How to avoid plagiarism

Referencing

What is referencing?

At university, referencing is indicating in your work (an essay, assignment, report, etc) the sections (text, pictures, diagrams, formulae, etc) that you have taken from someone else's work.

It is also referred to as:

acknowledging your sources
citing your sources
using citations
attribution

Referencing is important for academic writing because when you give evidence for your academic opinion you will usually be using evidence from research. You need to let the reader know where you got this evidence and where they can find this research.

Why do we have to reference?

Of course, you need to reference to avoid plagiarism. You can also use references to show the reader that:

you acknowledge that you’ve taken the idea / words from someone else
there is a lot of research on a particular topic
you have read the appropriate texts
you have used a range of texts
what you are writing about has been discussed over a period of time
there are different views on a topic or
many people have come to the same conclusions
respected authorities on a topic support your academic opinion, and furthermore

By referencing, you tell readers where they can go to look at the original sources you used, so they can decide whether they would have understood them in the way that you did; and if they want to know more about a source than they found in your essay, they can follow it up for themselves.

Chanock, K. (2004). Using sources in Your Writing. (PDF 49KB) Humanities Academic Skills Unit (Handout for students).

Which referencing style should you use?

Basically there are two main styles of referencing:

In-text or author/date
Footnote/endnote

Your Faculty or School should be able to tell you which style to follow in your area of study.

How do I reference?

You need to learn the technique of referencing – in other words, you need to know:

where and when to put the:
- author’s details
- year of publication
- page numbers
- footnotes
- full stops
- commas etc., and
how to format a reference list / bibliography etc., according to the accepted style of your area of study.

All that is the detail. It’s fiddly and a bit tedious, but it’s something you can learn.

So how do I find out about these details?

It is essential to follow the correct style guide.

Keep the guide next to your computer when you’re writing so you can refer to it easily.

Links to Referencing Style Guides

You can also learn a lot about referencing by looking at examples of how other authors have referenced in your textbooks or other readings for your units.

HINT 1: Put the references in AS YOU WRITE. It can be incredibly time consuming to go back through your work and to find the sources so you can insert the details after you’ve finished writing. Also, if you leave it until later, it's easy to forget where the reference should go.

Nowadays there's software, like Endnote, which can make doing this easy. However, I'd probably only recommend using Endnote when you've got hundreds of references to manage.

HINT 2: Be warned! Some lecturers are very concerned that you get formatting of referencing EXACTLY correct! This means punctuation (full stops, commas, colons, etc.) must be used in the right place. And all the details of the source must be given.

If the presentation of your work, including grammar / spell checking and referencing, is done carefully and accurately, it gives a good impression and can influence the mark you get. Always proof read your work before submitting it. This means allowing enough time before you have to submit to look at it with fresh eyes. Don’t hand it in ‘hot off the press’ (straight after you’ve finished it).

We know – ‘easier said than done’. However, aim to give yourself time to check your work. It could mean the difference between a pass / fail or an A / B, etc.

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