designed for an hour's class on plagiarism, this lecture introduces the concepts of plagiarism and Harvard/ APA referencing styles, the importance of correct referencing and most importantly: the use of an authentic authorial voice. This concept is introduced by giving three extracts from journals on fair trade, and a slide on the fair trade of chocolate, using the supplier Askinosie as an example. Students then discuss, critically evaluate, reflect and debate the concept of Fair Trade. When I tried this out on a group of first year undergraduates they performed very well at this task, and I was able to explain to them how they might use the extracts to inform and inspire discussion in their essays, and to avoid the common mistakes of summarising and paraphrasing too closely to the originals, so that they avoid patchworking in their essays.

academic writing: how to plan your assignments and essays.