Studying O Guide on how to write essays, do research and create bibliographies Wiltshire College

What do you think are the most important factors affecting your academic performance? Not enough background reading Poor Bibliographies

Where to start O It is never too soon to start preparing: make a plan in your diary with key target dates O Reading text books, journals, newspapers as well going on the internet. O Spending time on getting your material in the right order. O Allocating time for thorough proof reading

Things to think about O Plagiarism O Copyright O Do you have enough material O Quoting not cutting and pasting O A wide variety of vocabulary – use a thesaurus O Check out the grammar O Spell check and do a word count as you go along.

Tips O Work out what the task actually is. O Have a rough plan before you start your research. O Remember to research a range of sources. O Reference these sources in your essay.

Style and Citations O Loads of people like coming to Wiltshire College as it is really good. The things they do are different and nearly everyone gets a job. O Ofsted says Wiltshire College is attended by nearly 5000 students (2008: p.31). It was rated amongst the top ten Colleges in the UK (SSS, 2008: p.79)

Structure O Options : Chronology or Series O - tell a story or discuss different points O Introductory paragraph – describes what you will discuss Point 1 Point 2 or describe the events Point 3 Conclusion References

Referencing O Have a quick reference guide close at hand when writing your reference list. O Always write out the reference information before returning a book to the library. O Websites – if you do not have a date or an author, is the source valid?

Reference list O Author’s surname and initials O Publication date O Title (in italics) O Place of publication O Publisher O Book O Spanos, W., End of Education. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Journal Author’s surname, initials., Year. Title of article. Title of journal, Volume number (part), page numbers. O Harpo, T.H., Carbon monoxide poisoning in social housing. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 41(3), pp

Web site and ebook Surname, initials., Year (if known). Title [online]. (Edition if known). Place of publication: Publisher (if known). Available from: URL [Accessed date]. O Holland, M., Guide to citing Internet sources [online]. Poole: Bournemouth University. Available from: g/guide_to_citing_internet_sourc.html [Accessed 4 November 2002].

And finally…. O Read it through out loud O Spell check O Save it on your college hard drive O Backup at home