Action Research in the
Development of Referencing Tools
Bob Hoffman
University of Notre Dame Australia
Some History
• Prior to 2015, each school of the university decided on referencing styles to
be used by their students
• This led to many different styles used in the university and often a number
of guides to the same style which didn’t always agree
• There was widespread frustration from students taking units from different
schools
• In 2014 the University’s Teaching and Learning Committee gave the go-ahead
for the library to take responsibility for creating an official guide for each of
three approved styles (AGLC3, APA, and Chicago Notes & Bibliography)
Referencing Guide Launched in January 2015
Next Step
• The initial guide had to be in place quickly using existing tools but
library staff immediately started considering planning something
better
• We looked at a large number of existing guides from other
institutions
• Our first thought was that we would build a prototype of a new
guide and do some research to see if students and academic staff
found it better
• We started a research proposal to submit to a School Research
Committee
Oops!
• As we went through this process, things became more complicated
• Trying to build a prototype in the way we wanted it proved much
more time-consuming than we expected
• While filling in the research proposal, issues were raised that we
hadn’t considered (of course, that was the purpose of the process)
• A review of the literature threw up a number of issues
• The growing diversity of online resources confused students trying to use
referencing styles originally designed for print materials (Brown, Dickson,
Humphreys, McQuillan, & Smears, 2008; Gibbs, Kooyman, Marks, & Burns,
2015; Gray, Thompson, Clerehan, Sheard, & Hamilton, 2008; Park, Mardis, &
Ury, 2011)
• Importance of referencing in academic integrity (Brown et al., 2008; Park et
al., 2011)
• Low use of many referencing guides provided by universities (Brown, et al.,
2008; Greenwood, Walkem, Smith, Shearer and Stirling, 2014)
A Way Forward
• We realised that we needed to know more about the needs of
students before we started planning a new guide
• A research methodology was needed that was going to set us on
the right track to creating a guide that gave students the help
they needed to work out when and how to reference that they
would actually use
• A lecturer who teaches research methods was recruited to assist
us to design a process that would lead us to achieve our goals
• We decided to take an Action Research methodology
Action Research
• Action research is a cycle of planning, action, and reflection which is
repeated until the desired outcome is achieved
• This allows research to be a continuous process to inform development of
a service
• It will be used in this case to:
• Establish the needs and desires of students and academic staff starting with focus
groups in first semester 2016
• Construct a new or revised guide based on the results
• Do further research and modifications to eventually provide a guide that:
•
•
•
•
meets the academic integrity needs of the university
results in high quality referencing in assignments
makes it easy for students to learn referencing skills
is actually used by students
Action Research Model
Koshy, 2005, p. 4
Acknowledgements
Brown, C. A., Dickson, R., Humphreys, A., McQuillan, V., & Smears, E. (2008). Promoting academic
writing/referencing skills: Outcome of an undergraduate e-learning pilot project. British
Journal of Educational Technology, 39(1), 140-156. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00735.x
Gibbs, C., Kooyman, B., Marks, K., & Burns, J. (2015). Mapping the roadmap: Using action research to
develop an online referencing tool. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(4), 422-428.
doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2015.05.004
Gray, K., Thompson, C., Clerehan, R., Sheard, J., & Hamilton, M. (2008). Web 2.0 authorship: Issues
of referencing and citation for academic integrity. Internet and Higher Education, 11(2), 112118. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.03.001
Greenwood, M., Walkem, K., Smith, L., Shearer, T., & Stirling, C. (2014). Postgraduate nursing
student knowledge, attitudes, skills, and confidence in appropriately referencing academic
work. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(8), 447-452. doi:10.3928/01484834-20140725-01
Kargbo, J. (2010). Undergraduate students' problems with citing references. The Reference Librarian,
51(3), 222-236. doi:10.1080/02763871003769673
Koshy, V. (2005). Action research for improving practice: A practical guide. Retrieved from
http://www.ebrary.com
Newton, P. (2015). Academic integrity: A quantitative study of confidence and understanding in
students at the start of their higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,
40(1), 1-16.