All entries for Friday 19 June 2009

June 19, 2009

A "web of insecurity": research on student attitudes towards referencing – Colin Neville

Follow-up to Student attitudes to plagiarism, focus groups from Inspires Learning - Robert O'Toole

I've just come across a really useful report by Colin Neville1 (University of Bradford, LearnHigher Project/Learner Development Unit) summarizing his research into student attitudes towards referencing and plagiarism. Colin is also the author of The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism, Open University Press, 2007.

His research is comprehensive and qualitatively rich. His findings are entirely consistent with our much smaller study. There is in particular much of interest about the "web of insecurity" (as he has termed it) concerning referencing and plagiarism. His findings back up what we have heard about these problems getting in the way of academic writing and of students enjoying their studies:

My university stresses the point that they take plagiarism extremely seriously. Most of the students therefore tend to be scared that they will plagiarise by accident, and as result they over-reference their work to be on the safe side.  This is a shame since it interrupts the flow of many essays.  It also makes the essay look like a gathering of people’s ideas with a lack of one’s own thoughts since the references seem overwhelming (Undergraduate: European Studies). p.15

The need to reference every proposition or idea diminishes the opportunity to develop my own ideas for fear of not having properly referenced all knowledge in the assignment (Postgraduate: European and International Business Law). p.17

Colin lists ten key issues, drawn from the more open part of the survey:

  1. Time management issues.
  2. Concerns about plagiarism.
  3. Too many referencing styles; having to manage more than one referencing style (joint honours undergrads especially).
  4. Critical of the detail (and pedantic formatting) needed in a reference.
  5. Difficulties with integrating own views ad knowledge into assignments.
  6. Inconsistent advice, marking and feedback from tutors.
  7. Difficulties with referencing particular sources.
  8. Not sure when to reference, and when it is not necessary.
  9. See a need for improved teaching and referencing.
  10. Inconsistencies/differences between referencing guides.

The Learn Higher and Write Now CETLs are doing some good work. I shall have a deeper look at what they are doing.

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1. Referencing Research Report, Colin Neville, http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/Referencing/View-category.htm [Accessed 19th June 2009]



Robert O'Toole : 19 Jun 2009 11:52 |  Tags:      |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem