Third of three in a series of academic writing / plagiarism avoidance lectures aimed at third year chemists. Click the monkey in the penultimate slide to find out why it's there (enable ad-block)

1. Research Project 3:
The light at the end of the tunnel
Referencing, plagiarism, how to do one and not the other

2. How’s it going?
• Have you met your supervisor?
• Do you have a topic?
• Are you happy with it?
• Any issues?

3. 1. Choosing a question:
narrowing it down
Discussion in pairs:
Speaker: Discuss your topic with your partner.
Listener: Is this topic / question narrow enough?

4. The process
• Decide on a topic
• Find academic literature
• Assess its suitability
• Use it in your work
– Structuring your work
– Correct academic writing
– Correct use of sources
• Reference correctly to avoid plagiarism
– Turnitin
– Penalties for plagiarism

5. Step 5: Referencing
(c) Munroe, xkcd.com.

6. Acknowledging sources
• A reference is the means by which you acknowledge other
people’s work.
• You should reference
– Facts
– Ideas
– Quotations
– Statistics, images, charts,
– Novel chemical structures
• Anything that you did not create

7. Why Reference?
Prevents you being accused of plagiarism
Acknowledges where you have used other people's
work
Provides evidence to support your argument
Allows others to check and build on your work
Gains you extra marks!

8. Why reference?
• Acknowledge the source of your
information
• Help your reader to locate your
information

9. What don’t you have to reference?
Facts that are generally acknowledged, commonly
known and undisputed
Data that you have derived from your own
experimentation
Your own conclusions, observations and ideas (be
sure they are really yours)!

10. Common Knowledge?
For which of the statements in this essay would you
need to provide a reference?
A/ The fact that that Isaac Newton proposed the laws of
gravitation
B/The quotation from Isaac Newton
C/The theory that his words referred to Aristotle and
Ptolemy
Isaac Newton, on being congratulated on the
publication of his laws of gravitation, wrote "if I have
seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of
giants". It is thought that he referred particularly to
Aristotle and Ptolemy.

11. How to reference
• Place a citation in the text next to the work you need to
acknowledge
– Remember, this can be ideas, facts etc not just words
– The citation is a superscript number1
• The citation points to the reference list at the end of your
project.
• The reference contains the full details of the source
• The reference list is arranged in numerical order of the
appearance of the sources in your work
1 George S. A really interesting thing. Bradford: Some people will
publish anything, 2016.
2 Martin W, Bowen RD. A much better source. Journal of infinite
authority 2016; 1:25-35
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR11

12. Citation: how to do it
• Citations are superscript numbers by the information you need to
attribute1
• Place the citation either directly beside the information1 or at the
end of the sentence or paragraph2
• Each number links to the full reference in your reference list2
• Your first citation is 1 the second is 2 and so on
• If you use a source more than once, you reuse the first number1
• If you use more than one source for a piece of information, use a
range of numbers1-3
• If you are citing something you have directly copied, such as an
image or data table, you can add a page number to the caption to
help your reader to locate it again
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR12

13. What citation looks like
The importance of fragmentations that involve rearrangement
was recognized early in the development of electron
ionization (historically known as electron impact, EI) mass
spectrometry. The McLafferty rearrangement1 2of ionized
carbonyl compounds is a celebrated example. Ortho effects,
as illustrated by the loss of H2O from ionized 1,2-
disubstituted benzenes such as anthranilic acid,
H2NC6H4CO2H, and related species3
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.brad.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S138738061200293X
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR13
Adapted from
figure 2 of Martin
et al3

14. Where should the citations be?
Since the Greek and Roman period, it is a commonly held belief
that lime can be used to enhance the speed of decay, to reduce
the likelihood of detecting a body, to destroy evidence and that
ultimately lime will lead to the rapid and total destruction of
human remains. For this reason, lime is often observed in
clandestine burials. Besides the association with criminality, there
are specific traditions of archaeological burial incorporating
materials such as lime, chalk gypsum or a generic class,
commonly referred to as plaster burials. A cremation rite
involving crushed rock carbonate was common in the iron age of
the Balearic Islands. Lime has been evidenced in Roman and early
Christian burials, medieval burials, post-medieval burials and
during modern times in mass graves associated with conflict,
including the First and Second World War, Rwanda and former
Yugoslavia or mass burials with victims of natural disasters such
as tsunamis or earthquakes.
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR14

15. Since the Greek and Roman period, it is a commonly held belief
that lime can be used to enhance the speed of decay, to reduce the
likelihood of detecting a body, to destroy evidence and that
ultimately lime will lead to the rapid and total destruction of human
remains1. For this reason, lime is often observed in clandestine
burials2-9. Besides the association with criminality, there are
specific traditions of archaeological burial incorporating materials
such as lime, chalk gypsum or a generic class, commonly referred
to as plaster burials. These customs are interpreted as preservation
rites or linked to disposal practices associated with safeguarding
against epidemics and contagion. A cremation rite involving
crushed rock carbonate was common in the iron age of the Balearic
Islands10. Lime has been evidenced in Roman and early Christian
burials11-21, medieval burials22-25, post-medieval burials26-30and
during modern times in mass graves associated with conflict,
including the First and Second World War, Rwanda and former
Yugoslavia31-37or mass burials with victims of natural disasters
such as tsunamis or earthquakes38.
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR15
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.brad.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0379
073814000176

16. Referencing: how to do it
• Each source type has its own template, following the same basic
pattern
– Author(/s) Title(/s), Year of publication, other details
• Authors
– Name all of the authors on the source, no matter how many there are
– List them in the order in which they appear on the source
– Authors’ names are formatted as family name initials (no first name)
• Titles
– The title is put in italics to help your reader to locate your source
– Sentence case
• Use these guidelines
http://www.brad.ac.uk/library/files/course/new_numeric/index.h
tm
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR16

17. Atkins PW, de Paula J. Elements of physical chemistry 6th
edition. Oxford University Press, 2013
A book reference
Author. Title Edition (if not first). City of publication (optional):
Publisher, Year.
List all authors in the
order in which they
appear on the source
Authors’ names
formatted as family
name, initials. No first
names
Titles in sentence
case
Title in italics to
help your reader
to locate your
source
Only need the edition if it is
not the first
Ebooks
referenced as
though they were
paper

18. A journal article reference
Authors. Article title. Journal title Year; Volume: start page-
end page
Gaponik N, Hickey SG, Dorfs D, Rogach AL, Eychmüller A.
Progress in the Light Emission of Colloidal Semiconductor
Nanocrystals. Small 2010; 6: 1364 - 1378
Two titles: article
title and journal
title
Article title changes
with each article:
long and complex
Journal title in
italics
Volumes and page
numbers even when
accessed online
Journal title
remains the same:
often begins
“Journal of”
Electronic
journals
referenced as
though they were
paper

19. A website reference
Author/s . Title of page. Publisher (optional), Year. Web
address. Date of access.
Royal Society of Chemistry Vincristine, 2015.
http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-
Structure.5758.html. Accessed 1st February 2016
Author is often an
organisation
If you cannot find
a date, write “no
date
Web address alone
is not enough –
this can change

20. A book chapter reference
Authors of chapter. Chapter title. In Editors of book,
editor.Book title Edition. City of publication (optional):
Publisher, Year: chapter start page-chapter end page
Leusen FJJ, Kendrick J. Polymorph prediction of small
organic molecules, co-crystals and salts. In Wouters J,
Quéré L (editors) Pharmaceutical salts and co-crystals
Royal Society of Chemistry, 2012:44 – 88
Two sets of
contributors: authors
of chapters and
editors of book Chapter authors go
first as originators
of information
Two titles: chapter
title and book title
No edition
needed: first
Book editors
gather the
information
together
Book title is the way
your reader would
trace your
information

21. Endnote Web
• Endnote Web can do all this for you!
– Download references from databases
– Organise references into groups etc
– Search references
– Formats the references for you!
• Drop-in session on Monday 13th February, 2pm in JBP
2.7
– Come along and try it!
– Bring your own device if you like
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR21

22. Step 6: Avoiding plagiarism
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR22

23. Plagiarism: What it is and how to avoid
it
• Copy and paste
• Word-switching
• Concealing sources
– You must acknowledge a source EVERY time you use
information from it
• Collaboration / using others students’ work
– Searches submissions from Bradford and other universities
• Self-plagiarism
– Don’t cut and paste from previous work!
– Unless this is part of the assignment 
– Reference previous results as you would any other source
03 April 2017 Sarah George s.george@bradford.ac.uk23

24. Turnitin
• Produces an originality report based on matches to
sources in its database
– Online sources, electronic books and journals
– Previous submissions from Bradford and other universities
• There is no set number to aim for.
• Different kinds of assignment work differently
• A low percentage does not necessarily indicate that there
is no plagiarism

25. What score should I aim for?
• Even a low percentage match can contain some
plagiarism
• Watch out for big blocks of uninterrupted colour
• A really low score can
mean you are writing
gibberish!

26. Understanding your report: word-
switching
• Keeping structure, changing some words

27. Understanding your report:
Commonly-used phrases
• Commonly-used phrases will come up as matches
• In a short
piece of work
this can give
a high match
• This is not a
problem!
Bad news – this is not a
short piece of work

28. Understanding your report: Technical
language
• Don’t try to paraphrase when there is one obvious correct
way of saying things
• Repeated use of this:
5-halogeno-2-methylbenzoxazole
will get you a high match but it is still the correct name
Bad news – your literature
review is not technical
writing

29. Understanding your report: Data
copied from other sources
• No need to rearrange
• Must be correctly acknowledged
• Images, graphs, data etc all count as direct quotes
This is
fine!

30. Understanding your report: Correctly
formatted reference list
This is
fine!

31. Understanding your report: Plagiarised
reference list
03 April 201731
This is NOT
fine!
You must
only
reference
sources you
have read
You must not cut
and paste another
bibliography

32. How your Turnitin submission works
You will have one TEST submission
This will give you an originality report, allowing you to
make changes before your final submission.
You will not be able to see the report for your final
submission
In case of a plagiarism charge, we will look at BOTH
reports

33. How to use your formative submission
• Check for blocks of colour
– Re-phrase coloured passages in your own words.
– Remember you have to acknowledge ideas as well as exact words
– SHORT quotations can be marked with quotation marks
• Acknowledge quotes, data, graphs etc
• Ensure you have in-text citations
• Only one chance: don’t waste it!

34. How to use other plagiarism checkers
03 April 201734
Turnitin at other institutions
Free online checkers

35. Fix this Turnitin
report
Which of the blocks of
colour are problematic?
Where should the
citations be?
Is the referencing correct?

36. Numeric
referencing!
Direct quotation in
“quotation marks”
Paraphrased this
information
Add citations wherever you have
used information from another
source or referred to it

37. Remember!
Turnitin is a tool, not an oracle!

38. Helping yourself
• Give yourself plenty of time!
• Make notes as you go along: keep track of your sources
• Keep in touch with your supervisor
• Read your work out loud: does it make sense?
• Use your spellchecker!
• Talk it over
• Leave it and come back a day later

39. How confident are you now?
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR39
Very confident
Not very
confident
Not at all
confident

40. Further help: 1
• Chemdraw support session Wednesday 8th February
11am JBP 01:53
– Chemdraw now available on all university machines!
• Endnote drop-in sessions
– Monday 13th February 2pm JBP 2.7a
– Tuesday 7th March 2pm JBP 2.7a
• Endnote material on Blackboard
• Anything else?
03 April 2017 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR40

41. Further help
• Workshops
• Good academic practice course in Blackboard: Deadline 20th
February
• Library website
• Academic Skills Advice
• Library:
– Floor 1 information desk 10-5 during the week
– Me: Sarah George; s.george@bradford.ac.uk
Room 1.8, JB Priestley Library
Tel 01274 233415

42. 03 April 2017 Sarah George s.george@bradford.ac.uk42