Citing references in your work and plagiarism

Why cite your sources?

Citing your sources (also called referencing) is an essential part of your academic work for several reasons:

• to acknowledge the sources you have used as the basis for your research. Failure to do this could be regarded as plagiarism.
• to enable other people to identify and trace the sources you have used
• to support facts and claims you have made in your assignment
• to show that you have read widely and used a variety of sources

Things to think about

• When you use published information (including web resources) to collect ideas and data for your assignment, record the full details of the material as you use it. This saves time later when you are ready to complete your written work. Use the citing guides prepared by the Library (see below) so that you know which details you will need
• You can use the software programme EndNote to create a database of your own references and then, when writing your assignment or dissertation, to produce in-text citations and a bibliography

Citing guides

The Library has guides to the British Standard and Harvard method of citing sources and both include information about citing sources found on the Web (see also our information on evaluating Web sources).

Always check with your Department which system you should use, and also whether it provides its own specific guidelines:

• Citing your references using the Harvard (author-date) system (Word or PDF)
• Citing your references using the British Standard (numeric) system (Word or PDF)
• Guide to citing and referencing podcast (with examples in the Harvard style)

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is presenting or submitting someone else's work (words or ideas), intentionally or unintentionally, as your own. This is considered to be a form of cheating and may be subject to disciplinary action, so it is essential to recognise and avoid it. Find out more about plagiarism.