Skip to Main Content

Research Skills: Start

 What is St Pius' referencing style? 

Your information sources should be given as citations formatted in APA 7th Edition; this is the College preferred style for all subjects. The College's online citation generator, Citemaker,  helps you create citations in this format.

Use these pages to help you make a bibliography for your assessment task: 
Bibliography
Using Citemaker  

 

 What is plagiarism? 

NESA defines plagiarism as
" when you pretend that you have written or created a piece of work that someone else originated. It is cheating, it is dishonest, and it could jeopardise your HSC exam results."

NSW Education Standards Authority, 2017

Examples of plagiarism include:

  • Directly copying somebody else’s work
  • Cutting and pasting from the Internet
  • Paraphrasing with minor changes

 

 How can I avoid plagiarism? 

Acknowledge all sources of information NOT created by you, this includes:

Another person’s ideas, speech, information or research

All image or graphical sources, such as graphs, illustrations or photographs

Paraphrasing or summarising of another person’s spoken or written words

What's the difference between quoting, summarising and paraphrasing? 

  • Quoting is using the author's words exactly. (Enclose the author's words in quotation marks if it is a short quote, or set it off as an indented paragraph if it is a long quote.)
  • A summary selects and condenses the main idea of a text.
  • Paraphrasing is putting someone else's idea(s) into your own words. A paraphrase covers the points the author has made, while changing the words.

Why shouldn’t I plagiarise? 

  • It’s a form of academic cheating.  
  • Teachers will impose penalties for plagiarism. This is explained in your Assessment Handbook. 
  • Putting information into your own words shows your understanding of a topic and this helps develop your critical and creative thinking, as well as your written communication skills.

 

How can I acknowledge my information sources? 
Acknowledge all sources used in creating an assignment by including a bibliography. 

Subjects: Research Skills