Getting Started With Referencing
Before you start writing with any research involved, make sure you are familiar with the basics of referencing.
Why Should I Care?
Citing your sources has three key purposes for the writer:
- 1. Supporting your argument
- 2. Showing where you got information
- 3. Acknowledging others’ work
- 4. Helping the reader
Let’s review these points in more detail.
1. Supporting your argument
1. When you cite, it can help support your argument. Citing can:
- help prove a point: if you make a claim that some may disagree with, you will need to show evidence to support it
- communicate other people’s opinions: you might bring in what someone else has said to help support your claim
- bring together research: you might bring together several sources to help build a new argument
2. Showing where you got information
2. Showing where you got information. You might have taken it because:
- You found a really great way to explain something: You will then add quotation marks to your direct quote – see here for more information.
- You weren’t very familiar with the topic and needed extra help to understand something: You will then add a citation to show where you found your understanding of this concept.
- You need to explain where you got an idea, image, or quote: You will then cite this information to acknowledge others.
3. Acknowledging others' work
3. Acknowledging others’ hard work
- In many situations, people don’t receive money for the facts, research, and ideas that they generate.
- They work hard to create this intellectual property. In addition to the reasons above, we cite as a way of giving acknowledgment to their hard work.
4. Helping the reader
4. Citing your sources helps the reader to:
- Verify the information
- Conduct their own research
- Learn more about the source you used
The Consequences of Not Citing
1. In some cultures, it is normal to talk about other people’s work without saying where it comes from. It is expected that everyone knows that this knowledge comes from famous people’s work.
2. In many Western countries, it is expected that you explain where he got every piece of information. If you don’t cite, it is viewed as stealing. Failure to cite may cause others to think you are trying to take someone else’s information without giving them credit.
3. Many universities and colleges are very serious about this, and students can get in a lot of trouble if they don’t cite properly. They might get a zero on the assignment, fail the course, or be expelled from the school.
Key Vocabulary
- In-text citation: placed next to a claim – it connects to the end reference and includes a shortened version of the information
- End reference: connected to the in-text citation. It has a description of all the information that the reader needs to find the source.
- Parenthetical citations: these in-text citations include information within ( ) – Ex: (Smith, 2020).
- Narrative citations: these in-text citations include the information within the sentence. Ex: In their 2020 study on aquaponics, Smith found that….
- Footnote: when you add information at the bottom of a page. References can be added this way, often connected with a number.
- End note: when you add information at the end of the document. References can be added this way, often connected with a number.