GNVQ Intermediate IT



Grading Theme Seeking Information  [guestbook]

Assignment evidence for the grading theme should contain a good bibliography.  The following is a guide to good practice that is looked for during assessment.  You should also ensure that your sources of information are valid.

 Harvard system
 Numeric system
 Quoting sources
 Book references
 Internet sources

You can quote a souce but not claim it as your original work.  This information is provided by Mrs Gill Batterley for the Advanced GNVQ IT on Learning Space, it is equally valid for the Intermediate GNVQ IT and has been repeated here by her kind permission:-



A GUIDE TO CITING SOURCES OF REFERENCE GOOD PRACTICE

Full guidance on citing sources of reference is available but here is a version covering the main items to help you get used to the correct systems.

Why cite references:

Meanings: There are two main systems - the Harvard system and the Numeric system.  It is important to be consistent - don't mix the 2 approaches.


HARVARD SYSTEM

You have to give the author and date of publication
eg:  The work of Dow (1964), Musgrave (1968) and Hansen (1969) concluded …

The reader can then locate the full description of the item you have cited by going to the alphabetical list of references you have provided at the end of your document.

If you give exact quotations see the QUOTATIONS section below.



NUMERIC SYSTEM

Numbers are inserted into the text that refer to a numerical sequence of references at the end of your document,
eg:  Dow7 and Jenkins9
Or
Dow (7) and Jenkins (9)

Page numbers can be given in your list of references.



QUOTATIONS

No plagiarism please, always acknowledge items you quote directly from an existing source!

When you are quoting from a document in your text the quotation is indicated by enclosing it in quotation marks (either single or double, ie '   '  or "   ").  When you omit words you use (full stops) ……… to indicate the omission and if you add some of your own words to the quotation you put your own words in square brackets [  ].

Eg: "Organisation structures are constantly evolving in order to overcome the deficiencies of earlier forms ………" (Lucey, 1995).



BOOK REFERENCES

A reference is the description of the source you have used.

You use the title page, rather then the cover of the book as your source of reference.  The order (including upper and lower case and punctuation) of the reference is:

AUTHOR, Date. Title. Edition. Place : Publisher.

eg:  LUCEY T, 1995. Management Information Systems.  7th edition. London: DP Publications Ltd

If there are multiple authors you follow the order in which the authors are listed on the title page.  If there are 4 or more authors, instead of listing them all you may use the words  et al
eg:  PEARCE, P, et al, 1976.  A model of output, employment, wages and prices in the UK. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

If you wish to quote from an encyclopaedia, dictionary or other similar publications (known as collaborative works), they can be referenced by the title:
eg:  The Europa World Yearbook, 1996. London: Europa Publications Ltd.



INTERNET SOURCES

The full citation is as follows (including upper and lower case and punctuation):

AUTHOR or EDITOR, year. Title (online). Place of publication: Publisher. Available at: <URL> [Accessed Date].

It is common to regard the organisation responsible for hosting the pages as the publisher but this may not necessarily be the case.  Therefore, the Place of publication and Publisher items are optional.

As a MINIMUM, you should cite the URL and the Access Date.  It is important to state when you visited the site as the location may change and you are informing the reader that the information was correct on a certain date.
Don't forget that web pages can be written and published by anyone, the authors are often not experts in a subject and care should be exercised when quoting such sources.  ALWAYS VALIDATE THEM.



ELECTRONIC MAIL

It is unlikely that you will need to reference electronic mail (discussion lists or personal) so details are not included here.  However, if you do find that you need to do this, guidance is available from your Course or Progress Tutor.

Mar 00


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