Referencing@Portsmouth: giving students what they really, really want

1. Referencing@Portsmouth: giving students what they really, really want Anne Worden Faculty Librarian: Humanities and Social Sciences University of Portsmouth

2. 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

3. The R@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

13. Promotion of R@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

14. 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!

15. 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 haven’t been put in yet– Creative Technology • Complete it! - Health

16. Hits on R@P Site

17. Student views: Easy to use? N=182

18. Student views: Does it meet needs? N=178

19. 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 • It’s very, very useful! – Languages Final Yr • An easy to use helpful guide for something that is really important to academic work– Law Final Yr

20. 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

21. Benefits of R@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