STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
104
10.5
STUDY SKILLS
WRITING A BIBLIOGRAPHY, REFERENCING
1
Why do you need to provide references when
writing academic essays or articles?
2
Work with a partner. Discuss whether you
think each statement is correct or incorrect.
1
Facts which are common knowledge do not
need to be referenced.
2
An idea of your own based on reading
different sources must be referenced.
3
Primary data, for example, information
gathered from interviews or questionnaires,
does not have to be referenced.
4
Written work looks more professional if you
provide references.
5
Ideas which have been very loosely
paraphrased need no reference.
6
References enable readers to know which
are your ideas and which come from other
sources.
7
Ideas that have been adapted do not need a
reference to the original author.
8
Readers are more likely to accept your ideas if
you reference the source.
9
A graph or chart taken from an internet source
does not need a reference.
10
Quotations from a book or journal must have
quotation marks and references.
3
Read about the Harvard System of
Referencing, and look at the extracts from a
bibliography below. Find the four entries which
are incorrect, and give your reasons.
1
Adler, A. (1964)
Problems of Neurosis
, New
York: Harper and Row.
2
Belmont, M. & Marolla, F. A. (1973) Birth
order, family size, and intelligence,
Science
,
vol. 182, pp. 1096–1101.
3
Zajonc, R. B. & Mullally, P. R. 1997 Birth
order: Reconciling conflicting effects,
American
Psychologist
, vol. 52(7), pp. 685–699.
4
Zajonc, R. B. (2001) Birth order debate
resolved?, American Psychologist, vol. 56(6–
7), pp. 522–523.
5
Harris, J. R. (2006)
No Two Alike: Human
Nature and Human Individuality
, New York:
W.W. Norton.
6
Leman, K. (1985) The Birth Order Book: Why
You Are the Way You Are, [Online], Available
at:
, [14 April 2008].
7
Michalski, R. L. & Shackelford, T.K. (2002)
Personality and Individual Differences, [Online],
Available at:
.
8
Eysenck, M. & Keane, M. (2010). 6th edition,
Cognitive Psychology,
Psychology Press.
9
Prinz, J. (2012)
Beyond Human Nature: How
Culture and Experience Shape our Lives
,
London: Allen Lane.
Providing References using the Harvard System
Bibliographies
A list of references must be presented in alphabetical order by surname
of the author(s), or by title, if there is no author. Harvard has no one true
style of punctuation so the most important thing is to choose one style of
punctuation and use it consistently throughout your work.
For a book, the order is:
Author’s surname, initial(s). (date of publication in brackets) title in italics,
edition, place of publication: publisher.
For a first edition:
Moody, S.A. (2007)
Principles of Developmental Genetics
, New York:
Elsevier Academic Press.
For a 4th edition:
Desmond, P.W. (2005)
The Child-centred Approach
, 4th edition,
Cambridge: Independent Publications.
For a paper in a journal, the order is:
Author’s surname, initial(s), (year in brackets), title of the paper, full title of the
journal in italics, volume and issue numbers, pages of journal.
MacKay, T. (2000) Educational psychology and the future of
special education needs’ legislation,
Education and Child Psychology
,
vol. 17, pp. 27–35.
For a book, article or any document on the web:
The same rules as the above, but the web address and the date the page was
accessed are given.
Jones, P. (2008)
Peer Pressure
, [Online], Available at:
dossier/gov.html, [7 February 2012].
Citing references within a text
When making references to an author’s work in your text, their name is
followed by the year of publication of their work.
Firstborn children tend to have higher IQs because they receive more
attention from their parents. This view is supported in the work of
Marzollo (1990).
When you are mentioning a particular part of a work, and making direct
reference to this, a page reference should be included.
Harrigan (1992, p. 54) argues that ‘firstborn children tend to
be perfectionist’.
Web-based references
Electronic sources such as www pages, electronic databases and electronic
journals are cited in the text in much the same way as traditional print
sources, with the exception of page numbers. The author’s name is followed
by a publication date, but no page numbers are listed. If no publication
date is available, and this might be the case for www pages, then where
the date should go, insert (n.d.) which stands for ‘no date’.
WRITING SKILLS
AN ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES ESSAY
4
Complete the description of different types of essay with
the words in the box.
formal issue objectively paragraph sides unbiased
There are two main types of discursive essay: evidence-led and
opinion-led. Evidence-led essay types include ‘For and Against’ and
‘Advantages and Disadvantages’. In an evidence-led essay, you
discuss a problem, controversy or
1
in an
2
way. You
present all
3
of the question
4
. The style of the essay
is usually
5
rather than informal. If you are asked to give an
opinion, you do so at the end of the essay. In an opinion-led essay,
you indicate your opinion of the topic in the first
6
and restate
it in the last one.
