References and Bibliography

References and Bibliography.

Referencing

To make a reference is to acknowledge the source from which your information is taken. This source can be a book, report, programme, film, internet site etc, etc. You can make a reference either by mentioning or citing the author/s work or by direct quotation.

Citing/Citation is when you give the name of the author and publication whose ideas or statistics or whatever you are mentioning. In the example given on a separate page all the references, except the very last one, are citations.

Quoting/quotation is when you provide the exact words of the author to whom you are referring. See the last example (5). When you quote you must also provide the page number where the quote can be found.

For further details on citing, quoting and referencing please go to Appendix 2 of Donohoe and Gaynor, pages 305-307*. This outlines the Harvard Method which is one of the most common systems used today. You must include at the end of your work a detailed and comprehensive list of references

Bibliography

A bibliography is a full list of all the works that you have a) referred to in your work or b) consulted in your study for a particular work. So, in short anything you have referred to in your work must be included in your bibliography but you will also include all books etc that you have looked through. At the end of your project or essay you must give a full and comprehensive list of references and bibliography in alphabetical order.

Plagiarism:

This means to pass off the words or ideas of another as your own. If you are discovered to have plagiarised material , you will normally get zero marks for the entire project. If you persist in plagiarism your work will not be put forward for external moderation. In third level colleges if you are considered to have knowingly plagiarised material you will be asked to leave the course. In other areas of life you may be sued for breach of copyright. So, this is a serious issue. Get used to referencing properly now and it need never be an issue for you .

Often students feel that it is inappropriate to be quoting or citing on every second line. While it is not appropriate to present large tracts of quotations as an original work (quotations should be used sparsely) you will see from the example given that constant citing is OK. What you are demonstrating is that you can read, (example 1- multiple references) interpret (example 2 and 3) and analyse (example 4) material.

Example 5 is a quotation given, to lend weight to what the writer is saying. In fact at FETAC level 5 and indeed up to Masters level in Education we are not expected to present new ideas…we can of course but it is not expected.

A word about use of the Internet.

Most students make extensive use of Internet sites; many print off whole sections. Use of internet sites is acceptable only if they are recognised and official sites- for example Irish government departments . Wikipedia is an example of a site where the information can be extremely dodgy. You or I can put information up on Wikipedia! Actually I think Wikipedia is tightening up on this. Wikipedia is good however for getting links to official sites.

Also it is good to get accustomed to using at least some books or articles as it shows that you can search for and compile information. Using search engines does this for you but often misses out academic material…authors do not put their serious work online for fear of plagiarism! You have to pay to download a lot of good material just as you have to buy/borrow books! Think about it.

Again, this is changing as Google is in the process of setting up a system whereby all books may be accessed online. Copyright law will still apply.

See example on next page.

*Donohoe, J. and F. Gaynor, 2007, Education and Care in the Early

Years, 3rd ed., Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.

Example – How to write in references and do list

Education

A number of writers ( Donohoe and Gaynor. 1999;Purcell. 2001and Leach. 1989) stress the importance of pre-school education in combating disadvantage. French (2003) however states that the provision of pre-school education must be of a high standard and good quality in order to have any impact. This point is borne out in a recent survey in the UK reported on RTE ‘Morning Ireland’ (23.09.2005).

Curry (2001) in his book on Irish social Services barely mentions pre-school education at all indicating that as yet it is not a high priority in the statutory provision.

But pre-school is regulated by the government and there is a growing demand for and realisation that the state must become involved in pre-school education. On thing must be appreciated in order for the development to be beneficial to all under-school age children –

“Early childhood learns by playing and therefore optimal learning means freedom to play; to choose what to do, when with whom and for how long…. to move about” (Leach, 1994: 138)

References:

Curry, John, 2001, Irish Social Services, 3rd ed., Dublin: Institute of

Public Administration

Donohoe, J. and F. Gaynor, 2003, Education and Care in the Early

Years, 2nd ed., Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.

French, Geraldine, 2003, Supporting Quality, Dublin: Barnardos

Leach, Penelope, 1989, Children First, London: Penguin Books

Lawlor, Aine, 2005, Report on Morning Ireland, RTE: 23.09.2005

Purcell, Bernie, 2001, For our Own Good: Childcare Issues in Ireland,

Dublin: Collins Press

Bibliography:

Boushel, M., M. Fawcett and J. Selwyn, 2000, Focus on Early

Childhood, Oxford: Blackwell Science Press