Why we need to reference

Click the image below to open a short video about why referencing is required in academic work. 

CLICK to open video now. Video produced by Robert Gorden University Aberdeen (published 2012, 23 October).

When we need to reference

Every time you refer to someone else's ideas or writing you must reference this in your academic work.

For example: 

• Quotations - ‘word for word' copies of a written source.
• Diagrams, graphs, charts, images - any representation that you copy from another source.  
• Paraphrasing - when you rewrite all or part of another person's ideas in your own words.
• Summary - when you summarise another person's ideas or research.
• Facts - when you repeat or rewrite other researcher's findings, data or information.
• Revisions - when you re-work or modify any part of someone else's research/ideas/images, while maintaining the key idea or design.

When we don't need to reference

• You don't need to reference your own original ideas, opinions, findings, writing or images. However, if you reuse these in another piece of work, you may need to reference the original source.

• You don't usually need to reference information which is common knowledge.

Examples of common knowledge may include:

• Penguins are flightless birds.

• Kangaroos are native to Australia.

• The capital of England is London.

Always be guided by your department regarding referencing common knowledge. If you are unsure whether the information you are using is common knowledge or not, reference it.

The information about referencing in this section has been developed and kindly shared by the Libraries and Learning Services team.   To view more detailed information on when and how to reference at the University of Auckland visit the Libraries and Learning Services module: Referencing - The basics.

How to reference

Click the image below to access the University of Auckland's Referen©ite tool.

Here you will find a link to the amazing Quick©ite tool that makes academic referencing in assignments much easier.

You may also find it helpful to visit the University of Auckland's Academic referencing webpages to support you in understanding what academic integrity, and referencing, are all about at university. 

Paraphrasing also acknowledes the sources of your new ideas

The University of Auckland's Referen©ite tool is a good place to begin when trying to understand the difference between referencing and paraphrasing and how to do both properly.

Like referencing, paraphrasing is a way to acknowledge, and give credit to, your sources of new ideas and information.

With referencing you exactly copy the words (quote) from another source and you put the quote in between quotation marks "..." to show it is the exact words of a person or author.

With paraphrasing, you are not exactly copying the words from anther source; instead you are putting the new ideas into your own words.  However, you still need to provide information about where those new ideas came from, just like you would with references that are direct quotes.

For more about why and how to paraphrase, visit the Referen©ite Paraphrasing page.

Referencing has two parts

To properly reference, you need to include to parts in your own text:

• In-text citations and
• Reference lists.

In-text citations

In-text citations appear within the text to show the reader which reference relates to that information. The citation guides the reader to the reference, and the reference tells the reader where to find the original source of the information.  The citation is shown in brackets with the author's name and the date of the reference alongside the ideas in the text.

Reference lists

Reference lists contain details of information sources that have been referred to in a text or used in your assignment.  The reference lists includes the authors, the title of the articles read, the date of publication, as well as by whom and where the articles have been published. The references are presented as a list at the end of your assignment.  

The image below shows an example of in-text citations (in brackets) as well as a piece of a reference list. (Note the example shown below uses the referencing style called "APA 6th".) 

	*To learn more about different styles of referencing you may be asked to use during your postgraduate study, you may wish to visit the Medical and Health Information Skills Online Module developed by Philson Librarians.)  Download this example of APA 6th Referencing: APA 6th style Referencing image example
The text in the example above has been taken from the following resource:  Lambert, M., Fleming, T., Ameratunga, S., Robinson, E., Crengle, S., Sheridan, J., . . . Merry, S. (2014). Looking on the bright side: An assessment of factors associated with adolescents’ happiness. Advances in Mental Health, 12(2), 101-109. doi: 10.1080/18374905.2014.11081888

Tools to manage your references

Reference (electronic) management tools can help you to store and manage your academic references. They can automatically create reference lists or bibliographies, plus insert references in the text of your assignment, already formatted in the style required. The University supports students to use RefWorks or EndNote. There are also other reference management tools available.

You can find out more about RefWorks and reference management tools by visiting the University of Auckland Academic integrity and referencing page.

Keep a record of references as you go

You need a systematic way to note and remember where you got your information and references from.

If you are not using an electronic reference management tool like RefWorks or EndNote, you will need to make sure you record details such as:

• the author,
• the title,
• the source, and
• in the case of internet resources the URL (the website identifier) and the date you have accessed the sites.

You will need these details for your reference list.

One way to record the bibliographic details and help you to summarise, compare and critique the literature is to make a table.

You may also find online tools such as RefWorks can be useful for storing and managing your references if you have a large volume of references and readings to keep track of.

What bits of information do I need for my referencing?

Information usually needed for a reference: author date published title - article and journal; book; book chapter and book title volume and pages for an article; pages for a book chapter 2nd or subsequent edition for a book place of publication and publisher for a print format book and book chapter doi - most journals and some e-books will have this (What is a doi?)

Check your knowledge of when to reference by taking this quick 'when to reference' quiz.