Referencing Skills

What is referencing?

You should use existing academic literature or other relevant information to support your work. This strengthens your arguments and gives your work clear academic value. The sources of information you use may include books, journal articles, newspapers, government publications, organisational reports, websites, videos, computer programs, etc.

When you reference something, you refer to (or cite) the work of others to acknowledge that you have used someone else’s ideas to support your argument. There will always be a marker in the text itself to indicate which piece of writing is based on a source. You will then give the full details of the course in the reference list at the end of your assignment.

Why should you reference?

Avoid plagiarism

Put simply, plagiarism is using another person’s work, words or ideas without acknowledging the original source. Plagiarism can have severe consequences such as failure of the assignment or academic misconduct. To avoid this, regardless of what the original source is, you must include a citation (link to paraphrasing in academic writing?) in your writing and full details of the source in the reference list at the end of the piece of work.

Making your writing stronger

Through the use of good academic sources, you are making your own academic writing stronger by showing you can interpret and understand other academic voices. You are showing your marker that you have engaged with academic literature around your topic.

Academic engagement

By engaging with academic literature, you are placing yourself within the wider academic community. You are showing your marker that you have understood and acknowledged the work that has gone before in your discipline and how your contribution fits into academic debate.

To engage with the academic conventions that are part of your field, referencing your sources shows that you are doing just that. Doing this correctly gives others in your discipline (i.e. your lecturers in the first instance) confidence in your work.

Five Top Tips for Developing Good Referencing Skills

1. Keep a note of all your sources during your research stage. You can do this simply in word or Google Docs, or alternatively you could use software such as RefWorks (link to tutorial video) to help you keep track of your sources.
2. Remember to reference diagrams, images, tables, graphs, etc.
3. Use a wide range of sources, such as books, journals, reports, government publications, legislation, etc. to show your marker that you have engaged with a wide range of academic literature.
4. Use the CRAPP (link to resource) guidelines to help you decide if your source is reputable and academic.
5. If you photocopy or take a photo of a page from a book, journal, etc. remember to make a note of the original source – it will be impossible to find it later!