What is referencing?
Referencing is the way that you describe the sources of information and ideas that you use in your assignments. Your lecturer will usually specify a particular referencing style to follow. It is important to follow the style exactly and be consistent throughout your paper.
Why do I need to reference?
- To distinguish your ideas from those of someone else
- To protect yourself against plagiarism – using someone else’s work as your own
- To add credibility to your arguments
- To show you have used a range of sources
- To show the quality of the sources you have used
You must reference anything and everything that you use in your assignment that was not originally created by you. This includes images, photos, music, statistics, graphs as well as information and ideas.
You should reference "direct quotes" (copying someone's work word for word), as well as any ideas you have paraphrased (put into your own words) or summarised.
Fortunately, the JCU Library has a number of guides to help you understand and excel at referencing:
- The Referencing guide is a portal to the individual referencing style guides commonly used at JCU
- Your discipline guide may have a tab linking to the referencing style guide for your subject
- Your subject outline in Learn JCU may specify which referencing style you should use. If not, please check with your lecturer
- Learn more about referencing with videos and interactive tutorials in the InfoSkills Toolkit
Librarians are happy to help you understand how to reference, answer specific questions you may have and provide feedback on your references. You can contact us via online chat, email, phone or in person on the ground floor of the library.
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