Organising your information is vital in your research.
For the EPQ you are awarded marks for your process as much as the end report or product, so it is essential you keep accurate and organised notes on where you are finding information, your evaluation of the research and how it has informed your research. Use mindmaps, note taking apps, flashcards - anything to help you organise.
Decide on your end product - an essay, PowerPoint presentation, TED Talk etc. Whatever the format of your end result it is critical you use footnotes and create a bibliography in your end product to show where you have found information.
**An important part of organising your information is also ensuring you avoid plagiarism and credit your sources (referencing) appropriately**.
You need to reference or cite any material you have used during your research. By doing this you acknowledge that the words or ideas have come from another source (e.g a book, e-book, journal, website, DVD, or online journal article), and it also enables the reader of your research to directly access the sources you have used.
If you claim the work of others as your own (by copying and pasting from books or websites, rephrasing text or ideas without acknowledgement, or copying and handing in work produced by other students) you are guilty of plagiarism. (See the box below for more information)
There are usually two parts to a reference:
The footnote - a number made in the main text of your document that shows where an idea or quote has come from, and referencing at either the bottom of the page or the end of the document.
The Bibliography - a list of all the resources you have used at the end of your document.
Every item used, regardless of the format must be acknowledged and referenced.
There are a number of different referencing (or citation) styles - Harvard, MLA, APA, and Chicago. The school suggests you use Harvard Referencing system. JSTOR and Questia can create the citation for you which you can then adapt to Harvard or you can use any number of online tools (see the box on Referencing tools).
Plagiarism is defined as taking someone else's words and presenting them as your own. This is easily done if you have not tried to use your own words, and instead have just cut and pasted information from the internet without referencing the source and using quotation marks.
Plagiarism is taken very seriously at Kellett.
For more information on plagiarism and how to avoid it please take a look at plagiarism.org and remember to use the Study Skills Handbook for help and guidance.