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102 STUDY SKILLS FOR PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS
• If you give a fact, always give the source if you possibly can.
• If you make an assertion or claim that is not your own, give the source.
• Distinguish between primary and secondary sources. A primary source is the
place where an idea or result first appeared – usually a monograph or a journal
article. A secondary source is one that re-describes that idea or result – for
example, a textbook. If you have only read the secondary source, but want to
refer to the primary source, this must be made clear in your referencing.
• See Appendix 1 for more detailed advice on formatting references.
• There is now excellent bibliographic software (see page 83) available for
organizing references and creating reference lists as you write. Many institutions
make this available on their intranets and may supply copies for you
to put on your own PC at minimal cost. This is probably useful only if you
are writing something very long like a PhD thesis or many articles on the
same topic, as your lecturer probably does, but it might be worth considering.
Take advice from your tutor.
Tips: Referencing
➢ Master the tedious detail about formatting references as early on in your
course as possible, so that it becomes automatic as you write.
➢ Keep any advice you have been given on referencing in front of you when
you write, rather than looking it up afterwards and finding you have to
change everything.
➢ As well as using referencing guides like Appendix 1 and the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001), it is helpful
to have a copy of an APA journal article beside you to act as a model. You
can use this book too. We have tried to keep to APA rules – apart, of
course, from the deliberate errors.
Making good use of feedback
The point of writing essays is to learn how to improve. The more feedback you
can obtain, the better. Marks for essays early in the course do not usually count
towards your degree class, but they are a very good way of checking you progress
and developing your skills as a psychologist in using material and data.
Never just look at the mark, feedback is the best way of learning and improving
your work. If your tutor offers written comments, go through them carefully,
make sure you understand them and identify ways you should be doing things
differently. Sometimes lecturers have developed sheets summarizing the most
common mistakes that people tend to make, rather than writing individual