International Students, Writing and Referencing

Colin Neville

Research objectives

• To identify the perceptions and experiences of international students on referencing in their UK assignments

• To learn more about international students’ knowledge of plagiarism gained from previous studies in their home countries

• To consider the implications of findings for UK/HE institutions

Methodology

A total of 14 workshops at two universities during 2009/10

Aim: to identify & attempt to resolve referencing issues of concern to international students

“Have Your Say”: online survey: November 2009 to May 2010

Content analysis of replies

Numbers

• A total of 354 students participated in the survey.

• Of these, 255 (75%) were international students.

• Workshops: 224 visitors: 125 (56%) were international students.

• ‘Have Your Say’ : 130 international students.

Workshops: 224 visitors

• International students: 125: almost equally divided between postgraduate (49%) & undergraduate (51%)

• Home Students: 99 (93% undergraduate)

• Female: 116 (52%)

• Male: 108 (48%)

Most recurrent presenting issues at the workshops

Home Students:

1. Secondary Referencing (how to cite sources; which source should be referenced)

2. Integrating own ideas into assignments

3. Paraphrasing & summarising

4. Formatting/organising bibliographic lists

5. Plagiarism concerns

International Students:

1. Paraphrasing & summarising

2. Integrating own ideas into assignments

3. Secondary referencing (how to cite sources; which source should be referenced)

4. Plagiarism concerns

5. Referencing the spoken word

‘Have your say’

Students asked to comment on:

1. Their understandings of reasons for referencing in UK assignments

2. About their previous experiences of referencing in their home countries

3. About differences, if any, between how plagiarism is perceived & dealt with in home countries and in Britain

4. Response to referencing in UK – what, if any, were/are the ‘big issues’ for them?

‘Have Your Say’ Respondents – all international students

• 130 students: 83 (64%) postgraduate; 47 (36%) undergraduate

• Students from 45 countries

• Studying at 17 UK institutions of HE

• Female: 78 (60%)

• Male: 52 (40%)

Previous experience of referencing

Level of experience N:128

Undergraduate (n:45)

Postgraduate (n:83)

None (or very little): 19 students (15%)

8 students (18%) 11 students (13%)

Some previous experience:52 students (41%)

18 students (40%) 34 students (41%)

Same/similar experience:57 students (45%)

19 students (42%) 38 students (46%)

No Experience (or very little): 15%

“…we did not do any referencing at all, and essay writing is not very common”

In most cases, written or oral exams & tests were the predominant forms of assessment in the home countries, so referencing, UK style, not required, although students were expected to know the main theorists and commentators in their discipline.

Some previous experience (41%); one or more of:• No experience of citing sources in the text of their

assignments; usually only had to to supply a bibliography, or list of sources consulted;

• Referencing was only required in the final stages of their degree courses, so limited experiences prior to starting UK courses;

• Enforcement of referencing conventions in home countries not as strict as in Britain;

• Differences noted between their home countries and the UK in relation to sources that needed to be referenced, e.g. what constituted common knowledge

Knowledge of Plagiarism

Previous knowledge N:122

Undergraduate (n:41) Postgraduate (n:81)

No, or very little, knowledge: subject not discussed, or not treated seriouslyAll: 24 students (20%)

6 (15%) 18 (22%)

Plagiarism discouraged, but emphasis not as great as in UK; or there was a different emphasisAll: 43 students (35%)

14 (34%) 29 (36%)

No difference, or very little, to the UKAll: 54 (44%)

21 (51%) 33 (41%)

Treated & dealt with more seriously in home country

1

No, or very little, previous knowledge (20%)

“ I heard the word plagiarism for the first time in the UK, what it meant and the punishment attached to it. Comparing this to my home country, I can tell that over 90% of students, including myself, are involved in plagiarism.

And there is no one to check it like it is done in Britain. Just get someone’s work, make it your own and submit. You get your marks…”

Plagiarism discouraged, but emphasis not as great as in UK; or there was a different emphasis (35%)

“Of course plagiarism is perceived as something wrong in my country too. But there is no such obsession about it, and even if you say something another has said without referencing, no will care about it.”

Referencing Issues

No ‘big issues’: 49% of ‘Have Your Say’ respondents

“It was challenging with my first assignment, but it has been improved upon. In addition, it has improved my critical writing skill”

Reasons for Referencing

1. Avoid accusations of plagiarism (46%)2. Acknowledgement (45%)3. Support for arguments (32%)4. Identify sources of work cited in assignments

(29%)5. Demonstrate extent of reading (17%)6. Identify gaps in research; support new

perspectives: 3 students (2%)

Main issues

• ‘General complexity’ (19%)

• Concerns about plagiarism (7%)

• Too many referencing styles (7%)

• Time related (6%)

• Tutor inconsistencies (5%)

Discussion

• A quarter of all the international students in this survey had not experienced any major issues with referencing (50% of ‘Have your Say’ respondents)

• Previous experiences of referencing in home countries had prepared many of them; or they had learned quickly at host UK institutions

• However, for half the ‘Have Your Say’ respondents, referencing (and course work writing) was a new, or relatively new, experience.

• Mixed experiences reported from the same countries, which suggests that previous educational experiences, rather than culture, is a significant factor in understanding student difficulties in managing sources.

Anxiety about plagiarism a recurring feature in both workshops & the ‘Have Your Say’ survey.

Two elements to this:

1. Difficulties with English: students unsure if their summary of a particular text was ‘acceptable’ enough, both in terms of correct English, and the avoidance of plagiarism.

2. Ownership of ideas: are ‘their own ideas’, really ‘their own’?

Secondary referencing

Secondary references often chosen because:

(a) often more accessible, both in terms of locating the material, and in the clarity of the language used by writers; and(b) secondary source writers can present succinct critiques of the original theories – useful for students asked to be ‘critical’ of theories.

Writing Difficulties

Referencing concerns of international students blend with the other academic writing difficulties they can experience

Paraphrasing

‘Academic’ versus

own style of writing

Referencing

Three perspectives on referencing:

Defensive

Altruistic

Creative

Why reference?

Is the ‘defensive’ perspective on referencing a predominant one in the minds of many students?

(nearly half the online respondents saw the main purpose of referencing in terms of avoidance of plagiarism)

“Any rhythm that the resulting prose might have possessed had been destroyed through being referenced to death” (Sanders, 2009)

Support for students

For many international students on one year taught Master’s Programmes, they are expected to adjust and learn fast – perhaps too fast?

Can we do more in the originating countries at the point of contact with prospective students?

Teaching Referencing

• Is it done too early, with too much attention to the ‘how to’, rather than the ‘why’ elements?

• Does the teaching of referencing and avoidance of plagiarism need to more integrated into the curriculum and related more directly to module assessment?

Author- Name styles Consecutive Numbering

Recurrent Numbering

British Standard (BS) Name-date (Harvard)

Variants: APA MLA MHRA Chicago-Turabian Council of Science Editors (CSE)

BS: Footnote or ‘Running Notes’ style

Variants: MHRA Chicago -Turabian Oxford: Oscola

BS: Numeric

Variants: Vancouver IEEE Council of Science Editors (CSE)

Too many referencing styles? Do we need 14?

Finally….

• What is your experience?

• What are your comments?

• Any questions?

Full report available from C.Neville@bradford.ac.uk