Essay Skills:

Referencing

What is referencing?
Referencing is a system used in the academic community to indicate
where ideas, theories, quotes, facts and any other evidence and
information used to undertake an assignment, can be found. 1
Simply put, referencing is giving credit where it is due. If you have
discussed the work of someone else in your essay, you must let your
reader know by using quotation marks, footnotes, and a bibliography.
It is good practice to include a variety of information in your essays.
You must reference both primary and secondary sources.
__________________________________________________________
Staffordshire University, A Quick Guide to Harvard referencing, 2013, https://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_quick_guide_tcm4447797.pdf., (accessed 14th May 2015).
1

Why reference?
Show that you
acknowledge, and
value different
points of view, and
can compare and
contrast them.

Enable readers to
consult the original
source.

Demonstrate how
your research has
led you to your
current argument.

Validate your
argument, and
demonstrate
your ability to
evaluate the
credibility of
sources.

Give others
credit to
avoid
plagiarism.

To highlight
a point by
quoting the
original.

Plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone elses work or
ideas as your own.

Does it really matter?

Just like copying in exams, if you are found to have
plagiarised anothers work during your degree or career at
a university, you will be severely disciplined by the
institution (and could be forced to leave your course of
study). This is the case even if you plagiarised accidentally.
That is why it is important to practise referencing properly
now.

Deliberate
plagiarism

Accidental
plagiarism

Downloading,
buying or borrowing
essays.

Recycling an old
essay (yes, you can
plagiarise yourself!)

Copying from books

or articles.

Not knowing how to

reference properly.

Pasting sections of
text from the
internet.

Not knowing how to

paraphrase or
summarise
anothers ideas.

Primary and Secondary Resources

Primary resources
Primary resources are the
texts that you are analysing
directly as part of your essay.

Question: Explore how Shakespeare

presents the theme of love in Romeo
and Juliet.
Primary resource:

Secondary resources
Secondary resources are any
texts that you used to
enhance your understanding
of the primary resource, and
help you form an essay
response.
These
could
include: dictionary definitions,
academic articles, YouTube
videos, or artworks, to name
just a few.

Secondary resources:

How to: Reference

There are different types of referencing styles; however, for this tutorial we will focus on the
Oxford style of referencing which requires footnotes. The next slide tells you where to find
bibliographic information.

Footnote

Bibliography

What is it?

How do I do it?

Example

A footnote is additional
information about a source:
they give the publication
details of a text. Footnotes are
printed at the bottom of essay
pages.

How a footnote is presented is

dependent on the type of
document that is being referenced.

To reference a book with one

author:

A bibliography is a list of
references. The bibliography is
listed on a separate page, after
the essay.

References must be listed

alphabetically, by author.

First Initial. Surname, Title of

You can find a guide on how to
the book in italics, Place of
reference varied types of texts here publication, Publisher, Year
.
of publication, page number.

Unlike in footnotes, the surname

precedes the first initial and you
dont have to stage the page
numbers. Footnotes and
bibliographies are usually
presented in 12 point Times
New Roman font.

Bibliography
Surname, First initial., Title of
the book in italics, Place of
publication, Publisher, Year
of publication.

Where do I find bibliographic information?

Bibliographic information can be found on the copyright page at the front
of the book.
What information do we need?

Title of text: All the Way to Second

Street
Author: Nancy Casey
Publisher (name): Logwood Stone
Moscow
Publisher (place): Idaho
Date of publication (this edition):
2011
Footnote:
N. Casey, All the Way to Second Street,
Idaho, Logwood Stone Moscow, 2011, p.
12.
Bibliography:
Casey, N. All the Way to Second Street,
Idaho, Logwood Stone Moscow, 2011.