"It takes so long!" Dyslexic students' experiences of academic referencing

Academic referencing is a core academic skill and forms part of the marking rubrics of many written assessment tasks undertaken by students. However, from the perspective of a dyslexic student, the complexity involved in creating accurate references is daunting. In many university courses, academic librarians take on the role of teaching referencing and supporting students who struggle with this skill. As a relatively new academic librarian, it made sense to base teaching on evidence of what works best for dyslexic students. Unfortunately, no published research on dyslexic students’ experience of referencing could be identified. This presentation reports, as far as the author is aware, the first study conducted specifically on this subject.
The research presented here took the form of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with current students in the schools of Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health & Community. What came out of these interviews represents a broad view of the lived experience of dyslexic students and academic referencing. Discussion in the presentation will focus on the potential impact of students’ reported experiences. In particular, the focus will be on the impact on future teaching of academic referencing within courses; how technology can be better used to support academic referencing and how support resources for referencing are provided. In addition, the presentation will discuss the wider impact of the research findings on the use of written assignments to assess dyslexic students.