Referencing: About

Referencing is the process of acknowledging other people's work when you have used it in your assignment or research. It allows the reader to verify the validity of your arguments. Referencing provides the link between what you write and the evidence on which it is based. 

There are two parts to referencing:

1. Citations or in-text citations in the main text of your assignment.

2. A reference list at the end of your assignment.

Using someone else's words or ideas without citing or referencing them is plagiarism and is a very serious academic offence (Pears and Shield, 2016, p. 4).

Plagiarism includes:

• Presenting any part of someone else's work as your own
• Copying information word-for-word (without quotation marks)
• Paraphrasing or summarising ideas without acknowledging where you got them
• 'Recycling' a piece of your own work
• Citing and referencing sources that you have not used.

To avoid plagiarism, you must reference all of the sources of your ideas and information. Ask library staff for help referencing different sources.

The college uses the software Turnitin which can detect plagiarism in students' work. 

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