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I attended my first face to face tutorial last night. I was so nervous beforehand but really needn't have been. Six of us attended and to be honest just as nervous as I was. It was interesting to hear what everyone wants to do with their degrees once we've graduated, it was a real mix. There were a few historians, one wanted to study religion and myself who wants to do creative writing. Our tutor put us at ease and we talked through one of the chapters and had a brief discussion on essay writing and how the OU would like us to set them out, we touched on referencing, which is my biggest worry but as our tutor said essay means "to try", which is exactly what I am going to do. I left feeling happier that I have not made a big mistake and that through 'trying' I will develop and become better and, most of all, enjoy what I am doing.  big grin

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Me in a rare cheerful mood

Referencing tips

"we touched on referencing, which is my biggest worry but as our tutor said essay means "to try", which is exactly what I am going to do."

Spot on.  A bad reference gets corrected, no reference at all is plagiarism.  And you won't learn if you don't try.

It really is better to say:

...

Conclusion: the 'prickle trickle' (BBC, 2018) hurts less than the 'grab-n-stab' method.

References

BBC (2018) It was some an article on the BBC news site a few months ago by one of their journalists about a new technique for juggling hedgehogs developed by some West Country university.  Sorry, can't find it now.  sad

than nothing.  It shows you did some research, are not taking the credit for someone else's work, but that your note-keeping could be improved.

Here's a suggestion for you.  It is time consuming now, but by level 3 it really pays off: put the reference with your notes.  That is, as you read the books, watch the videos and take notes, work out the references there and then.  The first takes 10 minutes, the next 5 minutes and then you start to learn the pattern.  It also means when you cannot work out how to reference a verbal quote from a book made in a video on the module web site, you can immediately email your tutor (or the OU library) for advice and move on, rather than try to work it out and guess on TMA submission day.

Everyone, everyone, has found that perfect entry in their notes that is essential for the essay, without a reference, and no amount of searching will track it down.  Omit it and be upset, or include it and risk plagiarism, or put in a fake reference and get caught out (you will)?  Just put the reference with the notes.