Referencing

Why reference?

Conducting research requires good management and organisation of all the information you use. It's important to keep detailed records of your sources and how you found them, so you can easily find them again later.

It's also important to use information responsibly and ethically. This means you should correctly cite your sources to maintain academic honesty, avoid plagiarism, and allow others to trace back to the original sources when reading your work.

All new research stems from past work, and it's crucial for you to recognise the works that helped shape your research. This not only validates your ideas but also helps readers delve deeper and understand how these ideas came about, while also being courteous to the original authors. So, it's necessary to include references to these works. Not doing so can lead to plagiarism.

Please note, that every institution and journal uses its own, slightly different, refencing style, which will be available either online or through their website or portal.

When do I reference?

You need to reference every time you use another person’s information, words or
ideas – even if you paraphrase or summarise it (Pears and Shields, 2022, p. 3).

However, common knowledge, information “expected to be known by someone … working in a particular subject area” does not need to be referenced e.g. “London is the capital city of England” (Pears and Shields, 2019, p. 3).

If you are unsure whether to reference, ask yourself:

➢ Did I know this before I started my course?
➢ Did the information come me or someone else?

If the answer is no, you need to reference your sources (Pears and Shields, 2019, p.3).

Adapted from: Pears, R. and Shields, G. Cite Them Right (2022) 12th edn. London: Palgrave.