Referencing game instructions

There are many many ways of using the referencing cards. These cards are business cards ordered online where you can have the same thing on one side (which would normally be your personal details, but in this case is the back of the playing card) and art of your choice on the other (which in this case is the parts of the reference). There are loads of places online you can order business cards, this is one of them, and they vary in cost.

Having cards professionally printed is expensive, but they last forever (I’ve been using the same set for the past three years) and they feel nice. Students notice when something looks good and feels good and respond more positively to that.

So this is one way that I’ve used them. I’m sure you could think of others.

This one doesn’t work realistically for groups of more than around 35 people, as you need SO MANY reference cards sets, and you cannot pick up on all the learning happening in the room. I have done this with a group of 60, but I didn’t feel as confident on my own-maybe if you team teach you might have a different experience.

Game instructions1. Before the session, make your own references out of the cards for a variety of different

sources (book, book chapter, journal, website, anything your students regularly reference-this will affect what cards you order as well so maybe make up a list in advance).

Put the reference cards in envelopes, one for each reference, and assign points to each envelope, so a book could be worth 1 point whilst a journal is a bit less well known so could be worth 2.

2. Divide the group into teams, could be anything from 2-6 people, though smaller usually words better, I’d aim for around 4 per team.

3. Groups are given a certain amount of time to complete as many references as they can by laying them out on the table in the right order. Correctly made references collect the amount of points on the envelop. You can decide how the groups get the envelopes-do you give them one to start off with and then they help themselves from a pile at the front of the classroom? Are the allowed to have more than one envelope at a time?Make sure you have referencing guides to hand, as one of the things they should be learning is that you don’t have to learn all this stuff off by heart, just follow the guides (of course, this depends on you having accessible guides).

4. Points mean prizes-MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH PRIZES FOR EVERYONE IN THE GROUP. This is especially important if you have a tie in points between two groups! Also be mindful that not everyone likes chocolates and sweets, and they may include ingredients your students cannot eat for religious or other reasons. I’ve used pin badges before and they work quite well, something small and silly is fine, it’s the token gesture.

After the game, you then have a conversation. You should, as with all active learning activities, be spending the time during the activity listening for learning moments you can further expand upon with the whole group. So do you have a group that figures out the pattern early and races ahead? Is there one particular source that all the groups struggle with (with mine it is ALWAYS book chapters, which means I get to have a conversation about why you should cite the authors of the chapters you’re referencing in an edited book and what citation counts are and why they matter).

Questions you could ask to kick off the conversation could be What surprised you during the game? What was easiest/hardest? What do you notice about the references you’ve made? Any patterns that emerge? Have you used the referencing guides before? What would make them easier to

use?

Of course, this game will change completely depending on which style of referencing you’re commonly using, and it is important to mention that this is a style, and there are lots of them, and students might not always use the same one throughout their entire careers, but they should always be able to find a guide and if not they need to badger their librarians or study support tutors to create one!