ReferencingPortsmouth: giving students what they really, really want

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Referencing_at_Portsmouth giving students what
they really, really want

• Anne Worden
• Faculty Librarian
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• University of Portsmouth

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Background

• Library seen as trusted provider of guidance on
  using Harvard APA
• Short printed guide published for 10 yrs
• Common queries published as FAQ on Library
  Website
• Students and staff ask librarians for advice
• Sliding scale of penalties introduced
• Increasing number of students asking for help
• Increasing questions about reference types not
  covered in APA manual needed wider consensus on
  format to be used

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The R_at_P Project

• Bid to University Learning Teaching Committee -
  Summer 2005
• Small group to drive things forward
• Plan for authority group to rule on formats not
  covered in APA manual
• Crucial early decisions on where content should
  reside
• Bulk of time then taken with inputting examples
  and finding suitable e.g.s to use

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Promotion of R_at_P

• Presented to Heads and Course Leaders Conference
  Sept 2006
• Flyers and post-it notes
• Demonstrated during student induction and
  re-induction sessions Oct-Nov 2006
• Link on the Library homepage

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Lessons learned

• Bid for University money - it gets official seal
  of approval and raises Library profile
• A small compact team with direct experience of
  answering referencing queries got things moving
• Having University Authority Group a good idea but
  difficult to get off ground
• More publicity needed!

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What students think we need to improve

• Quite low profile still, many on my course did
  not know about it - Education
• Students need to be made aware of it - Politics
• As a joint honours law student the information is
  only relevant for half of my assessments. Maybe
  the OSCOLA system could be added
• Some links havent been put in yet Creative
  Technology
• Complete it! - Health

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Hits on R_at_P Site
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Student views Easy to use?
N182
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Student views Does it meet needs?
N178
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What do the students say?

• Very useful, found it invaluable when stuck on
  how to reference Politics Yr 1
• It has really helped me understand what I am
  supposed to be doing Criminal Justice Distance
  Learner
• It is a great help. I have recommended it to my
  fellow students when they have referencing
  problems Part-time Education Student
• Its very, very useful! Languages Final Yr
• An easy to use helpful guide for something that
  is really important to academic work Law Final
  Yr

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What do staff say?

• The definitive guidance
• Criminal Justice lecturer
• Has made my responses more efficient, I can in
  some cases simply point the enquirer to it
• Academic Skills lecturer
• I advise students to have this link open in a 2nd
  window whilst they are working on their essays
• Politics lecturer
• I use it during tutorials with students,
  including final year students for dissertation
  work
• European Studies lecturer
• I think it is particularly useful for
  international students
• Public Administration lecturer

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Benefits of R_at_P

• Time saved on referencing queries subject
  librarians, enquiry staff, lecturers, students
• Single authoritative source available 24/7
  for students, lecturers and library staff
• Agreed new formats instantly available to all
• Good publicity for the Library