Reading SkillsReading Skills

• The more you read, the easier it gets• Most reports, papers or articles are written to a fairly

standard format. If you are familiar with this, it helps you to obtain information more efficiently

• For example, newspaper articles are written “to be cut from the end”

• In order to practice, try reading a newspaper. How much of each article do you find that you will need to read in order to understand the main points?

Format of Academic PapersFormat of Academic Papers

Majority of academic papers will follow a similar format and four elements should be present:

a) The Abstract

b) The Data

c) The Analysis and Findings

d) The Conclusions

If you read documents by trying to identify these and make notes on each, it should help you to work efficiently

The AbstractThe Abstract

• The Abstract says what the paper is about and summarises its contents

• Read this first !!! Depending on what it says, you may not need to read anything else

The DataThe Data

• All papers and reports should contain data. These are the basic facts that the author has found out.

• Data is of limited use unless they are analysed• Data are analysed in order to identify trends,

usually so that these can be used to make predictions

• If you find a paper that is relevant to your research, the data may give an indication of the kind of things that you might aim to find out

The DataThe Data

• It may also be relevant to re-analyse someone else’s data if you think you can find out something that they have missed

• If you do this, you MUST provide a reference of where you obtained the data from

The AnalysisThe Analysis

• The analysis that is carried out to make sense of the data will usually be the most important part and will make up the bulk of any report

• The results of the analysis are usually presented in graphs or tables. This is so that the findings can be most easily understood

The ConclusionsThe Conclusions

• The conclusions are provided to summarise the findings, particularly in relation to the analysis that has been carried out

• There will usually only be a limited number of conclusions and they can often be expressed as “bullet points”

Making Notes…Making Notes…

Whenever you read a report, article or paper it is good practice to make notes. This will remind you of what you have read and if you make your own notes it also helps you to avoid plagiarism. Your notes should include:

a) The Authors’ names and where you found the paper

b) A brief summary of the Abstract and an indication of how useful the paper may be

c) A comment on the data that the article includes and whether it is relevant or useful for your project

d) A summary of the conclusions – do these correspond with what you expect or do they contradict this?

What is Plagiarism?What is Plagiarism?

“The taking and using of another person’s thoughts, writings or inventions as ones own. From the Latin word plagiarius (kidnapper)”

(The Concise Oxford Dictionary)

“Plagiarism is taken very seriously at UEL. If even a small section of your work is found to have been

plagiarised it is likely that you will fail that assignment and possibly the whole module. In

more serious cases, you can be expelled from the university”

(LLS Web Homepages)

The University's regulations define plagiarism as:

"...the inclusion, in work submitted for assessment, of significant passages taken from the work (whether

published or otherwise) of others (including other students), without acknowledgement or reference"

(UEL Manual of General Principles and Regulations, 1993, section D.5.7.1.2).

Collusion

Another Serious Crime• It is a form of plagiarism where two (or more) people

work on a single piece of work together• It is generally noticeable when identical passages of

text occur in separate reports and/or when only 2 people out of a class of 100 make exactly the same error

• Although there is a lot of group work and it is perfectly acceptable to work together and draw on each other’s ideas, where the final report is set as an individual task, you MUST produce it on your own

UEL Assessment Offence PenaltiesUEL Assessment Offence Penalties

Level A Offence

Minor, inadvertent plagiarism or collusion admitted without school hearing

Penalty: Failure of Assignment, + repeat with attendance, + loss of opportunity + module capped…


Level B Offence

Large scale, deliberate OR importation into an exam room

Penalty: Failure of Assignment, + repeat at next opportunity, + module capped...


Level C Offence

Repeat or serial offender

Penalty: Failure of Module, + Suspension for 1 or 2 semesters or Exclusion

Plagiarism Plagiarism (a more detailed definition)(a more detailed definition)

According to Cottrell (2003), plagiarism is:

“…using the work of others without acknowledging your source of information or inspiration.

This includes:– Using words more or less exactly as they have been

used in articles, lectures, television programmes, books or anywhere else

– Using other people’s ideas or theories without saying whose ideas they are

– Paraphrasing what you read or hear without stating where it comes from

Plagiarism Plagiarism (a more detailed definition)(a more detailed definition)

Even if you change words or sentences you have ‘borrowed’ or put them in a different order, the result is still plagiarism.”

What is Acceptable & What is Acceptable & What is Unacceptable?What is Unacceptable?

• Any work (including any images) that is directly taken from any text book or reference (and this includes items such as computer code or programmes) MUST be clearly identified as such and MUST reference that work

• Where up to approximately two lines or so are quoted, these might be included in the body of your text, but should be enclosed in quotation marks (“ …. ”) and properly referenced


UEL Staff Guidelines suggest that:

a)1 – 2 sentences or a single phrase, diagram or figure that should have been attributed to an author:

Would not normally be sufficient to trigger the accusation of a suspected Assessment Offence,

particularly if the required reference is cited nearby. This would usually be dealt with by bringing the

issue to the student’s attention with a warning of a risk of plagiarism


UEL Staff Guidelines suggest that:

b)More than 2 sentences, or multiple phrases, diagrams or figures without an appropriate reference:

Would normally be referred for action as a suspected Assessment Offence

Avoiding PlagiarismAvoiding Plagiarism

• “You need to: translate any ideas you wish to use into your own words and add you own thoughts and analysis (“commentary”) about what you have included.”

• “In other words, it is acceptable to use other people’s ideas in your work but it is essential that you build on these ideas (adding your thoughts) and in so doing create your own, original work.”

(LLS Web Homepages)


Cottrell (2003) provides useful tips on avoiding plagiarism. These include:

a) Always write student notes in your own words and record exactly where the information came from

b) Avoid copying, but if you need to copy information to use as a direct quote, write it in a different colour

c) Keep direct quotes brief, use sparingly, and always use “quotation marks”

d) Always create a full list of references in work submitted for assessment (including all website material)


Cottrell acknowledges that some people have a habit of copying and in this case suggests that the following procedure is adopted:

a) Put your pen out of reach

b) Read a passage without taking any notes

c) Stop reading and cover up the page

d) Sum up what you have read. If possible, talk aloud, or tape-record yourself, so you hear your own words and in your own voice.

e) Once you can say what the passage is about, note it down in your own words.

A Word of WarningA Word of Warning

• All staff at UEL have access to plagiarism detection software

• If you do just copy text word for word from a web site, should the tutor marking the work chose to put the text in question into a search engine, they will be taken directly to the offending site

• Experienced markers can usually detect plagiarism – it is noticeable if there is an abrupt change in style in the middle of a report (It is also possible to obtain “readability” statistics on Word – the Flesch and Flesch-Kincaid parameters)

• If you can find sites such as www.custom-essay.net, UEL staff can too……

http://www.custom-essay.net/

ReferencingReferencing

• It is vital when you refer to published sources or rely on these in developing an argument that you reference these correctly

Note: any design calculations you carry out as a practising engineer will also need to be checked by another engineer and it is vital that they are proper references are provided in these


• The main purposes of referencing material in your work are so that:

a) The author(s) of the item being referenced is properly credited for the work that s/he has done

b) Other researchers can follow the basis of any arguments you are making and, if necessary, check the original articles on which your opinion is based


In providing a reference, the minimum information that generally needs to be provided is as follows:

a) Name of the author or editor

b) Year of Publication

c) Title of the article (or book)

d) The edition number, if it’s a book and not the first edition

e) Place of Publication

f) Publisher

Further details would usually then be provided regarding the specific page or chapter number relevant to the particular quote

Providing References – Allowable Providing References – Allowable SystemsSystems

• There are a number of different systems for referencing

• In general, the main concern is that you choose one system of referencing and are consistent in its use

• Most schools in UEL, including SCoT, adopt the Harvard Scheme and this is the system you MUST use in your research project

Providing References – Allowable Providing References – Allowable SystemsSystems

Full details of the Harvard Scheme may be found on the Library and Learning Services website, accessed via:

http://www.uel.ac.uk/lls/support/harvard.htm

CITING REFERENCES IN TEXT CITING REFERENCES IN TEXT

1. Author’s name cited in the text:When making reference to an author’s work in your text,

their name is followed by the year of publication of their work, and page reference, in brackets (parentheses) and forms part of the sentence.

i. Cormack (1994, pp.32-33) states that 'when writing for a professional readership, writers invariably make reference to already published works'.

ii. In general, when writing for a professional publication, it is good practice to make reference to other relevant published work. This view has been supported in the work of Cormack (1994, pp.32-33).


2. Author’s name not cited directly in the text :If you make reference to a work or piece of research

without mentioning the author in the text then both the author’s name and publication year are placed at the relevant point in the sentence or at the end of the sentence in brackets:

i. Making reference to published work appears to be characteristic of writing for a professional audience (Cormack, 1994).


3. More than one author cited in the text :Where reference is made to more than one author in a

sentence, and they are referred to directly, they are both cited:

i. Jones (1946) and Smith (1948) have both shown……


4. More than one author not cited directly in the text :

List these at the relevant point in the sentence or at the end of the sentence, putting the author’s name, followed by the date of publication and separated by a semi-colon and within brackets:

i. Further research in the late forties (Jones, 1946; Smith, 1948) lead to major developments………….


5. Two authors for the same work When there are two authors for a work they should both be

noted in the text:

i. White and Brown (1964) in their recent research paper found……..

ii. …..with regard to PREP and the role of libraries, Crane and Jason (1994) suggest…

or indirectly, using an ampersand (&) :

iii. During the mid nineties research undertaken in Luton (Slater & Jones, 1996) showed that…………….

iv. Earlier research (White & Brown, 1966) demonstrated that the presence of certain chemicals would lead to………


6. More than two authors for a work Where there are several authors (more than two), only the

first author should be used, followed by ‘et al.’ meaning ‘and others’:

i. Green, et al. (1995) found that the majority ……

or indirectly:

ii. Recent research has found that the majority of……(Green, et al., 1995)


7. No date The abbreviation n.d. is used to denote this:

i. Smith (n.d.) has written and demonstrated……

or indirectly:

ii. Earlier research (Smith, n.d.) demonstrated that…..

Every effort should be made to establish the year of publication if you intend to use this work as supporting evidence in an academic submission.


8. Several works by one author in different years

If more than one publication from an author illustrates the same point and the works are published in different years, then the references should be cited in chronological order (i.e. earliest first):

i. ……as suggested by Bloggs (1992, 1994)

or indirectly:

ii. Recent research has found that ……(Loh 2007, 2008)


9. Several works by one author in the same year

If you are quoting several works published by the same author in the same year, they should be differentiated by adding a lower case letter after the year for each item: earliest first):

i. Earlier research by Loh (2008a) found that………but later research suggested again byLoh (2008b) that…….


9. Several works by one author in the same year

If several works published in the same year are referred to on a single occasion – or an author has made the same point in several publications they can all be referred to by using lower case letters (as above):

ii. Smith (2003a, b) has stated on more than one occasion that……


10.Quoting portions of published text If you want to include text from a published work in your

essay then the sentence(s) must be included within quotation marks, and may be introduced by such phrases as:

i. the author states that ‘……..’ or …the author writes that ‘……..’


10.Quoting portions of published text In order for a reader to trace the quoted section it is good

practice to give the number of the page where the quotation was found. The quotation should also be emphasized (especially if it runs to several lines) by indenting it and using quotation marks. This clearly identifies it as the work of someone else:

ii. On the topic of professional writing and referencing Cormack (1994, p.32) states:

'When writing for a professional readership, writers invariably make reference to already published works'.


11.Secondary sources (second-hand references) While you are consulting an original work, you may come across

a summary of another author’s work, which you would like to make reference to in your own document. This is called secondary referencing:

A direct reference:

i. Research recently carried out by Brown (1966 cited in Bassett, 1986, p.142) found that……..

Indirect reference:

i. (Brown, 1966 cited in Bassett, 1986, p.142)

In this example, Brown is the work, which you wish to refer to, but have not read directly for yourself. Bassett is the secondary source, where you found the summary of Brown’s work….


11.Secondary sources (second-hand references)

In the example below White is the primary or original source and Black is the secondary source. It is important to realise that Black may have taken White's ideas forward, and altered their original meaning. It is recommended that where possible, you read the original source for yourself rather than rely on someone else’s interpretation of a work.

i. White, (1990) as cited in Black (1994), suggests that…

The reference list at the end of your document should only contain works that you have read.


12.Tables and Diagrams When reproducing selected data from a diagram or table, or

copying the entire table or diagram, a reference must be made to the source.

A reference within the text to a table taken from eg. a book, should include the author and page (Smith, 2005, p.33) to enable the reader to identify the data.

If the source of the data is not the author’s own, but obtained from another source, it becomes a secondary reference and needs to be cited as such:

i. (United Nations, 1975 cited in Smith, 2005, p.33)


12.Tables and Diagrams If the table is reproduced in its entirety, place the citation as

a footnote. Be particularly careful to note the original source of data, as well as the authorship of the document. Full details should be included in the reference list.

In the following example, a table is reproduced from page 267, of a book written by Robert Amazon which is the 4th edition and published by FT Prentice Hall of Harlow, England in 2005. The title of the book is Management in the media: decision makers.


12.Tables and Diagrams i. If you wish to reproduce the table in your own work –

replicate the table and add a Footnote – at the bottom of the page in your own work acknowledging the source of the reproduced table.

*National Statistics Office 1985 cited in Amazon, 2005, p.267


12.Tables and Diagrams ii. If you wish to quote from a table in the above book in your essay:

…..historical figures demonstrate that only sixty percent of households had televisions in Britain by the 1970s (National Statistics Office 1985 cited in Amazon, 2005, p. 267).

iii. If you wish to reference the book in the reference list or bibliography:

Amazon, R., 2005. Management in the media: decision makers. 4th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.

*National Statistics Office 1985 cited in Amazon, 2005, p.267

COMPILING THE REFERENCE LIST COMPILING THE REFERENCE LIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHYAND BIBLIOGRAPHY

• The purpose of a reference list is to enable sources to be easily traced by another reader. Different types of publication require different amounts of information but there are certain common elements such as authorship, year of publication and title.

• All Items should be listed alphabetically by author or authorship, regardless of the format, ie. whether books, websites or journal articles etc. Where there are several works from one author or source they should by listed together but in date order with the earliest work listed first.


1) BooksUse the title page, not the book cover, for the reference

details. The required elements for a book reference are:

Author, Initials/First name., Year. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Redman, P., 2006. Good essay writing: a social sciences guide. 3rd ed. London: Open University in assoc. with Sage.

Baron, David P., 2008. Business and the organisation. 6th ed. Chester (CT): Pearson.

Please note:

Author: Surname with capital first letter and followed by a comma.

Initials: In capitals with full-stop after each and comma after full-stop of last initial.

Year: Publication year (not printing or impression) followed by full-stop.

Title: Full title of book/thesis/dissertation in italics with capitalization of first word and proper nouns only. Followed by full-stop unless there is a sub-title.

Sub-title: Follows a colon at end of full title, no capitalization unless proper nouns. Follow by full-stop.

Edition: Only include this if not first edition and use number followed by abbreviation ed. Followed by full-stop.

Please note:

Place of publication: Town or city, follow by colon. If there may be confusion with UK place names, for USA towns include the State in abbreviated form, eg. Chester(CT).

Publisher: Company name followed by full-stop.


2) E-booksFor e-books the required elements for a reference are:

Author, Year, Title of book. [type of medium] Place of publication: Publisher.

Followed by “Available at:” include e-book source and web site address/URL(Uniform Resource Locator) and routing details if needed.

[Accessed date].

Fishman, R., 2005. The rise and fall of suburbia. [e-book] Chester: Castle Press.

Available at: University Library/Digital Library/e-books http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk / E-books

[Accessed 5 June 2005].


3) Journal articles For journal articles the required elements for a references

are:

Author, Initials., Year. Title of article. Full Title of Journal, Volume number (Issue/Part number), Page numbers.

Boughton, J.M., 2002. The Bretton Woods proposal: an in depth look. Political Science Quarterly, 42 (6), pp.564-78.

Please note:

Author: Surname with capital first letter and followed by comma.

Initials: In capitals with full-stop after each and comma after full-stop of last initial.

Year: Publication year followed by full-stop.

Title: Full title of article NOT in italics with capitalization of first word and proper nouns only. Followed by full-stop unless there is a sub-title.

Sub-title: Follows a colon at end of full title, NO capitalization unless proper nouns. Followed by full-stop.

Journal title: Full title of journal, in italics, with capitalization of key words. Followed by comma.

Please note:

Volume number:

Issue/Part number: In brackets, followed by comma.

Page numbers: Preceded by pp. for a range of pages and p. for a single page. Followed by full-stop.


3) Online newspaper articlesFor newspaper articles found in online newspapers, the required

elements for a reference are:

Author or corporate author, Year. Title of document or page. Name of newspaper, [type of medium] additional date information.

Available at: include web site address/URL(Uniform Resource Locator) and additional details of access, such as the routing from the home page of the source.[Accessed date].

Smith, D., 2003. We did it again. Times Online, [internet] 1 June.

Available at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/173/.html

[Accessed 17 March 2005].


4) British Standard and International Standards

The required elements for a reference are:

Corporate author, Year. Identifying letters and numbers and full title of BS, Place of publication: Publisher.

British Standards Institution, 1990. BS 5555:1990 Recommendations for wiring identification. Milton Keynes: BSI.


5) Conference paperThe required elements for a reference are:

Authorship, Year. Full title of conference paper. In: followed by Editor or name of organisation, Full title of conference. Location, Date, Publisher: Place of publication.

Brown, J., 2005. Evaluating surveys of transparent governance. In: UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), 6th Global forum on reinventing government: towards participatory and transparent governance. Seoul, Republic of Korea 24-27 May 2005. United Nations: New York.


6) DissertationThe required elements for a reference are:

Author, Year of publication. Title of dissertation. Level. Place of University (If not clear from the name of the University): Name of University.

Richmond, J., 2005. Customer expectations in the world of electronic banking: a case study of the Bank of Britain. Ph. D. Chelmsford: Anglia Ruskin University.


7) Pictures, Images and PhotographsThe suggested elements for a reference are:

Artist/Photographers name, Year of production. Title of image. [Medium] (Collection details).

Beaton, C., 1956. Marilyn Monroe. [Photograph] (Marilyn Monroe’s own private collection).


8) WebsitesFor websites found on the world wide web the required elements for

a reference are:

Authorship or Source, Year. Title of web document or web page. [Medium] (date of update)

Available at: include web site address/URL(Uniform Resource Locator) and additional details such as access or routing from the home page of the source.

[Accessed date]. National electronic Library for Health, 2003. Can walking make you slimmer and

healthier? (Hitting the headlines article) [Online] (Updated 16 Jan 2005)

Available at: http://www.nhs.uk.hth.walking

[Accessed 10 April 2005].

Documents

FINAL PROJECT (CE3216) Referencing, Plagiarism and Reading Skills SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Dr. DEEPAK T. J