Today we spent quite a lot of class time on referencing so that everyone could see that getting citations right is time-consuming and requires an eye for detail. This was on my mind because Andrea and I and two other colleagues have been working on a Conference Paper which was due yesterday afternoon. Our instructions were very precise, just like yours are in assessment tasks.
1) We had to limit ourselves to 10 pages. If we submitted more the conference's editorial committee would not read the paper.
2) We had to use the APA system of referencing, not Harvard which is more familiar to us.
We found that it was quite difficult to manage word length and citations writing collaboratively with various people adding in-text citations and references. We were over length so between us we spent hours yesterday reducing the text, and ensuring that every citation was correct and the punctuation perfect. We couldn't take the chance of rejection after all the work we put in on the paper.
If you haven't had to think much about referencing before you started at uni it can be hard to adjust to all this attention to detail now. Suddenly you have to ensure that anyone reading your work can see what authors and ideas have influenced you. But the effort you put in now will be worth it. This is a basic skill for uni study and one you'll use all the time you're here and later in your career.
The next Writer's Circles at Mawson Lakes are on Tuesday, April 24th, the week before your Portfolios are due. There's no Wednesday session as it's the Anzac Day holiday.
Good writing.
About Me
- Learning Connection
- We are the staff at Learning Connection - the teaching and learning unit at the University of South Australia. We are learning advisers, academic developers, counsellors, international student advisers and careers staff. This is one of a collection of blogs brought to you to provide reflections, resources and community in learning.
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