AIBU - need help to learn how to do referencing asap and can't find it.

[wantmorenow]

Have started online course and have weekly formative assignments which should be referenced and include citations etc. I don't know how to organise this and use word or software to help. I have googled and am overwhelmed with information. I have asked for help from course leaders but without success. First week I was literally counting the alphabet on my fingers and cut and pasting. This can't be right.

I know what needs to be included just not how to do it efficiently. Word, mendeley, ... I am old school. these are just google search results. My old essays were done by hand, PCs hadn't been invented lol. Not quite true but very close.

Please can any more knowledgeable people out there help? I'm wasting so much time that I don't have and the pace of work is huge. I don't have time to reinvent the wheel. A lot of sources will be used more than once - a list per essay, a central list to import. Sorry I am so stressed and out of depth.

Thanks.

What is the piece of literature you're trying to reference? Can you search for it on google scholar and add it into Mendeley that way, using the method I mentioned in my post above?

@wantmorenow seconding the suggestion to check with the university library - they will be very happy to help you with this and should have some good explanations of how referencing works on their website. They may even recommend a software to use if you'd like to use one. If you're really stuck there should be someone at the library you can email or video chat with who can explain further about getting started with referencing.

There are two things I evangelise about - menstrual cups and referencing software. They don't suit everyone but they're the sort of thing that if you try it and get the hang of it you never go back!

Brilliant. Thanks. Will go for a stretch of legs and a cuppa. Head in the shed knowing DP going for test. We live 3 hours apart. He's on his own, recently given up smoking, male, in fifties and a bit overweight. He's only a tiny bit ill but enough to warrant test.

I will have a go at Google scholar into mendeley in a bit. May be back. 👍 😁

Menstrual cup no longer needed (menopause) but referencing software does seem a no brained. Will definitely feedback to uni that this should be addressed. We have a summative assessment every 6 weeks and this is no time at all to learn this skill on top of the vast reading without support. It's a part-time course too so working full-time as well.

Keeping me busy. 🤓

I'm a librarian and it's my job to help with this stuff :) A lot of people have offered to help but I just want to share a wee tip. If you go to Google Scholar and put the title of your book/article/resource in and search, it will bring up a record for that resource. At the bottom of the record there will be a quotation mark symbol ("). If you click this it will show you how to reference that resource in different styles. It's not 100% accurate all the time so you will need to check, but it's a good guide to see if what you are doing is correct.

Also, your institution should have librarians available but they are probably working from home at the moment. Best way to find contact details for help would be to search the uni or college's website for the library or try twitter as most libraries nowadays will be accessible there. Your institution will also have referencing guidance so it might be worth searching the site for this too. (or just google "referencing" + your institute's name.

Thank you

Also, if you are struggling with recalling the resources you've used, definitely use a referencing software. Basically you download the information into it as you go and it keeps track of what you've used. Mendeley is free I think and there will be YouTube guides on how to use it. A lot of unis also offer referencing software for use for their students and it would be the library you would need to contact to ask :)

Yes I think the problem is trying to do it within TALIS (which is always more clunky than it should be). I'd also suggest googling the resource and citing it directly.

It sort of sounds like you are trying to reference works that you have not actually read though, if you don't have access to them -- is that right?

Look on the library website - there will be lots of learning materials and details to contact library staff. This is their bread and butter and they'll be glad to help!

I'm an academic and I use Endnote - you can't drag and drop a reference though, and I'm not sure if you can in Mendeley either, I think you have to export and then import.
I sometimes end up Googling the article title, going to the Google Scholar link, pressing "export to Endnote" and then importing in Endnote.

Anyway, ask the library staff.

Microsoft word 365 has a tool I think, for referencing on the tool bar?

You can get a free trial.

I've actually now switched to Zotero and that gives me a little button on my Firefox taskbar that imports whatever page I'm on into my library. It's obviously great fr academic references because if I'm reading an article it'll import the reference (plus the pdf) straight into the library but it also works on webpages, including adding the last accessed date, which is quite handy when working with grey literature.

Your course should specify which style of referencing they use, do you have a course hand book ? You may be able to find this information on the university web page. I've done 3 university courses and referencing is something most students find hard. I usually reference as I go and then tidy it up at the end. Do you have a tutor you could ring or any students on your course you could ask advice ?

I second that library staff are great at helping with this kind of thing. Sometimes they offer courses on referencing too.

Well I have taken comments on board. Rang their library help line - was directed to the email address of their go to person, email back from them cc'd to the librarian for my course. all in less than an hour.

I have a 1-2-1 training session at 10 tomorrow by Zoom.

So impressed with their efficiency. The whole experience so far has surpassed my expectations. My background is schools and FE and we cannot compare in terms of expertise, staffing and resources. We are shocking at this type of support - too few of us with too little time and little or no resources or systems.

Just the little matter of doing the reading and studying now. :-)

How many references per assignment are you talking about? If it's only a handful, just find out what format your institution wants, use either a printed guide or something like CiteEmRight and do them manually. Then arrange into alphabetical order. It's really not a big deal. If you are writing a 10,000 word dissertation or something it might be worth getting to grips with Mendeley or similar.

Starting off small but ultimately yes it will be a dissertation.

It's a skill which has been overlooked in the induction (I think) and as I'm distance I have no-one to learn from except google until today. On it now.

That's brilliant @wantmorenow, hope your 1-1 session is useful! I am biased because I'm a university librarian too but I'm pleased you've already had a good experience with the library. Keep in touch with them throughout your course - honestly, no question is too small for us to deal with, and we're always happy to help, so please do keep asking as much as you need to.

Nothing makes a university librarian happier than helping a student. Honestly, you will be making their day by keeping in regular contact and asking for any help and support you need throughout your course. They are there to support you in developing the skills for your degree just as much as your lecturers are.

Quick update - she actually helped me for a full hour and was awesome. Ended up using Mendeley as it links to my office 365 account and the university preferred software couldn't be added without going via IT services for additional permissions

There was a training module i had missed in the induction package oops but didn't cover mendeley so i wouldn't have been able to access the features fully anyway. My error.

I shared my screen and she helped with everything - i am now in charge of my reading lists and references - need lots of practice now though so I don't forget it.

So impressed with her and my new Uni. Happy Student and awesome librarians. :-)

Brilliant news @wantmorenow - well done you for persevering. With that approach you will do brilliantly in your degree I am sure.