REFERENCING AND PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism occurs when, in your own work, you use that of others without attributing those views, images, charts or words to the original author, and it can have serious consequences. Students found guilty of plagiarism can be removed from their programme of study and the University. It is therefore important to develop the skills necessary to avoid plagiarism which include referencing correctly and being able to summarise others' views and opinions in your own words.

Referencing correctly and consistently means that you avoid the occurance of plagiarism in your work. However, good academic practice is also achieved when, instead of copying large sections of another person's work, you paraphrase and summarise.

Students often say that although they know what plagiarism is they find it really hard to explain things using their own words when the original author did it so much better. Throughout your work you will be expected to include citations as well as a reference list and bibliography.
There are a number of referencing systems used throughout universities and each one has strict rules about how information relating to a source of information is displayed. As a general rule the Harvard Referencing System is used, but check with each module lecturer for their individual preferences.

USING I.T. AND COMPUTER SOFTWARE

All students are expected to produce written work in word processed form, this also includes any presentation material. You will therefore have to become familiar with using applications such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. It is assumed that most students will have a basic understanding of how to use these computer applications.

There are computer clusters for student use all around the University campus as well as computer suites for the sole use of Masters students. Each student has their own personal storage space on the university IT system with excellent computer support teams available to help you with any problems you may have.

For most Masters students the use of IT will extend to using statistical analysis packages such as Excel or SPSS. These are useful packages to record and analyse quantitative data, especially during the writing up of dissertations. If you have any specific concerns regarding the use of IT.

(https://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/stepup/skillsarea1.html)

D EFFECTIVE WRITING

I Topic, research question & aims of study

WHAT AM I WRITING ABOUT?

As Ann Raimes notes (Raimes, 3), “Getting started is hard. That blank page can be terrifying, but writing offers an advantage over speaking: you can go back and make changes. Once you remember that you are not locked into what you first put down on paper, starting the process becomes much easier”.

Formulating a research question

The first step in developing a study idea is asking yourself a question, “What do I want to investigate?” In other words, you first need to “generate” the idea.

As Robson (2002) says, there are no foolproof, automatic ways of generating research questions. He also makes the point that, whilst it is good practice to follow the ideas of deciding on a general research area first, and then narrowing and focusing it down, sometimes it doesn't happen like this. Occasionally, research questions present themselves through experience or through some theoretical concerns and you then have to find a context or focus in which to ask the question.

Well-defined research questions lead to clearer aims than those questions are not specific, so it is important to try to be as clear as possible about the focus of your research.

Research aims are more specific and reflect more precisely what the research wants to find out.

Exercise 1. Fill in the gaps in the table below.