Masters & Doctoral Programme 
 in Humanities and Cultural Studies 

Academic Work Guidelines 

 

Tips for writing essays

  1. Formulate a central idea which will animate your essay. Although it is important to be flexible, and the idea may well change during the process of reading and research, you should, at the initial stage, have a sense of the essay’s ‘concept’. It is often helpful to build your essays around the posing and resolving of a problem.
  2. Develop an argument that will allow you to discuss and illustrate your idea in an appropriate structure. The discussion can reflect, if appropriate, the rough edges and uncertain aspects of the idea.
  3. There is a place for intuition and imagination in intellectual work. It takes time to sift through material. In the process of structuring the argument or arranging ideas into a pattern, the shape and structure that emerges may suggest a further theoretical development.
  4. Often a close analysis of visual arts, film or TV material can fill out, or confirm, an intuitive judgement. Use this to back your argument where it seems relevant.
  5. Always leave enough time to draw out the implications of your argument at the end of an essay. This should not be a summary, so much as a reflection on the material discussed.
  6. Try always to plan your writing in such a way that you have time for more than one draft.

In summary, bear in mind that in marking the essays the following elements will be valued:

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General referencing guidelines

You must use a proper, recognised system of referencing in your coursework and dissertation. It is necessary for every student to demonstrate a high level of understanding and competence in scholarly referencing in order to pass the MRes or proceed into the doctoral programme.

What follows describes two referencing systems: the footnote/endnote system, and the Harvard system. The London Consortium recommends the use of either. You may also use another system, such as that set out in the MLA Handbook, or the Chicago Manual of Style, provided it is used consistently.

Generic Conventions
The following conditions apply both to the footnote/endnote system and to the Harvard system. Titles of complete, separately-published works (books, films, etc) are underlined or italicised. Items which form part of separately published works - poems, essays, chapters, short stories, etc. - are given in single inverted commas. Thus, T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, which was a separately published work, is given in italics or underlined; his poem ‘Gerontion’ was never published separately and is therefore given in single inverted commas.

It is conventional in British academic writing and publishing to put full stops and commas after (single) inverted commas. In the US, punctuation is regularly given inside (double) inverted commas. Thus:

David Trotter, ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Modern Life’, Critical Quarterly, 42 (2000), pp. 36-59. (UK style)

David Trotter, "The Psychopathology of Everyday Modern Life," Critical Quarterly, 42 (2000), pp. 36-59. (US style)

The former is preferred, unless you are opting for a US system of referencing such as the Chicago Manual of Style, which you must then use consistently.
Never put a comma before an opening bracket.

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Footnote referencing system

End Notes or Footnotes?

Either is acceptable, but do not combine them. Numbers for notes are placed, in superscript arabic numerals (not roman numerals), after punctuation, such as commas or full stops, and quotation marks. Thus: This was widely believed to have been `brought about by witchcraft’.1 You use a different style of reference depending on whether it is the first time within your essay or dissertation that you have referred to a work, or is a subsequent reference.

First References

i. Books
The first reference to a book should be given as follows:
Derek Gregory, Geographical Imaginations (Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1994), p. 90.
or
Derek Gregory, Geographical Imaginations (Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1994), p. 90.

(Use either italics or underlining for the titles of complete works, but do so consistently - do not mix them. Wherever italics are used in the examples that follow, underlining may be substituted.)

Always give the full title and subtitle of a book. Always specify which edition of a book you are using if it is not the first edition of the work in question, e.g.

Steven Connor, Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary, 2nd edn. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1996).

ii Articles in Journals and Periodicals
The first reference to an article in a periodical should be given as follows:
David Trotter, ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Modern Life’, Critical Quarterly, 42 (2000), pp. 36-59.

iii Volumes of Essays
The first reference to a work in a collection of essays should be given thus:
Timothy Brennan, ‘The National Longing for Form’, in Nation and Narration, ed. Homi Bhabha (London and New York: Routledge, 1990), pp. 44-70.

iv. Translated Works
Always give names of translators, whether of complete works, or of chapters, essays, or other items within complete works, thus:
Jean-François Lyotard, The Differend: Phrases in Dispute, trans. Georges Van Den Abbeele (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988)

v Unpublished Theses
In the first instance, unpublished dissertations should be cited thus:
Philippa Walker, ‘ "Pulling the Devil’s Kingdom Down": Gender and Popular Culture in the Salvation Army, 1865-1890’ (Rutgers University Ph.D Dissertation, 1991), p. 15.

vi Films
Toy Story, dir. John Lasseter, Disney, 1995

Subsequent References

After the first, full reference, a shortened form should be used, for example: Gregory, Geographical Imaginations, p. 90; Trotter, ‘Psychopathology’ p. 367; and so on. Abbreviated form of titles is preferable to the use of Latin abbreviations such as op. cit. (the work cited) or ibid. (in that same place). In fact, avoid op. cit. altogether. Ibid should be used where the reference is to the exact same, single work referred to in the immediately preceding note. If all details are the same (even the page number), Ibid may stand alone as a reference. If the pages referred to are different, then write, for example, ‘Ibid, p. 13.’

Abbreviations

If you make repeated reference to a single work in your text, you may identify an abbreviation in the first full reference and include all subsequent references in your own text, e.g.:

Steven Connor, Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary, 2nd edn. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996). References hereafter to PC, in my text.

References to this text would then appear in brackets in your own text, thus: (PC, 232)
You may also, at the beginning of your essay or dissertation, and on a separate page, list the abbreviations of the titles of the most commonly used sources in your essay or dissertation. For example:

GI: Derek Gregory, Geographical Imaginations (Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1994).

References may then appear in brackets in your own text, thus: (GI, 90)

Bibliography/List of Works Cited

It is best to restrict items in your Bibliography or List of Works Cited (the latter is a preferable name), to works to which you have made reference in your text. In the List of Works Cited, the same information should be given as in the first reference exemplified above, but with slightly different punctuation and layout. The name of the author should be inverted (i.e. surname first), and the principal items of information - author, title, publication details - should be separated by full stops rather than commas. Publication details should not be enclosed in brackets. Examples:

Gregory, Derek. Geographical Imaginations. Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1994.
Connor, Steven. Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1996.
Brennan, Timothy. ‘The National Longing for Form’. In Nation and Narration, ed. Homi Bhabha, London and New York: Routledge, 1990, pp. 44-70.
Trotter, David. ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Modern Life’. Critical Quarterly, 42 (2000), pp. 36-59.
Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Disney, 1995.

To aid your reader in finding particular items, it is preferable not to subdivide your List of Works Cited in different categories of work. The exception to this is archival or other materials.

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Harvard/author-date referencing system

The Harvard, or author-date system dispenses with the need for footnotes or endnotes. One of the great advantages of the Harvard system is that it saves words and can help considerably in fitting your dissertation or thesis into its word limit. It is also a useful discipline to deny yourself the opportunity of settling scores, or engaging in self-indulgent speculations and skirmishes in unnecessary notes; you should not use notes at all when using the Harvard system.

References are given in the text of the essay or dissertation by author surname, date and page number, thus: (Gregory 1994, 90); (Gregory 1993b, 61). All works to which reference is made in the essay or dissertation are given in a single alphabetical list at the end. The form of the reference given follows that of the standard Bibliography/Works Cited reference given above, with the exception that the date is given immediately after the author’s name, e.g.:

Gregory, Derek (1994). Geographical Imaginations. Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Connor, Steven (1996). Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Brennan, Timothy (1990). ‘The National Longing for Form’. In Nation and Narration, ed. Homi Bhabha, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 44-70.
Trotter, David (2000). ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Modern Life’. Critical Quarterly, 42, pp. 36-59.

Where reference is made to more than one work by the same author, these are listed in chronological order. Where reference is made to more than one work by an author published in a single year, they are distinguished as 1993a, 1993b and so on.

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Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the most common form of examination offence encountered in universities, partly because of the emphasis now placed on work prepared by candidates unsupervised in their own time, but also because many students fall into it unintentionally, through ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism. Even if unintentional, it will still be considered an examination offence.

This section of the Course Handbook is intended to explain clearly what plagiarism is, and how you can avoid it. Acknowledgement is made to guidance issued by the USA Modern Language Association (MLA, 1998).

Plagiarism is the publication of borrowed thoughts as original, or in other words, passing off someone else’s work as your own. In any form, plagiarism is unacceptable in the Consortium, as it interferes with the proper assessment of students’ academic ability.

Plagiarism has been defined as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Lindey, 1952, p2). Therefore, to use another person’s ideas or expressions or data in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarise.

Borrowing others’ words, ideas or data without acknowledgement

It is acceptable, in your work, to use the words and thoughts of another person or data that another person has gathered but the borrowed material must not appear to be your creation. This includes essays, practical and research reports written by other students including those from previous years, whether you have their permission or not. It also applies to both ‘hard-copy’ material and electronic material, such as Internet documents. Examples include exactly reproducing or closely paraphrasing someone else’s form of words, or the form of their argument.

This form of plagiarism may often be unintentional, caused by making notes from sources such as books or journals without also noting the source, and then repeating those notes in an essay without acknowledging that they are the data, words or ideas belonging to someone else. Guard against this by keeping careful notes that distinguish between your own ideas and researched material and those you obtained from others. Then acknowledge the source.

Example:

Original source:
"To work as part of a team, to be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most important, to take on board both care for the individual and the community, are essential aspects of a doctor’s role today."
Greengross, Sally (1997), “What Patients want from their Doctors”, Choosing Tomorrow’s Doctors, ed. Allen I, Brown PJ, Hughes P, Policy Studies Institute, London.

Plagiarism:
"The essential aspects of a doctor’s role today are to work as part of a team, be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most importantly, to take on board both care for the individual and the community."

Acceptable:
"One social writer believes that the essential aspects of a doctor’s role today are to work as part of a team, be able and prepared to continue to learn throughout one’s career, and, most importantly, to take on board both care for the individual and the community (Greengross, 1997)."

In each revision, the inclusion of the author’s name acknowledges whose ideas these originally were (not the student’s) and the reference refers the reader to the full location of the work when combined with a footnote or bibliography. Note that in the second example, the argument was paraphrased – but even so, this is plagiarism of the idea without acknowledgement of whose idea this really is.

In writing any work, therefore (whether for assessment or not) you should document everything that you borrow – not only direct quotations and paraphrases but also information and ideas. There are, of course, some common-sense exceptions to this, such as familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge.

But you must indicate the source of any appropriated material that readers might otherwise mistake for your own. If in doubt, cite your source or sources.

Copying material verbatim

Another example of plagiarism is the verbatim copying of chunks of material from another source without acknowledgement even where they are accepted facts because you are still borrowing the phrasing and the order and the idea that this is a correct and complete list. Also, you might be infringing copyright (see below).

Re-submission of work

Another form of plagiarism is submitting work you previously submitted before for another assignment. While this is obviously not the same as representing someone else’s ideas as your own, it is a form of self-plagiarism and is another form of cheating. If you want to re-work a paper for an assignment, ask your lecture whether this is acceptable, and acknowledge your re-working in a preface.

Collaboration and collusion

In collaborative work (if this is permitted by the lecturer) joint participation in research and writing does not constitute plagiarism in itself, provided that credit is given for all contributions. One way would be to state in a preface who did what; another, if roles and contributions were merged and truly shared, would be to acknowledge all concerned equally. However, where collaborative projects are allowed, it is usually a requirement that each individual’s contribution and work is distinguishable, so check with your lecturer. Usually, collusion with another candidate on assessed work (such as sharing chunks of writing or copying bits from each other) is NOT allowed.
Copyright infringement
Finally, you must guard against copyright infringement. Even if you acknowledge the source, reproducing a significant portion of any document (including material on the Internet) without permission is a breach of copyright, and a legal offence. You may summarise, paraphrase and make brief quotations (as I have done from my sources), but more than this risks infringing copyright.

References:

Modern Language Association (1998), Guide for Writers of Research Papers (4th edition), MLA, New York
Lindey, A (1952), Plagiarism and Originality, Harper, New York.

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