Referencing and citations

• An indication within the text of your work where you have mentioned the ideas or work of others. This is known as an ‘in-text citation’.  
• A full description of the source you have used, which is featured in a reference list or a bibliography at the end of your work.

At university, you are expected to reference your work as part of the process of scholarly research. By providing enough information for others to find the resources and ideas you have used, the reader can check the accuracy and validity of the evidence and arguments you have presented.

Referencing also demonstrates that you have read widely and gives credit to the authors whose works, ideas and research you have used, preventing plagiarism from occurring and setting your work in context.

The University does not have a standard referencing style, so you’ll need to check with your department or tutor which referencing style you are required to use for your work. Information on this is often found in your departmental handbook on LEARN.

There may be requirements for you to use a specific referencing style for a certain piece of work so always check the assessment guidelines. Good referencing is clear, careful, consistent and complete.

Be aware that you not only need to reference text and ideas that you use in your work but diagrams, lines of code, tables, graphs and images/photos too.