CLEARING HOUSE FOR POSTGRADUATE COURSES IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 0113 343 2737 chpccp@leeds.ac.uk www.leeds.ac.uk/chpccp GUIDE FOR REFEREES CONTENTS Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 7 What you need to know before you start Email requesting a reference Registering - for referees who are using our website for the first time Logging in - for referees who have used our website before Forgotten your password List of references: Page 10 What you see when you login Page 11 Status and actions for references Completing a reference: Page 12 Starting a reference Page 13 Copying a reference from previous years Page 14 Mutually exclusive questions (Academic reference only) Page 15 Comments on the applicant s suitability Page 16 Saving your answers Page 17 Downloading the reference to check your answers Page 18 Submitting the reference Your Details: Page 19 Your contact details Page 20 Changing your email address Page 22 Archive - references you provided in previous years Page 23 General information about references Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 1
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START The deadline for references is 7 December 2017. This document guides you through our website screen by screen. The website can only save your answers when you click the Save button at the end of the reference screen. If you move away from the reference screen without saving your answers you will lose the information you have entered. If it takes some time to write your comments there is a risk that your internet connection may be lost before you have saved your text. We therefore suggest that you either: Write a few sentences and then click Save. This will save your answers and close the reference. You can then re-open the reference to continue it when convenient. OR Write your comments in Word, for example, and once they are complete paste them into the reference and click Save. This allows you to work on your own computer so there is no risk of losing internet connection. Once you have finished the reference please click the Submit button at the end of the reference screen. This confirms that you are happy that the reference is correct and complete, and allows us to process it. We will email both yourself and the applicant to confirm we have received the reference. Your email software may treat our emails as junk or spam, so if you do not receive the email please check your Junk Email folder and/or Spam Email folder. You cannot edit the reference after you have submitted it. You can download a reference as a pdf file at any point after starting it. We suggest you use this to check the reference before submitting it, and then to keep a copy for your records. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 2
EMAIL REQUESTING A REFERENCE When an applicant gives your details as their referee and confirms that we can contact you, we will send you the following email requesting a reference. The applicant can re-send this email at any stage as necessary. Only the most recent email link is valid, so if you receive more than one email requesting the same reference please disregard all but the most recent one. The email gives you a link to a screen in our website where you can either register (see page 4) if you are using our website for the first time, or login (see page 5) if you have used our website before. Your email software may treat our emails as junk or spam, so if you do not receive the email please check your Junk Email folder and/or Spam Email folder. You may need to move the email into your Inbox to be able to use the link, depending on the email software you are using. Please click the link to go to our website. 07/12/2017. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 3
REGISTERING - for referees who are using our website for the first time If you are using our website for the first time you will need to register as a referee. When you click the link in the email requesting the reference it should take you to the screen shown below. If the link takes you to any other screen it may be an old email. Please use the most recent email requesting the reference (see page 3). Your email address should automatically appear on the screen. Please type in your Forename and Surname, then create a password of your choosing in the password box and type it again to Confirm Password in the box below. Click Register and this will take you to a screen with your reference(s) listed at the top (see page 10). If you are unsure whether you have used our website before or not you can try completing the registration information as above. If you are already registered with that email address the website will confirm that this email address has already been registered and ask you to login instead (see page 5). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 4
LOGGING IN - for referees who have used our website before If you have used our website before you will already be registered as a referee, so you need to login instead of registering. If you follow the link from the email requesting a reference it will take you to one of the two screens shown below and on page 6. If you prefer, rather than following the link from the email, you can go straight to our website at: https://chpccp.leeds.ac.uk and click Login in the left-hand menu. This will take you to a similar screen to those shown below. In the Log In section please type in your email address and the password from when you last logged in. Please ignore the section for registering. Click the Log In button and this will take you to a screen with your reference(s) listed at the top (see page 10). If you cannot remember your password please click "Forgotten your password" to get an email to reset your account (see page 7). If you have used our website before but it does not recognise your email address it could be that you are registered under a different version of it eg Liverpool University email addresses use both liv.ac.uk and liverpool.ac.uk versions. If our website does not recognise any email address you provide, please contact us to check what email address you are registered with (see page 1 for our contact details). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 5
If you have not used our website before and the link takes you to this screen it may be an old email. Please use the most recent email requesting the reference (see page 3). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 6
FORGOTTEN YOUR PASSWORD If you cannot remember your password please click on "Forgotten your password" on any Login screen. Please enter your email address and click OK to get an email to reset your password. If you have used our website before but it does not recognise your email address it could be that you are registered under a different version of it eg Liverpool University email addresses use both liv.ac.uk and liverpool.ac.uk versions. If our website does not recognise any email address you provide, please contact us to check what email address you are registered with (see page 1 for our contact details). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 7
If the email address you enter is registered, the website will confirm that an email will be sent to you. The email has a link for resetting your password. The link is only valid for one hour for security reasons so please use it promptly. If you are unable to use it within the time limit you will need to request another email. Your email software may treat our emails as junk or spam, so if you do not receive the email please check your Junk Email folder and/or Spam Email folder. You may need to move the email into your Inbox to be able to use the link, depending on the email software you are using. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 8
When you click the link in the email it will take you to the screen below. Type in a password of your choice and Confirm it in the box below, then click Reset Password to login to our website. This will take you to a screen with your references listed at the top (see page 10). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 9
LIST OF REFERENCES - what you see when you login When you login you will see the following screen with your reference(s) listed at the top. You can also get to this screen at any stage by clicking on References in the left-hand menu or on Referees in the menu across the top of any screen. Clicking the Edit link will open the reference for you to start completing it (see page 12). 7 December Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 10
LIST OF REFERENCES - status and actions for references The status of each reference is shown on the screen. This can be Not Started, Incomplete or Submitted. A reference that is Not Started only has the Edit action for you to start the reference. If the status is Incomplete this means either that some questions in the reference have not been answered; or that all the questions have been answered but you have not submitted the reference yet. An Incomplete reference has an Edit action and a Download pdf action. These allow you to edit the reference you have started, and to download a pdf of the reference eg for checking it before submitting it. A reference that is Submitted has an Edit action and a Download pdf action. These allow you view the reference but not to edit it any further, and to download a pdf of the reference should you need a copy for your records. You cannot edit a reference after you have submitted it. 8 December Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 11
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - starting a reference When you click Edit for the reference you want to complete (see page 10) it opens the reference as shown below. Each reference starts with short questions and click an option questions, and ends with longer text questions for you to comment on the applicant s suitability. For the Applicant s Occupation/Role please enter the role that the reference is based on. This may not necessarily be the applicant s current role, particularly for academic references. Please use the mm/yyyy format for dates eg enter February 2017 as 02/2017. If you are currently working with the applicant please enter the current date eg 12/2017 for Date To. For the click an option questions, 5 is the best performance and 1 is the lowest rated performance. To save your answers you must click Save at the bottom of the screen (see page 16). Please do not move to any other screens or use your browser back button before you have clicked Save, because you will lose the answers you have entered. You can complete part of the reference, save your answers and return to it later if you wish. However, all the questions must be answered before the reference can be submitted. Most questions have a "not applicable" or similar option if necessary. The screen below shows an Experience reference but the screen for an Academic reference is similar. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 12
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - copying a reference from previous years If you have submitted a reference before for the same applicant, you can copy and edit this instead of re-writing it. Once the applicant has nominated you again as their referee, their reference will appear in your list of this year s references (see page 10). Click Edit for their new reference to open the screen below, then click the Copy button to copy the old reference into the screen so that you can edit it as appropriate. For the old reference to be available it must have been submitted, and the applicant must use the same contact details as before (for both themselves and yourself) so our website can identify your reference and match it with their application. However, if you change the email address you are registered with (see page 20), our website will carry any previous references over to the new email address login. You can view the references you have from previous years in the Archive (see page 22). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 13
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - mutually exclusive questions (Academic reference only) Questions 6 and 7 on the Academic reference are mutually exclusive. If you are writing a reference based on an applicant s undergraduate performance you should select the appropriate option for question 6 and select the Not applicable option for question 7. If you are writing a reference based on an applicant s postgraduate performance you should select the appropriate option for question 7 and select the Not applicable option for question 6. There are no mutually exclusive questions on the Experience reference. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 14
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - comments on the applicant s suitability Our website can only save your answers when you click Save, so if it takes some time to write your comments there is a risk that your internet connection may be lost before you have saved your text. We therefore suggest that you either: Write a few sentences and then click Save at the bottom of the screen. This will save your answers and close the reference. You can then re-open the reference to continue it when convenient. OR Write your comments in Word, for example, and once they are complete paste them into the reference and click Save. This allows you to work on your own computer so there is no risk of losing internet connection. Please use language that does not identify the applicant to assist course centres that use an anonymised blind rating system eg use the applicant or X instead of their name, use they or s/he instead of he or she etc. Each question is mandatory, and each has a character limit (which includes spaces). Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 15
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - saving your answers The website can only save your answers when you click the Save button at the bottom of the screen. This will save your answers and close the reference. We suggest that you save your answers regularly. If you move away from the reference screen without saving your answers you will lose the information you have entered. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 16
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - downloading the reference to check your answers If you wish, you can download a copy of the reference at any point after you have saved some answers. You can use the pdf file to check your answers and keep a copy for your records. The download is available from the first screen you see when you login, where your references are listed. You can also get to this screen by clicking on References in the left-hand menu or on Referees in the menu across the top of any screen. 7 December Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 17
COMPLETING A REFERENCE - submitting the reference Once you have finished the reference please click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen. This confirms that you are happy that the reference is correct and complete, and allows us to process it. If all the questions have been answered this closes the reference and we will email both yourself and the applicant to confirm it has been submitted. Your email software may treat our emails as junk or spam, so if you do not receive the email please check your Junk Email folder and/or Spam Email folder. You cannot edit the reference after you have submitted it. When you click Submit, if any of the questions have not been answered a red message will appear on screen to let you know what is missing. Most questions have a "not applicable" or similar option if necessary. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 18
YOUR DETAILS - your contact details If you click on Your Details in the left-hand menu you will see the following screen. If you wish you can provide us with your full contact details, though this is not a requirement. You will need to provide at least your Forename, Surname and Email address to be able to save any changes you make. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 19
YOUR DETAILS - changing your email address If you need to change your email address this will also change your login information. We would suggest only doing this when necessary eg if you change jobs so an email address is no longer valid. You need to provide at least your Forename, Surname and new Email address to be able to save the changes. When you click Save you will see the following message on screen and an email will be sent to your new email address to verify it. Your old email address will be displayed on screen until the new email address has been verified. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 20
The email has a link back to our website to verify your new email address. The link is only valid for 24 hours for security reasons so please use it promptly. Your email software may treat our emails as junk or spam, so if you do not receive the email please check your Junk Email folder and/or Spam Email folder. You may need to move the email into your Inbox to be able to use the link, depending on the email software you are using. Please click the link as shown below. The link takes you to the following screen. Please fill in your new email address and your password and click on Log In. This will take you to the screen with your reference(s) listed at the top (see page 10). You should have access to all the same references for this year, and the same references from previous years in your Archive (see page 22). Please use your new email address to Log in from now on. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 21
ARCHIVE - references you provided in previous years As well as accessing current references in our website, you can also view your references from previous years by clicking on Archive in the left-hand menu. This brings up a list of any references you were asked to provide in previous years. If the reference was started and was either Submitted or Incomplete, it can be viewed on screen or downloaded as a pdf file, but it cannot be edited. If you will be writing a reference for the same applicant again this year, this can be accessed through the References section rather than through the Archive. Once the applicant has nominated you again as their referee, their reference will appear in the list of this year s references (see page 10). You can then use the Copy button in the new reference to copy over the old information so that you can edit it as appropriate (see page 13). For the archived reference to be available for editing this year it must have been submitted, and the applicant must use the same contact details as before (for both themselves and yourself) so our website can identify your reference and match it with their application. However, if you change the email address you are registered with (see page 20), our website will carry any previous references over to the new email address login. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 22
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT REFERENCES References are an important part of the selection process. Not providing a reference could adversely affect the candidate's application, as could being unable to address a significant number of the questions in the reference. References should be written by only one person. Please note that you should not normally act as a referee for your close relations, members of your immediate household or your business partner. In other words, the applicant should not have personal connections with you. Whilst it is Clearing House policy to keep references confidential, due to data protection law this cannot be guaranteed. If an applicant requests a copy of a reference we will contact you for your authorisation to release it. However, please assume that applicants may be able to see the reference. If you are unable to provide a reference through our website please contact us to discuss this (see page 1 for our contact details). Thank you for your help. Guide for referees 01/09/2017 Page 23