To avoid plagiarism it is good practice to acknowledge your sources by referencing. In this section you will find examples of the variety of ways to introduce these into your own work, an overview of different styles/formats used to reference and what tools are available to manage and use your references. Use the menu on the left to find out more.

Always remember that good referencing and citation will help you avoid plagiarism. Check out your subject guide or faculty handbook for specific advice on referencing.

There may be some terminology used in referencing that you are not used to, so we defined a few of those terms below.

Bibliography and Reference List

A list of all the resources that have been cited in a piece of written work. They appear at the end of your work and contain the information (such as author and date) of the resources to help them be found. Sometimes the Bibliography and Reference List are used interchangeably. However you may also find that a bibliography refers to all the works you have consulted to write an assignment, while a list of references may just refer to the works you have cited in the text. Your department/faculty, Director of Studies and/or supervisors will let you know which you are expected to produce.

In-text citation (sometimes referred to as citation)

Anything you include in your work should have an in-text citation. The in-text citation has brief information, this can be surname(s) and year or a number depending on your referencing style. The full information will be available in your Bibliography or Reference list.

Reference

Information that helps you find a book, article or other resource that has been recommended by a member of academic staff or you have found in a bibliography. It is also the information that you need to provide at the end of a piece of written work to demonstrate where you have got ideas and/or quotes from so that others can trace your research.

Reference management software

this software helps you manage your readings and automatically generate in-text references and bibliographies in Word. We describe two free products: Zotero and Mendeley.

Reference styles

In-text citations and bibliographies can be written in different ways according to discipline and the preference of an academic community. Some faculties/departments might prefer students to use a particular style in their assignments. It is important that you are consistent throughout your assignment, so only use one style.

For more information see: How do I reference and avoid plagiarism?