In the example below, the student has added a comment as well as an example. A comment could be:
• to support the ideas
• to suggest the ideas are not valid
• to show how the ideas connect to something else
• to comment on the context
• to add another critical comment. See the section on criticality for ideas: Criticality
Make sure it is clear, through the language you use, which is your comment, and which are the ideas from your reference.
Example: Adding your own comment
The responsibility for learning how to reference correctly and avoid plagiarism tends to be passed from the university to the students, as Sutherland-Smith (2010:9) found, through her study of eighteen policies on plagiarism from different universities. She points out that many universities provide self-access resources for students to try to learn more about this area. An example of this can be found on the website 'Writing Centre Online' (UCL Institute of Education, 2019), which includes a 'Beginners Guide' page with step by step instructions on avoiding plagiarism, as well as various links to referencing and plagiarism resources. Despite this type of provision, Sutherland-Smith observes, the support provided is, on the whole, inadequate. It is interesting to note that this inadequacy can be seen at both an institutional level and from a student perspective, which will have implications as discussed in the following section. Sutherland-Smith expands further to explain that this inadequacy is partly because the advice provided is not specific enough for each student, and partly because distance students will often receive even less support, possibly, we could note, as they are wholly reliant on online materials. She concludes that these issues carry implications for the decisions around plagiarism management, as some students may receive more assistance than others, leading to questions of inequity. It could be considered that inequities are a particularly important issue in discussions of plagiarism management, given that controls on plagiarism could be seen, in principle, as intended to make the system fairer.
References
Sutherland-Smith, W. (2010). 'Retribution, deterrence and reform: the dilemmas of plagiarism management in universities', Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 32:1 5-16. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13600800903440519 (Last accessed on 31 January 2020).
UCL Institute of Education (2020). Writing Centre Online. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe-writing-centre (Last accessed on 31 January 2020).
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