The OWL (Online Writing Lab) is a good place to start if you need advice or help with paraphrasing, avoiding plagiarism or getting started with a particular citation style in your academic writing.
Keeping a checklist of what you need to include in your reference list for the information sources you have used will help you stay organised and save time. The following sample checklist can be adapted to your reference needs:
Cite them right : the essential referencing guide
by
Referencing or citing the information sources used in assignments and research is essential to avoid plagiarism and to maintain academic integrity.
Plagiarism is defined as "the practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own" (Oxford University Press, 2024).
Academic integrity is "the commitment to and demonstration of honest and moral behaviour in an academic setting" (Technological University Dublin, 2024).
The best way to avoid plagiarism and to ensure academic integrity is to use a referencing system or style to reference the information you used when researching for your essays, assignments and dissertations. You have probably seen this done many times.
Oxford University Press (2024) Oxford English Dictionary. Available at: https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=plagiarism (Accessed: 17 December 2024).
Technological University Dublin (2024) Academic Integrity. Available at: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/academic-affairs/academic-quality-assurance-and-enhancement/academic-integrity/#_ftn1 (Accessed: 17 December 2024).
A referencing system will usually consist of:
An in-text citation provides information about the source you used to the reader. It consists of a shorter version of the full reference to the source or work that you are referencing. You must always include a citation after you have referred to a source, either directly or indirectly.
A typical citation will look something like this:
"Demand modelling requires that all parameters determining the level of activity within a highway network...." (Rogers, 2023, p.16).
A reference list consists of a list of full references for all the citations included in your text, i.e., a list of complete citations for each of the shorter in-text citations included in your text.
So, a full reference for the citation example used above will look like the following:
Rogers, M., Highway Engineering, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2023.
A bibliography, on the other hand, is similar to a reference list but it includes references to all the material you have used in your research, including material that you did not refer to or cite in your text (e.g., background reading).
Referencing essentially allows the reader to find the information referenced.
To acknowledge or give credit to the original author / creator of an idea or work .
To distinguish between their work and your own.
To allow readers to locate the original material you cited as evidence, i.e., to verify your claims.
It demonstrates that you have good research skills.
To achieve a better mark or grade (Pears and Shields, 2022).
Note: You don’t need to agree with author's work or ideas in order to cite or reference them (Pears and Shields, 2022).
Richard Pears and Graham Shields (2022) Cite Them Right. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c680f718-1c27-33a5-ab74-c1127af86e7d (Accessed: 17 December 2024).
You will need to use a reference or cite a source if you have:
Regardless of the type of information being referenced, you must provide a reference any time you use another person's works or ideas. Some common information sources are listed below:
There are many different styles used to create references, such as APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), Harvard, Chicago and IEEE.
Each school or faculty will have its own preferred reference style, so check with your school or lecturer to determine which style to use.
Make sure you are using the correct edition as well, e.g., APA 7th edition.
Using AI generated content and submitting it as your own work may be considered plagiarism.
You are responsible for the content you generate using AI.
According to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE), an AI cannot be listed as an author.
If you have used an AI tool to create content, as part of a journal article, conference proceeding or assignment, you should be completely transparent in where, how and why you have used these tools.
Consider providing prompts (screengrabs) in the appendices of your work. For example, you should write a description that provides as much detail as possible, including
Remember as well to check the specific rules about the use of AI tools with your School, lecturer or supervisor in advance.
Different referencing styles will have different approaches to citing Gen AI tools, so make sure you check the appropriate style too.
For more information and advice on the responsible use of AI, visit the library's Introduction to Generative AI Guide.
There are many software tools that can help manage and organise your references.
Mendeley and Zotero are two free reference management software options that allow you to collect, store, organise, annotate, share and cite research.
Watch this video tutorial which provides a brief overview of using Mendeley Reference Manager, including Mendeley Cite.
If not using a reference management software, make sure to keep a record of your references somewhere; even an excel sheet or word document will suffice.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
