Referencing your sources

Research involves using other people's ideas and work to develop your own conclusions.  You must acknowledge all of the sources you have used.

When you have an accurate reference:

• you can find an information source again quickly and easily
• your lecturers and tutors can find the source of the information you used in your assignments
• other people reading your work can find the source of the information
• you can share information without the need to give a copy of the source
• you acknowledge the effort made by the original author, who may have spent years creating that source of information, or finding the facts.

If you try to pass off someone else's work as your own, that is plagiarism.

If your work contains plagiarised content, you may be penalised by:

• having to resubmit your assignment
• being marked down
• failing your assignment
• failing your course.

Plagiarism may be accidental or deliberate.

Whenever you use information that has been written by another person, you need to reference or cite the source.  There are many referencing styles, but ultimately they all include the following elements:

• The author
• The year and date of publication
• The title of the work
• The title of the publication that work appears in
• The name and place of publication