Practical skills - Research and referencing — OCR A-Level Biology
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Practical skills - Research and referencing explained
Practical skills - Research and referencing covers 2 specification points, including (h) use online and offline research skills… and (i) correctly cite sources of information.
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Open a point below for its explanation and revision guidance.
(h) use online and offline research skills including websites, textbooks and other printed scientific sources of information
This practical skill is about finding, selecting and using biological information from both online and offline sources. Online research means using websites critically: choosing reputable providers such as learned societies, universities, museums or peer-reviewed journals, checking authorship and date, and cross-checking a claim against a second independent source. Offline research means using textbooks, revision guides, journals and other printed scientific sources, using contents pages, indexes and glossaries to locate relevant material efficiently. For each task, decide what information you need, plan search terms, record what you find with enough detail to cite it, and judge reliability by comparing sources. A useful method is to note the author, title, publisher or site, date and the specific page or web address as you read, so referencing later is straightforward.
(i) correctly cite sources of information
Correct citation means giving enough detail for a reader to find the exact source you used, and doing so consistently. For a website, record the author or organisation, the title of the page, the date it was published or updated, the web address and the date you accessed it. For a textbook, record the author(s), year, title, edition, publisher and the page numbers used. For a journal article, record author(s), year, article title, journal name, volume, issue and page range. Citations must match the source actually used, so a claim taken from page 42 of a textbook is cited to that page, not to a different book. Consistency matters: use one recognised style throughout a piece of work.
Your focus
- Select relevant biological information from both websites and printed scientific sources for a given task.
- Evaluate the reliability of a source by checking authorship, date and independent corroboration.
- Record source details accurately while researching so the information can be cited later.
Show all 6 objectives
- Identify the complete set of details required to cite a website, textbook or journal article.
- Recognise when a citation is inaccurate or incomplete because a key element is missing or wrong.
- Apply one recognised citation style consistently across a set of sources.
Practical skills - Research and referencing exam tips
Marking Points
- A complete website citation includes the author or organisation, page title, publication or update date, web address and access date.
- A complete textbook citation includes author(s), year, title, edition, publisher and the page numbers used.
- A journal citation includes author(s), year, article title, journal name, volume, issue and page range.
- The citation must match the source actually used, so details such as date, page and author must be accurate rather than approximate.
- One recognised citation style should be applied consistently throughout a piece of work.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Before searching, write down the specific question you need to answer and the key terms you will use; this keeps online and offline searches focused.
- 💡Keep a running source log (author, title, publisher or site, date, page or web address) as you research so nothing is lost.
- 💡Cross-check any important biological claim against a second independent source and note whether the two agree.
- 💡Check each citation against a checklist of required elements for that source type before finalising.
- 💡Match the citation to the source you actually read, including the correct date and page numbers.
- 💡Apply the same citation style to every source so the reference list is consistent.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the first website returned by a search as authoritative. Correction: check the author, organisation, date and whether the claim is supported elsewhere before relying on it.
- Using only one type of source, such as websites only. Correction: practise combining online sources with textbooks and other printed scientific material as the criterion requires.
- Copying passages without recording where they came from. Correction: note author, title, source, date and page or address at the point of reading so the information can be cited later.
- Giving only a web address with no author, title or date. Correction: include the organisation or author, page title, date and access date alongside the address.
- Citing a textbook without page numbers. Correction: add the specific pages used so the reader can locate the exact information.
- Mixing citation styles within one piece of work. Correction: choose one recognised style and apply it consistently to every source.