References

Referencing

·      Essential to academic writing.

·      Distinguishes your own ideas from external sources.

·      Avoids plagiarism

·      Harvard Most popular

·      Not much difference between Harvard and APA (American Psychological Association)

·      Difference between Harvard and APA, tends to be citation punctuation.

·      References are placed at the end of an assignment if using Harvard referencing the heading should either be ‘References’ or ‘Bibilography’

·      Difference between Harvard and MLA is MLA uses page number instead of year of publication. Also the heading at the end of an assignment will either be ‘Works cited’ or ‘Works consulted’.

·      Running-notes style uses number as references much like numeric, a bibliography will be provided at the end of the assignment

·      Numeric style is when you will place a number next to the reference and provide the list of references at the end of the assignment

·      Be sure if you get something from an external source to reference it and give all the credit to the author

·      When you are discussing a theory, model or practice be sure to reference it.

·      To give

Types of references

·      Harvard

Cites name(s) of author(s) or organisation, with year of publication, in the text, e.g. Handy (1995). All sources are listed alphabetically at the end of an assignment and labelled ‘References’ or ‘Bibliography’.

·      American Psychological Association

Relatively small differences exist between Harvard and APA style, and in practice often merge into a hybrid. The main noticeable differences tend to be with citation punctuation, the way multiple authors are cited and referenced and with referencing electronic sources.

·      Modern Languages Association

This differs from Harvard and APA in that the page number, instead of year of publication, is cited in the text, e.g. (Handy 149). The full list of references at the end of the text is also labelled ‘Works cited’, or ‘Works consulted’. Proper words in the titles of works cited are capitalized and underlined. The last name of an author is followed by the full first names(s), example: Handy, Charles. Beyond Certainty: The Changing Worlds of Organisations. London: Hutchinson, 1995

·      Running-notes style

This style uses superscript (or bracketed numbers) in the text, which connects with a reference in either footnotes or chapter endnotes. A bibliography is included at the end of the assignment, which lists all the works referred to in the notes. This system uses a different number for each reference in the text.

·      Numeric style

Uses bracketed (or superscript) numbers in the text that connects with a list of references at the end of the text. The same number can recur, e.g. if a source is mentioned more than once in the text.

When to reference

You should cite your sources of evidence in assignments:

1.    To give the reader the source of tables, statistics, diagrams photos and other illustrations included in your assignment. These may be items directly copied or which have been a source of collation for you.

2.    When describing or discussing a theory, model or practice associated with a particular writer.

3.    To give weight or credibility to an argument presented by you, or supported by you, in your assignment.

4.    When giving emphasis to a particular idea that has found a measure of agreement and support amongst commentators.

5.    To inform the reader of sources of direct quotations or definitions in your assignment.

6.    When paraphrasing another person’s idea that you feel is particularly significant or likely to be a subject of debate; this can include definitions.