Referencing

When it comes to assignments referencing your work is just as important as the finished piece. Having a comprehensive referencing list at the end of assignments validates your work. It shows the marker of your work that you understand what you are being asked and have researched accordingly. 

Referencing can be a tedious task but once you get your head around it becomes second nature. 

For me I found the best way to manage my referencing is to compile my list as I go through my assignment as I have finished using a source I write down my references on a blank sheet of paper so that I have all my sources in one place and all that is left for me to do at the end is to put them in order 

There are many different referencing guides used by universities and education bodies worldwide but the most commonly used is the Harvard Referencing Guide. Upon reading it first it can seem daunting to get your head around the different ways you write your references for different sources but as with anything new it just takes a lot of practice. 

Without a suitable referencing guide you may be accused of plagiarism which can have dire consequences on your grades and your place in the college so it is definitely best to start off with a good referencing guide at the end of your assignments and start as you mean to go on! 

Effective Presentations

The ability to deliver an effective presentation is an essential skill student’s need to acquire in 3^rd level education. Although public speaking comes to some students naturally for others it is more of a chore, something they can’t wait to be finished with. It is natural for students to be nervous about impending presentations, in fact the very mention of having to do presentations is enough to kick start the nerves with some people, but there are a number of things that can be done to ensure the presentation goes smoothly. Online sources like Likehack can provide useful information on delivering an effective presentation. When delivering a presentation of my own recently the 3 things I found most helpful to me were;

Planning – I though carefully about what I was going to give my presentation on. As I had full creative control over the subject and content of the presentation I was able to pick something I found to be relevant to me and that was sure to interest my audience.

Knowing my audience – the subject I chose to talk about was a rare syndrome called Wolf Hirschorrn Syndrome which is something I know a lot about. I was fully aware my audience would not have heard of the syndrome so I was careful to use language they would understand and to cut down on the medical side of the syndrome in order to keep my audience captivated.

Practice - as the presentation was to be 5 minutes long getting the exact time was down to practicing. I felt this helped me greatly as I was going into my presentation confident that I knew my material. 

Plagiarism

 When starting 3^rd level education there are many things new students have to worry about and figure out, not least plagiarism. It is a word thrown around all the time in college but it means so much that if you were to cross the lines of plagiarism and ‘plagiarise’ your work the repercussions could spread to other areas of your life. An indication of how severe they may is highlighted by the fact that if you go to Google and type in as little as ‘repercussions of’... Plagiarism is the 3^rd result that shows up.

Plagiarism is when you use someone else’s work and pass it off as your own without acknowledging or giving the author credit for their work. Not only does it lead your reader to believe you that you came up with the ideas in your piece but it does not give credit where credit is due to the original author. It is similar to holding a dinner party for people, you say you will make dinner but instead you go to the shops and pick something already made yet when your guests comment on how nice it is you pass it off as your own, its misleading and dishonest and definitely something to be avoided at all costs in 3^rd level education.

There are a lot of useful sites on the internet with tips on how to avoid plagiarism. Websites such as Buzzle.com contain useful articles on how to avoid plagiarism, it includes tips on;

·         Paraphrasing

·         Quotation Marks

·         Referencing all sources

·         Managing your time

·         Rechecking your work

For more information on these tips you can check out the link below.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-avoid-plagiarism.html