Referencing is often thought of in terms of avoiding plagiarism, as it is a way of acknowledging your sources and signalling to your reader that the ideas or words you are using are not your own, but those of another scholar. However, referencing is equally a way to make your research visible to your reader, and demonstrate that your thinking is based on good grounds, that you have found and selected appropriate sources and can locate and comment critically on a debate to develop and substantiate your ideas. It also allows the reader to locate your sources and follow them up themselves, saving you the need to incorporate large amounts into your own writing. Moreover, mastery of the conventions of referencing shows that you are familiar with the expectations of the discipline.
There is guidance on how to present quotations and reference both primary and secondary sources in the Faculty's notes for guidance on portfolios and dissertations. This guidance covers the mechanical aspects of how to reference, but the way in which you integrate references, particularly references to secondary sources, can impact on the degree of authority conveyed by your 'voice'.
Activity: Using references
'[Shelley] imposes his will on the object of experience: he does not explore "reality", he flies away from it.' William Keach, Shelley's Style (London, 1984) p. xii.
Consider the differences in emphasis between the following ways of integrating this quotation and reference into the text:
- Shelley uses imaginative perception to 'impose[...] his will on the object of experience; he does not explore "reality", he flies away from it". (Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii)
- Imaginative perception is for Shelley a way of distancing reality (Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii).
- Keach suggests that Shelley distances himself from, rather than engages with, reality (Shelley's Style, p. xii).
- Keach suggests that Shelley distances himself from, rather than engages with, reality, although the distinction between imagination and reality is confused in this poem (Shelley's Style, p. xii).
- Critics agree that the Shelley's poetry uses imaginative perception as a way of distancing himself from reality (Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii; Jones, Shelley and the Imagination, p. 89; Smith, Reality and Perception in Poetry, p. 55).
Feedback:
1. Shelley uses imaginative perception to 'impose[...] his will on the object of experience; he does not explore "reality", he flies away from it".(Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii).
This use of straight quotation prioritises the scholar's view, and does not indicate the writer's opinion of it, beyond general agreement. It is presented as an established fact or opinion.
2. Imaginative perception is for Shelley a way of distancing reality (Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii).
Use of paraphrase here foregrounds the writer's opinion, while acknowledging the source of the idea. Positioning of the reference at the end implies that this is an unproblematic, established fact or opinion.
3. Keach suggests that Shelley distances himself from, rather than engages with, reality (Shelley's Style, p. xii).
The use of the scholar's name in the sentence, rather than in the reference, highlights it as an opinion, which may lend it added authority or set it up for the writer to argue with it.
4. Keach suggests that Shelley distances himself from, rather than engages with, reality, although the distinction between imagination and reality is confused in this poem (Shelley's Style, p. xii).
The positioning of the reference at the end of the sentence implies that all of the content is taken from the scholar, whereas the second half is the comment of the writer. It would be better to place the reference in the middle of the sentence or split it into two.
5. Critics agree that the Shelley's poetry uses imaginative perception as a way of distancing himself from reality (Keach, Shelley's Style, p. xii; Jones, Shelley and the Imagination, p. 89; Smith, Reality and Perception in Poetry, p. 55).
This sentence synthesises several scholars who say approximately the same thing, economically giving the sense of a debate or consensus.