Why should I reference?

Referencing is an essential part of writing at university. It is necessary to reference the information sources you havenused in your work to:

• acknowledge the work of other writers;

• enable other researchers to trace your sources;

• demonstrate the depth of your research; and

• support your arguments or opinions put forward in your work. By acknowledging the work of others, you avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct and is taken very seriously at university and can lead to possible exclusion from a course. Plagiarism is where you either intentionally, or unintentionally, fail to acknowledge other writers’ words, ideas, or concepts, and/or claim the words, ideas, and concepts as your own. However, the use of common knowledge in your discussion is not considered to be plagiarism (i.e. the sky is blue, or the chemical formula for water is H20).

Direct Quotations

All direct quotations from a work should be reproduced word for word, keeping the original spelling and internal punctuation (even where it is incorrect).

Short quotations of fewer than 40 words are incorporated within the text of your work, and are enclosed with “double quotation marks”.Long quotations of 40 words or more are displayed in block format without quotation marks. Block format means that the quote should start on a new line and be indented from the left margin. Direct quotations must be followed by a reference to the page number or specific location of the quote in the original work in the following format (author, date, page number). If you are adding information to a quote, adding emphasis, correcting errors, or clarifying ambiguous place names, identify this by using square brackets . If you are omitting parts of a quote, use an ellipsis (. . .) to indicate that you have removed material. Use the ellipsis (. . .) at the beginning or end of a quotation if you are not quoting a complete sentence.