Referencing

What is Referencing?
What kind of information need to referencing?
Importance of Referencing.
Types of Referencing.
Difference between Referencing and Bibliography.

Referencing

Referencing is one of the most important aspects of any academic research and poor or lack of referencing will not only diminish your marks, but such practices may also be perceived as plagiarism by your university and disciplinary actions may follow that may even result in expulsion from the course.

The most popular referencing systems used in academic works include Havard, APA and Vancouver Referencing Systems.

Referencing allows you to acknowledge the contribution of other writers and researcher in your work. Any university assignments that draw on the ideas, words or research of other writers must contain citations.

Referencing is also a way to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas. By citing the work of a particular scholar you acknowledge and respect the intellectual property rights of that researcher. As a student (or an academic) you can draw on any of the millions of ideas, insights and arguments published by other writers, many of whom have spent years researching and writing. All you need to do is acknowledge their contribution to your assignment.

What kind of information do I need to reference?

Printed books are not the only sources that require acknowledgement. ANY words, ideas or information taken from ANY source requires a reference.

Reference when you are using words or ideas from:

    books and journal articles;
    newspapers and magazines;
    pamphlets or brochures;
    films, documentaries, television programs or advertisements;
    websites or electronic resources;
    letters, emails, online discussion forums;
    personal interviews;
    lecturers or tutors (not always necessary, but check with your lecturer or tutor about their preferences before you draw on their ideas).
    Reference when you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts or pictures.

Importance of Referencing

    Shows what you have read

    Your references demonstrate the depth and the breadth of your reading.

    Enables the reader to locate the sources referred to in your paper

    Researchers rely on referencing to locate sources.

    Supports and strengthens your argument

    An academic paper is a carefully constructed argument in the sense that you take a position on an issue and support it with evidence gathered from the sources you have read, to try to convince your readers.

    Demonstrates academic integrity

    Proper referencing ensures that you have acknowledged your sources and that you have done your best to avoid plagiarism – the use of other people's words, ideas or materials without proper acknowledgement. Plagiarism can be intentional (deliberate cheating) or unintentional (happen accidentally). Academic misconduct – any act where the honesty, reliability or integrity of a work has been compromised – can incur serious penalties by the University.

Types of Referencing

Havard Referencing

Harvard is a style of referencing, primarily used by university students, to cite information sources.


Features:

    A table of contents, which can be used as a quick guide on each page

    examples of in-text citing for each source type

    basic explanations of key terms and symbols used in referencing

    more comprehensive coverage of source types

    rules for page numbers at the top of each page

    notes included with individual examples where relevant, highlighting details that may be overlooked

    tips for figures, tables and musical notation at Appendix A

    a quick guide for referencing articles at Appendix B

    a quick guide to in-text referencing at Appendix C

    a sample reference list at Appendix D


Example

Peggy Johnson defines collection development as “the thoughtful process of developing a library collection in response to institutional priorities and community or user needs and interests” (Johnson 2009, p. 1). According to Johnson (2009, p. 1), collection development forms part of the broader concept of collection management, which involves “ an expanded suite of decisions about weeding, cancelling serials, storage, and preservation”. Traditional collection development involves selecting individual titles that will best meet the requirements of the library users. In an academic library environment, the selection of titles should primarily support the teaching, learning and research needs of the university staff, students and researchers (University of Western Australia Library 2015). However, the practice of bundling journal titles into one large all-encompassing package has meant that collection development decisions are now often made on a publisher level, rather than on a title-by-title basis (Ball, cited in Carlson & Pope 2009, p. 385). In this sense aggregator packages are similar in nature to monographic blanket orders, where a library agrees to purchase everything that a particular publisher has published (Thompson, Wilder & Button 2000, p. 214). The beauty of these large aggregator packages is that they allow library users to access a vast number of online scholarly resources through the click of a mouse button.


Reference List

Carlson, A & Pope, BM 2009, ‘The “Big Deal”: A survey of how libraries are responding and what the alternatives are’, The Serials

           Librarian, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 380-398. Available from: Taylor & Francis Online. [28 September 2015].

Johnson, P 2009, Fundamentals of collection development and management, 2nd edn, ALA Editions, Chicago.

Thompson, K, Wilder, R & Button, L 2000, ‘Impact of bundled databases on serials acquisitions in academic libraries’, The Serials

          Librarian, vol. 38, no. 3-4, pp. 213-218. Available from: Taylor & Francis Online. [28 September 2015].

Oxford Referencing

Oxford style uses a note citation system. It is also referred to as a documentary-note system. It has two components:


General Principles

The Oxford style consists of the following elements:

    Citations in the body of the paper refer to footnotes at the bottom of the paper. They consist of a superscript (raised) number, generally at the end of a sentence.

    Footnotes provide the bibliographic details of a source and appear at the bottom of the page. Footnotes are known as endnotes if they appear at the end of a chapter or section. Footnotes are numbered consecutively throughout a chapter or paper.


    A bibliography is a full list of sources cited in the text, sources consulted in preparing a paper and other sources thought to be of interest to the reader. It is ordered alphabetically according to the family name of the first-listed author.


Example:

Footnote

A. Author, 'Title', Degree, Institution, Place, year, page.

38. R. Lee, 'Mary De Garis: progressivism, early feminism and medical reform', PhD thesis, Deakin University, Geelong, 2010, pp. 93–4, <http://dro.deakin.edu.au/>, accessed 10 July 2014.

Bibliography

Author, A., 'Title', Degree, Institution, Place, year.

Lee, R., 'Mary De Garis: progressivism, early feminism and medical reform', PhD thesis, Deakin University, Geelong, 2010, <http://dro.deakin.edu.au/>, accessed 10 July 2014.

The Difference between References and Bibliography

It is very important to be able to distinguish between References and Bibliography. Under References you list resources that you referred to within the body of the work that also include quotations.  For example,

It has been noted that “time and the management of time is an important issue, and the supply of time management products – books, articles, CDs, workshops, etc. – reflects the huge demand for these products” (Walsh, 2007, p.3).

Interchangeability of identical parts and a high level of straightforwardness of attaching these parts through the assembly line can be considered as revolutionary components of Fordism for the first part of the 20th century (Nolan, 2008).

Under Bibliography, on the other hand, you need to list resources that you have read during the research process in order to widen your knowledge about the research area, but specific piece of information from these resources have not been used in your research in the direct manner. You do not need to refer to Bibliography within the body of the text.