“When I first started university, referencing work was a mostly new and confusing process. At school, referencing didn’t really exist, and when it did, it was mainly just providing a link to a webpage. So, jumping to a formal, monitored referencing system at university was quite challenging. However, once I got the hang of it, I started to understand why it was so important, and crucially, how to implement it in my own writing” – Callum, PhD student at MHSES.
At university, you are expected to engage with research and use that information to inform your own academic writing. When doing so, it is essential that you make it clear where ideas originally came from by referencing them. Doing so upholds academic integrity by giving credit to the hard work of others and adds credibility to your own work through the demonstration of research and reading.
Different subjects use different referencing ‘styles’; each style includes mainly the same information but presents it in a different order. Subjects and disciplines will have a preferred/essential style that prioritises different aspects of the reference. For example, social sciences tend to focus on current research, and therefore often use APA style where the author’s surname is followed by the publication date. Humanities, however, are less interested in the date and therefore often use MLA style, in which the date is near the end of the reference [1].
Referencing is crucial, and if you fail to do it correctly, you risk committing plagiarism, which is a form of academic misconduct. Plagiarism is when someone presents someone else’s work as their own; this can happen for a number of reasons, often unintentionally through incorrect referencing. Therefore, it’s really important to learn how and when to acknowledge other people’s work in your writing.
Unintentional plagiarism can be a consequence of:
- Note-taking strategies that rely on copying and pasting large chunks of text. When we return to those notes, it’s easy to forget which ideas are ours and which ones aren’t. Note-making or other more active learning strategies help avoid copied text and encourage you to do the thinking for yourself. Have a look at Study Hub’s ‘reading at university’ page for active note-making and learning strategies.
- Running out of time to complete assignments. Rushing to submit an assignment can lead to cutting corners; think of things like copying and pasting text to ‘get the words’ or not double-checking all the citations and references. Time management is a key academic and life skill that we can all work towards improving. Study Hub’s ‘time management’ page has tips and tools to help organise your time.
As this article has briefly explained, referencing is a key part of academic writing (and avoiding plagiarism) and is part of good academic practice. You can find out more about good academic practice in the Study Hub Learning Resources. There is also a general introduction to referencing and citations which includes links to useful resources.
Reference list:
[1] University of Washington. (2022). Citing Sources: Why are there so many citation styles? https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341448&p=8783775#:~:text=Differences%20in%20citation%20styles%20come,are%20presented%20within%20the%20text.
