What is referencing?

Referencing systems provide a universal method for writers (students, researchers, academics, etc.) to acknowledge other author’s work. Referencing allows for substantiation of various statements by providing the reader with the source evidence.

This also allows for acknowledgement of the original authors work. By referencing you are demonstrating your skills in retrieving and utilising a range of information to support or enhance your work. The importance of referencing is to provide evidence to support your argument, to allow the reader to locate and verify the sources you have referred to, and to protect you from accusations of plagiarism.

Each discipline requires different referencing styles. It is key to ensure that you are referencing in the correct format, it can mean the difference between a high or low mark.
‍
‍

Should you reference?

Why are there so many different referencing styles?

The importance of referencing has already been highlighted, but you may be wondering why there are so many different referencing styles. The style of referencing you will be required to use will likely be dictated by the discipline you are studying in. Different academic disciplines have preferred styles based on functionality and tradition.

Referencing under a specific style allows for uniformity and consistency in formatting, this also assists the reader in interpreting and accessing the referenced resource when required.

How do you decide what to use as part of your research?

With the advent of the World Wide Web, it resulted in a proliferation of content. But not all of this content is reliable.

This is when you should use a hierarchy of evidence.

The hierarchy of evidence is a framework used in academia to rank various types of evidence based on their reliability and strengths.

It is important to note that this framework is a guide to assist in measuring the validity and reliability of the evidence. Developing an understanding of what evidence to use - and when, will assist in ensuring your argument is well rounded and supported. Employing a wide range of evidence is best practice.

Use our Referencing Tool now to help you decide which style to use and the format of in-text referencing.