Essay writing, thesis preparation, referencing and style guides

Do you need help with writing an essay or assignment? Not sure how to refer to the sources you are quoting? Need help compiling your bibliography? On this page I have provided information about useful web resources and also resources that are available in the Barr Smith Library.

Essay writing guides

Essay Writing Guide

Prepared by the University of Adelaide Discipline of English, this page provides a range of guidelines and helpful advice for essay writing. It has been written with Level I English students in mind, but it's also a very useful resource for Linguistics students.

The Purdue University On-line Writing Lab

Probably the best known of the so-called Online Writing Laboratories [OWLs], the Purdue University site contains hints on preparing papers and assignments and has links to other, similar sites.

Sources: their use and acknowledgement

This easy-to-read guide from Dartmouth College gives specific information on why, when, and how to cite print or electronic sources. It clearly defines plagiarism and admonishes, "If in doubt about whether or not to cite a source, cite." The examples cover the source types most frequently cited in papers by undergraduate writers, using four citation styles.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

'Paradigm is an interactive, menu-driven, online writer's guide and handbook written in HTML and distributed freely over the WWW. It uses hypertext structure to create a web of links and text frames that you can navigate quickly and easily by clicking your desired choice.
Paradigm is intended to be useful for all writers, from inexperienced to advanced. To get the most from the website, take time to explore its components. Choose a topic that interests you, read the discussion, do an activity, move to another topic. Sense how the topics relate to your own needs and interests. Some writers, for instance, will want to practice Editing, while others will be more interested in Discovering ideas.'

Centre for Learning and Professional Development

The University of Adelaide's Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD) conducts regular workshops for undergraduate and postgraduate students on topics such as academic literacy, postgraduate research writing and thesis writing. They also offer classes for students studying English as a second language.
I suggest that you take full advantage of their excellent courses.

Printed guides to essay writing

There's an excellent book in the Barr Smith Library's Reference collection (call number is Ref. colln. 808.02 A547a.4) which provides very useful guidelines and information on writing an assignment or thesis at tertiary level. Have a look at Assignment and thesis writing, 4th edition, by Jonathan Anderson and Millicent Poole [Milton, Qld., Wiley, 2001]. I reckon it's one of the best of its type.

Another excellent book on how to do research, and write a paper, is the tried and true Kate Turabian's A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations. Now in its 7th edition, it has been thoroughly revised by Wayne C. Booth. Besides the copy in our Reference collection we have two more copies in the Main collection that you can borrow.

If you want an in-depth treatment of writing at the tertiary level, you'll probably do no better than Structures and strategies: an introduction to academic writing by Lloyd Davis and Susan McKay [South Melbourne, Macmillan Education, 1996]. You'll find it in the Main collection at 808.42 D262s.

Need more? Search the Library Catalogue under the Subject Heading Academic writing

Style guides and manuals

If you are unsure about spelling, grammar, punctuation, use of capital letters, abbreviations, and so on, there are several reputable reference works that will give you authoritative advice.

My preferred source of information on style and accapted usage is The Oxford style manual. This excellent and comprehensive resource is actually two books in one: it contains both The Oxford guide to style and The Oxford dictionary for writers and editors.
You'll find a copy in the Barr Smith Library Reference collection at call number 808.027 R615o.

Another useful work is the Style manual for authors, editors and printers, currently in its 6th edition, 2002. First issued by the Australian Government Publishing Service in 1966, it has been widely adopted as an authority on Australian usage.
There's a copy in the Barr Smith Library Reference collection at call number 808.027 A938.6; earlier editions are in the Main collection at call number 655.2 A938.

For information on Australian usage, however, I heartily recommend The Cambridge Australian English style guide:

Peters, Pam (1995) The Cambridge Australian English style guide.
Pam Peters is a scholar and trained linguist who writes with authority, a great deal of style, and considerable humour. Her principles of style guidance are founded on descriptive accounts of actual language drawn from a wide variety of sources. I often find myself reading onwards through the entries, long after I have checked the word I was seeking guidance upon, for sheer pleasure. There's a copy in the Barr Smith Library Reference collection at 428 C178

Creating a list of references and/or a bibliography

When you write an essay or a thesis you must refer to (or cite) the works that you quote from or refer to in your text. References (sometimes called citations) will appear in the body of your text and in the list of references. The list of references is the final section of your assignment and lists all the works to which you have referred in the body of that assignment.
A bibliography is different in that it lists all the works that you have consulted during your research for the assignment, whether you have actually referred to them in the text of your essay or not. Normally a list of references is used unless a bibliography is specifically required by your lecturer.
The list of references is arranged alphabetically by author/title and is not numbered.

A reference (or citation) acknowledges the work of the author you have consulted and enables another researcher, or the person marking your essay, to locate the cited item. Correct referencing is not simply a courtesy: it is an academic imperative.
You should use a definite referencing style which is simply a standardised way of writing down the elements of a book or journal article, or other source of information, such as an website.

What is a reference (or citation)?

If you are not sure what is meant by a reference or citation, or how to tell the difference between a reference in the form of a journal article, a chapter in a book or a whole book, help is at hand. The Library has an excellent tutorial Understanding Citations that will make everything clear.

The Harvard (or Author-Date) style

Linguistics students are expected to prepare their list of references, and bibliography if that is asked for, using the Harvard (sometimes referred to as the Author-Date or In-Text) style. The Library has prepared a useful guide on how to use the Harvard style to compile a list of references or bibliography:

An introduction to the author-date (Harvard) referencing system

A comprehensive description followed by numerous examples of the Harvard style conventions.

Here's another site that also provides details on using the Harvard style:

The Harvard or In-Text method

General principles and examples for several publication types.

Web referencing

A question that I am often asked these days is how to cite information that you find on the web, and how to construct references to other electronic sources such as online journals.
Here are some places to go to for information on web and e-resource referencing:

Harvard System for electronic sources

This page provides details of how to reference electronic sources using the Harvard system, with separate sections, with examples on Reference to an Electronic book (e-book); to part of an Electronic book; to an Electronic journal; to E-mail discussion lists; to Personal electronic communications (e-mail).

Columbia Guide to Online Style

Useful summaries from the book The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor (2nd edition, Columbia UP, 2006). A guide to locating, translating, and using the elements of citation for both a humanities style (MLA and Chicago) and a scientific style (APA and CBE) for electronically-accessed sources. It even includes a section on how to reference information derived from emails.
We have a copy of the book in our Reference collection at call number 808.027 W181c.2.

Citation Guides for Electronic Documents

Maintained by IFLA: the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Useful links for referencing electronic resources.

Other style systems

If you would prefer to employ a style other than Harvard, there are quite a few to choose from. Be sure to check first with your supervisor, though.

The following links will provide information on some of the other style systems you can use:

Thesis preparation

Your thesis - before you start

I strongly suggest that you read and absorb the advice that my friend Joy McEntee offers to her English Discipline students. Her Guide for Higher Degree Students is essential reading for all students, including those in the Linguistics discipline.

Thesis writing

University of Adelaide: Thesis specifications

If you are embarking on a PhD or Masters thesis you'll need to consult the the University of Adelaide's Program Rules, especially the Specifications for thesis section which starts on page 15 of the Rules. [The Specifications for Thesis are also listed on the Adelaide Graduate Centre website.]
I am the Library's nominated person for this section, and I'm always happy to offer advice on both the formal presentation requirements (with my 'official' hat on) or to talk to you as a sympathetic fellow thesis-submitter (with my 'human being' hat on).

EndNote bibliographic software

EndNote is a specialised database program for managing bibliographic references. Database references can be sorted and searched, and references can be automatically imported from networked Library databases. EndNote records can be automatically incorporated, with the appropriate reference style, into your essay or thesis, or into a paper for publication.
The University of Adelaide has a site licence for EndNote, which means it is freely available to staff and students your Departmental computing support officer.
Detailed information on EndNote is available on the Library's website.
An online tutorial on the use of the EndNote package is an excellent, self-paced way of learning how to use the program effectively.

Australasian Digital Theses program

The Australasian Digital Theses program is a national collaborative program which aims to establish a distributed database of digital versions of theses produced by postgraduate research students at Australian universities.
I strongly urge you to deposit your own thesis.

Plagiarism

The University has very strict rules on plagiarism; you should carefully read and fully absorb the following extract:

Plagiarism and what to document
(from Colin Norman, Writing essays: A Short Guide)

By no stretch of the imagination is plagiarism merely a form of 'borrowing' - when does the plagiarist ever return what has been taken? Margot Northey's observations are direct and to the point: "plagiarism is a form of stealing: as with other offences against the law, ignorance is no excuse". Here is a specific list of materials which must be acknowledged either in your text or in the appropriate endnote:

• 1. Direct quotation of someone else's words: Acknowledge quotations long and short, including apt turns of phrase. Always place a direct quotation within quotation marks, and acknowledge the source.
• 2. Paraphrases of someone else's words: a good essay will often present derived material, not as direct quotation, but in your own words. The source of the paraphrase must nonetheless be acknowledged scrupulously.
• 3. Facts and information derived from someone else: Acknowledge any material that is less than obviously familiar, or that is in some degree conjectural or open to interpretation.
• 4. Ideas derived from someone else: Acknowledge not only those ideas which the original source states plainly or emphatically, but also someone else's broad line of argument, or specific method of leading towards a particular conclusion.

Matters of common knowledge (the approximate circumference of the earth, or the fact that Shakespeare was associated with the Globe Theatre) need not be acknowledged, and the same goes for familiar proverbs or sayings (phrases from the Bible, for example.)

Plagiarism may arise inadvertently from taking careless notes. As you summarize a source, carefully distinguish between direct quotation, paraphrases, and original ideas which may occur to you in the process of reading and thinking. Note also that merely including a source in the list of works cited does not in itself constitute acknowledgement of derived materials. Acknowledgements must be made at appropriate junctures in your text, or in endnotes.

Under no circumstances will plagiarism by Linguistics students be excused or condoned. It is intellectual theft. As stated above, ignorance is no excuse. Work in which plagiarism is detected will be penalised, and a further offence will be dealt with severely.

If you need more information you should consult the University's Centre for Learning and Professional Development Plagiarism information for students page.

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This page was created and is maintained by Alan Keig