University Referencing Project: Student Reflective Writing Report

This report presents a student's reflective analysis of a referencing project, focusing on the process of referencing online resources, the importance of citations, and the avoidance of plagiarism. The student utilizes the Gibbs reflective cycle to detail their actions, motivations, and outcomes. The report covers the student's contribution to the project, including time and resource management, and the challenges faced due to illness. It discusses the student's motivations based on self-determination and McClelland's Human Motivation theories, and evaluates the effectiveness of their approach. The student reflects on the project's positive aspects, such as understanding the importance of referencing and identifying reliable sources. The report also suggests areas for improvement, such as a deeper involvement in the technical aspects and a more comprehensive understanding of referencing styles. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of effective referencing in avoiding plagiarism and utilizing credible resources, and the student's intention to seek further knowledge and experience in this area.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Reflective writing in referencing project
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
What did I do?............................................................................................................................2
Why did I do it?..........................................................................................................................2
How can I make sense of what I did and why?..........................................................................3
What were my motivations for doing it that way?.....................................................................3
Was I happy with the things with how things turned out?.........................................................4
How could I improve upon it?...................................................................................................4
What might help me to improve?...............................................................................................5
Where can I go get more information to give me some ideas as to how to improve?...............5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
Reference....................................................................................................................................7

2REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Introduction
The prime determination of this unit of the paper is to focus on the issue related to the
referencing of an online resource. Referencing of a paper gives credit to the researchers and
acknowledging their work. Referencing is a very serious issue and is very important to avoid
plagiarism. Furthermore, the importance of citations is discussed in this project, as well as the
positive and negative aspects of referencing. This paper will be considering my role in the
project with the Gibb’s reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988). The different stages of the Gibbs
reflective cycle are described below with the details of activities done by me in each of the
stages.
What did I do?
In spite of suffering from Flu I managed to contribute effectively in this project
specifically in the overall communication process among all my team members. Since I was
suffering from flu, I could not actively get involved in the project but I was successful in
managing the overall project. Management of the resources and time was handled by me. I
worked very hard with my team to complete this project.
Why did I do it?
My role in this project is to do the researching on the topic of our project which is
about how to do referencing. I wanted to share my opinion about the topic as well as the
opinion of the different online resources. I was really very much motivated to do the role of
information gathering related to the referencing project in this project. I wanted to handle the
backend complexities associated to the non-technical part such as the time management and
the communication. With the help of the self-determination theory, I have learned the three
main factor behind the self-modification are competence, autonomy, and psychological

3REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
relatedness (Deci & Ryan 2008). I have understood my psychological needs based on this
theory and initiated the activities assigned to me.
How can I make sense of what I did and why?
I wanted help them as much as possible with the other qualities such as the time
management and the communication skills which were very much needed for our project.
According to me, it is very important to understand the difference between the good source
and the bad source. The discussed points are always supported by the good referencing. It can
very common that facts and researches gets modified every now and them so the
effectiveness of the document can be maintained with the help of a good source. I feel that
non-credible resource should not be used as it has validation issues. According to
McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, there are three main drivers of motivation
achievement, affiliation, or power (McClelland, 2015). In my case, I also got motivated by
these drivers.
What were my motivations for doing it that way?
I always wanted to contribute in our project team and for that I needed utilize all of
my talent and communications skills is one of them. The format of referencing is very much
important to understand and implement. I felt that it is needed to concentrate more on the
style of referencing (Pears & Shields, 2016).
I understood the physiological needs of this project better than my team and without
talking any help from the external parties I would like to help my team unanimously. I
wanted to stay proactive in this project, I decided that the optimal development of the project
should be in my hands as I think I’m capable to understand the relatedness and the
competence of the project.

4REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Was I happy with the things with how things turned out?
I was pretty much happy with the consequences of this project and the things which
turned out well. According to me, the good thing about referencing is that the concerned
author or the persons are getting the acknowledgements for their work. It was very much
difficult for me to understand the right resources. However, I found that the Google scholar
can be effectively used to find the journals. I also believe that the world bank can also be
used as reference in getting data due to its reliability. According to me the news coming from
the world can be obtained from reputed news channels known as the BBC World Service.
How could I improve upon it?
I could have improved the situation by getting myself involved in the technical parts
of the projects. My knowledge about the importance of the referencing could have been
implemented in this project. I believe that any introductory chapter of any project should
have been be referenced to understand the source. The back ground information related to
this topic should be also referenced properly using the above discussed methods. I could have
concluded that the resource always helps the writers to gather extra knowledge about any
topic. The referencing depends upon specific styles in the paragraph and comes right after the
last word of the sentence.
What might help me to improve?
I can get more information about my role in this project from the various internet
sources and also from the experienced personnel’s who have huge number of expertise
working on similar projects. I believe that for referencing a resource using the APA style the
surname of the author is followed by the year of publication in the brackets such as (Last
name, 2018). The project concerning Chicken Tikka Mo Salah have four different authors
and according to the guidelines of APA I believe that after the first name which is Last name

5REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
“et al., 2018” should be added which is the actual protocol of APA referencing. To improve
my skills, I would like to work on similar types of project so that I can pursue my career in
this particular role. I would like to get help from my seniors who have lots of experience
working on these projects for getting the updated information associated to the topic. My
decision in pursuing this as a career came from one of my brother who is very much
successful in these projects.
Where can I go get more information to give me some ideas as to how to
improve?
I believe that YouTube manuals could have helped me to achieve the desired goals.
The online resources can bring up more ideas for completing the project with a different
angle. I needed to validate the source of the authors who helped me to complete this project
However, the I followed the exact referencing style provided in the guidelines of APA so
there is no need for any kinds of motivations.
Conclusion
From the above paper, it can be concluded that in order to remove plagiarism,
efficient referencing should be practised. Relevant information and added information can be
added to our knowledge with the help of good referencing. The discussed resources such as
Google scholar and BBC world service can be used due to its reliability.

6REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Bibliography
Barkan, S. M., Bintliff, B., & Whisner, M. (2015). Fundamentals of legal research.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human
motivation, development, and health. Canadian psychology/Psychologie
canadienne, 49(3), 182.
Gibbs, G. (1988). The reflective cycle. Kitchen S (1999) An appraisal of methods of
reflection and clinical supervision. Br J Theatre Nurs, 9(7), 313-7.
Hamilton, V. (2017). Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Reference Reviews,
31(1), 7-7.
McClelland, D. C. (2015). Achievement motivation theory. chair in human resources at the
State University of New York–Buffalo and was faculty director of the Center for
Entrepreneurial Leadership there. Previously he was Research Professor of
Management at Georgia State University. He has written over fifty books and over
135 other publications., 46.
Pears, R., & Shields, G. J. (2016). Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Schwartz, B. M. (2016). An easyguide to APA style. Sage Publications.
Smith, L. C., & Wong, M. A. (Eds.). (2016). Reference and Information Services: An
Introduction: An Introduction. ABC-CLIO.
Zedeck, S. (2014). APA dictionary of statistics and research methods. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
Thomas, G. (2017). How to Do Your Research Project: A Guide for Students. Sage.

7REFLECTIVE WRITING IN REFERENCING PROJECT
Pears, R., & Shields, G. J. (2016). Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Prasad, M. M. (2017). Usage of References and Its Management in Research. In Scholarly
Communication and the Publish or Perish Pressures of Academia (pp. 118-142). IGI Global.