Citation Needed

Spectacles and vertebrate zoology by Sigfrid Lundberg

One student excitedly exclaimed "I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait to go to the Library and reference something!"

When most people think of referencing they picture the Author-Date system, or Harvard-Style Referencing, but the truth is that there are thousands of referencing styles currently in use. I'm not sure if anyone has attempted to quantify them, but I do know that Endnote for example, supports over six thousand referencing styles. These can be broadly divided into two categories, Harvard-Style, and Vancouver-Style. The primary difference between these two styles is where the citation appears, either contextually in the body of the work, or as footnotes or endnotes. Personally, I prefer to use latter, Vancouver-Style Referencing because the references themselves do not interrupt or impose upon the reading of the text, and also because it allows you to go off on  cheeky tangents in your footnotes. But Tutors and Lecturers often prefer Harvard-Style Referencing because it allows them to check references while reading and marking the text.

Referencing is a fairly new invention. The printing press was in use in Europe as early as 1436CE. Prior to this and for several centuries afterwards the written word was not an everyday part of human life. You were lucky if you learned how to read, and really lucky if you read more than a handful of books in your lifetime. And even though St Augustine preached against those who 'steal words from his neighbor,' referencing wasn't needed because it was largely accepted that people would recognise text incorporated from elsewhere. The pool of potential places to copy from was relatively small. That isn't true today. Turnitin, the most popular anti-plagiarism software on the market today, boasts a database of 130 million articles and 50 billion web pages to check content against.

It was in 1881, Cambridge, Massachusetts, that Professor Edward Mark devised what is now known as the Harvard Referencing system. Prior to this, there was no recognised style when writing for academia. When referencing works Mark included the surname of the author, the year it was published, and the relevant page number in parentheses at the end of sentence. He included detailed publication information in a list at the end of his paper. This convention has remained unchanged since then.

And while your humble Subject Liaison finds the history and diversity of academic referencing particularly fascinating, the students I work with for the most part approach the subject with reluctance, apprehension, or a near-complete lack of interest. To students referencing is confusing. Many don't understand why it is needed, and most find the conventions surrounding different referencing styles completely bewildering. Students who speak English as an additional language can find the process alien and fraught with anxiety.

So yes, I am very well versed on the subject, but when it came to imparting that knowledge to a class of students, I have to admit that I was a complete loss. This is perhaps compounded by the fact that the scheduling of sessions for academic referencing is at times problematic. For example, I gave a referencing session to a group of students who had already had one instructional referencing session from their Lecturer, and another from Their tutor in the space of a fortnight. For some reason I was asked to deliver a third! In another example I delivered a session to group of students in preparation for their upcoming assessment, only to discover that referencing wasn't required as part that assessment in the first place.

Another factor contributing to the difficulty in delivering referencing sessions is the lack of buy-in from academic staff. Our college presently does not have an academic policy, or a preferred referencing style. Tutors and Lecturers are frequently relaxed in their attitudes to referencing, because "this is only FE," and only a small number include referencing as part assessment criteria. Failing to address the issues of attribution and plagiarism does not adequately prepare students for the workforce. Not to mention the disservice we do to students who will be moving on to Higher Education.

In the end I decided to shake of the hindrances and get on with it. I created (what I certainly hope is) a quick and easy Guide to Referencing, and in all my classes recommended that students invest some time in experimenting with a citation manager. The problem with citation managers is that the vast majority of them are targeted at Higher Education, and specifically, professional researchers. I have reservations about promoting Endnote or Mendely because of their inherent commercialism. While Open Source alternatives such as Docear and Zotero while commendable, are a bit too complicated for our purposes. One programme that I have had success with is RefME. RefME is beautifully simple, and works on multiple devices. It can develop a full citation with only a URL. The app version of RefME can also format a reference using a scan of a book's barcode through the devices camera. After demoing this students are usually floored. One student excitedly exclaimed "I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait to go to the Library and reference something!" In another class, two students stood up and applauded when they realised referencing doesn't have to be a chore.

And after all, that's what this is all about isn't it? Sharing that appreciation of a much maligned subject with students in a way that they can understand, and more importantly, put to use.