Rampant Referencing: Is there no control?

Greta Thompson
Central Queensland University

Introduction

Students straight from school and even mature age students have many problems to cope with when they enter university for the first time. The university seems massive, lecturers and their teaching styles are strange, the assignments are frightening and different from anything they have encountered before. They are bombarded with new ideas and formats; new structures and processes. 'Plagiarism' and 'referencing' are words which terrify them as they do not understand them and do not know how to cope with them. Students become confused and frustrated when even these two basic concepts in their study, seem to change from day to day and from lecturer to lecturer.

This paper considers the diverse attitudes to referencing within higher education and the problems students experience with plagiarism and referencing. Also considered are the reasons why referencing is important as an aspect of academic study. The paper does not cover the issues of referencing and plagiarism in cultural contexts, nor does it specifically consider plagiarism from the Internet.

Why Reference?

"Reference? Why do we have to?" "Reference? What's the point?" "Referencing takes so long and its so much bother!" "...but everyone expects something different - its so confusing"

All lecturers must surely have heard these and similar questions and remarks from incoming undergraduate students. Unless students are convinced at this point that referencing is a very important part of their academic learning process, they will always regard it as '...a particularly sadistic form of penance imposed by lecturers on students in order to have more ways in which to fail [them] ...' (Assignment Presentation Guidelines 1998, p. 8).

Referencing is closely aligned with plagiarism and copyright issues. The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (1997, p.1024) defines plagiarism as to 'take and use (the thoughts, writings, inventions etc. of another person) as one's own'. Plagiarism is often a "dirty" word in academic writing. In most academic institutions there are heavy penalties for using work, research results, visual materials, theories, or ideas without showing the courtesy of attributing these to the author(s). Pennycook (1996, p. 214) suggests that plagiarism 'undermines the authority of both teacher and text'. The use of plagiarism or literacy piracy casts doubts on the status of university qualifications and disadvantages students who do not plagiarise. It also undermines academic integrity (Hawley 1984). Bugeja (2000) writes about the new breed of plagiarists who are used to chat rooms and emails. They steal from the internet and they confuse computer literacy with real literacy. He says 'I warn...students that they will go to hell, literally, if they plagiarize...'

However, the issues involved in student plagiarism are extremely complex. There are many different ways of plagiarising: sloppy paraphrasing, lack of referencing, intentional copying of text without citing the source, copying the work of a fellow student or submitting the same paper more than once in different courses. Many students are computer literate and copying from the internet becomes so common that they no longer consider it iniquitous.

Unfortunately many academic staff members do not know the policies on plagiarism within their faculties or their university, nor do they know what the penalties are. Walker (1998) suggests that each educator should be aware of the standing on plagiarism, the actions to take when it is discovered and the penalties which are in place within their academic institution. He further states that 'most academic staff members either ignore... or are ignorant of...procedural guidelines for dealing with academic dishonesty'(1998, p. 94). Warner (1999) agrees that plagiarism is often overlooked by lecturers who have the power to act against it.

An excellent guide to issues relating to plagiarism and referencing is freely available at Central Queensland University (Smith 1999), outlining the importance of correct referencing and the procedures to be followed when plagiarism is identified. It seems that some academics take these issues very seriously but others do not.

A lecturer at Central Queensland University who was asked for his opinion (interviewed on 5th October, 2000) stated that he was extremely strict on students whom he suspected of plagiarism. He expected that students should write with understanding of the text and should not quote or refer to the text itself without referencing. Another lecturer, (interviewed on the 22nd of September, 2000) said that he never bothered to look at the referencing (embedded or reference list) but did expect some original thought from the students. Even if they plagiarised "a little" he was not unhappy with that. Four students interviewed (2nd October, 2000) insisted that they had never been taught about plagiarism at school and that they thought they could not do justice to a writer if they tried to change the words in his work. The feeling was that "he probably says it so much better than I could". Pennycook (1996, p.226) describes students who '...were led into trouble through a mixture of heavy workloads and inappropriate study skills', and also believes that '... unilateral accusations of plagiarism are inadequate and arrogant'. In his opinion, lecturers should take into account the problems students face and be flexible about plagiarism.

To return to the question as to why students should reference, there are a number of reasons. Students should be made aware that they have a responsibility to respect their sources and the intellectual ownership of the theories and ideas they are using. According to Lafollette (1992, p. 50) students are welcome to use the words or ideas of others as long as they cite their sources 'and most authors delight in those uses as measures of their influence'.

Referencing is a useful tool in presenting similar and opposing findings and theories in order to come to an informed conclusion. Undergraduate students are bombarded by the consideration of theories, thoughts, ideas, arguments, analyses, debates and discussions and find the process of academic thinking confusing and difficult. Being given a definite referencing style can be the one constant they can rely on in their otherwise hectic academic lives. There is a certain discipline in learning a referencing style and being able to use it efficiently.

Referencing Styles

Research shows that there are a large number of style guides, referencing guidelines, and books containing advice on how to reference. (See Bibliography) Most of these are based on the three most popular styles, Harvard, APA and the Footnote or Endnote Numbering system but contain many variations and even combinations of these styles. This situation leads to confusion when students, researchers and academics are studying or writing in different subject areas, even in the same discipline. In compiling the CBE Manual, the Council of Biology Editors (Scientific Style and Format 1994, p. 5) states

Science uses myriad formats for bibliographic references. We hope that by specifying the needed elements of bibliographic references and illustrating their virtually identical use...the difficulties posed by the many variations in formats for references may be reduced.

This is one reflection of the problem of "rampant referencing". Each of the styles is probably considered to be essential to the disciplines using them, but would one standard referencing style not suffice to meet the requirements of most, if not all of these disciplines?

Another issue which causes confusion is the Bibliography/Reference list question. The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary (1997, p. 122) defines 'bibliography' as 'a list of the books referred to in a scholarly work, usu. printed as an appendix'. Many academics use the term as defined but others use it to mean any sources consulted for an assignment or paper but not specifically cited. Most prefer a reference list which refers only to sources used in the work. Students do not know what an academic expects unless this is clearly and regularly explained to them.

In Central Queensland University, Rockhampton Campus, three major referencing styles are used. The Footnote or Endnote style (numbering method) is used for history and law subjects. The style is suitable for these subjects as the use of extensive footnotes or endnotes is valuable for adding notes on background and other information without interrupting the flow of the text, as well as for referencing. As the same source may be referred to many times, as in the case of a law report for instance, the use of an identifier, such as a superscript number is useful, particularly when the source is given in full the first time and then subsequently appropriately abbreviated.

APA is used in psychology subjects and is also the preferred style in the Faculty of Education and Creative Arts, although students may use Harvard if they wish. According to a lecturer in Psychology (interviewed on 10th October, 2000), he prefers that students use the manuscript version as indicated in the APA Style Manual, to prepare students for publishing their writing at a later stage. The manuscript style calls for underlining titles rather than italicising and using first line indented and subsequent lines left flushed in the reference list. He regards referencing as essential within the meta-methodology of scientific research and will not accept plagiarism from his students. The Faculty of Education and Creative Arts prefers their students to use the mode recommended in their guide (Hallinan 2000) which is titles italicised, and in the reference list, first line left flushed with subsequent lines having hanging indents. There is immediately a problem when students are studying across faculties and are faced with two versions of APA referencing. First year students and distance education students particularly have difficulty understanding the rationale behind two different methods within the same referencing style.

The Faculties of Arts, Health and Sciences, Engineering and Physical Systems, Informatics and Communication, and Business and Law use the Harvard style of referencing. Unfortunately some versions of Harvard as identified in the student guides, such as those for the Social Sciences (Assignment Presentation Guidelines 1998) and Business and Law (2000 Guide for Students 2000) differ in many respects from each other and from the AGPS Style Manual, which should be the criteria in use across all the faculties using the Harvard method.

A first year undergraduate student studying for a combined degree such as Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Business, and having subjects referring to the relevant guides, Human Resource Management, (2000 Guide for Students 2000) Tourism, (Assignment Presentation Guidelines 1998) and Psychology (Publication Manual of the APA) would be faced with three different referencing methods. One of these would be APA and the other two different versions of Harvard. One can imagine that such a student would be utterly confused.

This confusion spills over into the Communications Learning Centre (CLC) of the university where tutors work on a one-on-one basis assisting students with grammar and referencing in assignments. Many lecturers are extremely pedantic about the referencing in their students' assignments and will mark a student down for even the slightest infringement. This impacts on the CLC staff as they have to be aware of and familiar with any hybridisation of a referencing style which may cause a student to lose marks. Although the faculty guides are consulted by the CLC staff, the guides are often inadequate as insufficient examples of different types of sources are provided and many are not addressed.

A few years ago the lecturers in the Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies (STEPS) bridging course, compiled a referencing booklet for the use of their students. This was a fairly basic summary of Harvard taken from the AGPS Style Manual. This booklet has been revised and expanded each year and is now of such a standard that it is recommended by some faculties to their students as a referencing guide. However other faculties are still using their own hybridised styles. This inexpensive booklet is on sale at the university book shop and would make an excellent "standard" for the use of students across all faculties using the Harvard style.

Researching the referencing styles at some other tertiary institutions in Australia, indicates that the problem of non-standard referencing is common. In the Harvard referencing notes on the CQIT website (Study Resources 1998) it is stated 'There is no single way to reference. There are many systems of referencing and each provides a standard way to provide the required information.' If one believes that each system provides a standard way, it would be interesting to discover why each system is used in so many different ways by so many lecturers.

On the Curtin homepage, the Library and Information Service provides information on Harvard referencing (Harvard Referencing 2000). On the first page students are advised to check with their department or school as details such as punctuation may be different from the guidelines on the Library and Information Service recommendations. The warning is also given that students may be penalised for not conforming to what is expected from their department or school.

The University of New England in their style guide (2000 Style Guide 2000)suggest that students should check with their schools or unit coordinators for any variation on punctuation in referencing.

Solutions

Perhaps the answers to these problems are fairly simple. Hawley (1984, p. 90) writes that the issue of unresolved plagiarism 'subverts the entire system of course evaluation' and it should be regarded seriously by universities who treasure their reputations for excellent academic quality. He continues that the university and every one of its faculties, academics and students, should be made aware of, and guided towards, the recognition of plagiarism and its consequences. The university must have in place guidelines and systems of referral to a body which will make decisions on appropriate action when proven cases are brought to its attention. Students must be warned continually that plagiarism will not be tolerated and that source material must always be appropriately referenced. Hawley (1984) goes on to say that plagiarism should be eradicated not by threat, but by new attitudes of honesty and integrity demonstrated by lecturers. These are attitudes that lecturers should strive to instil in their students.

Numerous new students admit that they do not understand the concept of plagiarism, have no idea how to avoid it, and have had little or no teaching on summarising or paraphrasing. They are also ignorant about the process of referencing and often do not know that different referencing styles exist. If compulsory lessons or workshops were held on a regular basis throughout the first year of study this would assist students in coming to terms with these issues.

Student workloads should be considered. If students have four assignments due in the same week, it seems obvious that they will use whatever strategies are available - even plagiarism, if that will assist them in writing a paper more quickly. Of course they should commence their planning and research well in advance' but often there are obstacles such as not being able to access their library easily, or the library having insufficient resources to service a large number of students all wanting the same material.

Referencing is difficult enough but when it is uncontrolled as regards inconsistent usage it becomes confusing and frustrating. Obviously different styles will be used for different subjects but it would not be difficult to standardise each style. For example, lecturers, tutors and markers should be using Harvard as indicated in the AGPS Style Manual. Those using APA should use the APA Publication Manual as their major source. Lecturers should be aware of changes in new editions of these manuals. One lecturer admitted that she was still using the version of APA which she used in university twenty or more years ago. She did not realise that changes had been made in the ensuing editions.

Conclusion

One can conclude that the problems of rampant referencing are probably common to many institutions of higher learning across Australia. This is unfortunate because the standard and quality of students who graduate are an indication of the success of the teaching and learning strategies at such an institution. One of the aims of any institution of higher learning is to prepare students for future careers in whatever field they choose. They must be equipped with the skills they will need and one of these skills is the ability to research and write without prejudicing their integrity by plagiarism and incorrect referencing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2000 Guide for Students: A Guide to Better Learning Outcomes, 2000, Faculty of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

2000 Style Guide, 2000, University of New England, Armidale

AMA Style Guide for Business Writing, 1996, American Management Association, New York.

Assignment Presentation Guidelines for Sociology, Social Work and Welfare Studies, and Tourism, 1998, (revised), Faculty of Arts and Science, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1997, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Betts, K. & Seitz, A. 1994, 2nd edn, Writing Essays and Research Reports in the Social Sciences, Thomas Nelson, South Melbourne.

Bugeja, M. 2000, 'Confronting the new breed of plagiarist', Editor and Publisher, March 20, 2000, p. 46 (online Expanded Academic Index).

Chicago Manual of Style, 1993, 14th edn, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Cordery, C.L. 199? , Referencing Guide: Study and Style Guide, Department of Nursing, University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W.

Dodd, J.S. (ed.) 1986, The ACS Style Guide, American Chemical Society, Washington.

Gibaldi, J. 1995, 4th edn, A Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Modern Language Association of America, New York.

Hallinan, P. 2000, Program Assessment Guide, 2000, Faculty of Education and Creative Arts, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

Harvard Referencing 2000, Curtin Library and Information Service, URL: http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/guides/handouts/harvard.html (accessed on 12 September, 2000).

Hawley, C. S. 1984, 'The Thieves of Academe', Improving College and University Teaching, vol. 32(1), pp. 35-39.

Lafollette, M. C. 1992, Fraud, Plagiarism, and Misconduct in Scientific Publishing, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Li, X. & Crane, N. 1996, 2nd edn, Electronic Styles, Information Today, Medford, N.J.

McIntosh, L.D. (comp) 1994, A Style Manual for the Presentation of Papers and Theses in Religion and Theology, Centre for Information Studies, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.

Pennycook, A. 1996, 'Borrowing Others' Words: Text, Ownership, Memory and Plagiarism', Tesol Quarterly, vol. 30 (2), pp. 201-230.

Peters, P. 1995, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 1996, 4th edn, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

Referencing: The Author-Date System, 2000, Educational Services and Learning Support, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

Scientific Style and Format: The C.B.E. Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers, 1994, 6th edn, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Scollon, R. 1995, 'Plagiarism and Ideology: Identity in Intercultural Discourse', Language in Society, vol. 24(1), pp.1-28.

Smith, A. 1999, Central Queensland University Assessment Guide 1999, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

Study Resources: Harvard Referencing 1998, CQIT, (accessed on 22 September, 2000).

Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 1994, 5th edn, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Van Heunen, M.C. 1978, A Handbook for Scholars, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Warner, R. 1999, 'Plagiarism: An LBOTE Perspective', TESOL in Context, vol. 9 (2), pp. 24-29.