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Faculty of Humanities

University of the Free State

Importance of referencing

Proper referencing gives credit to the original authors whose ideas and work you have used. This demonstrates academic integrity and helps avoid plagiarism, which is a serious academic offense. References provide evidence to support your arguments and claims, lending credibility to your work. They show that your ideas are based on established knowledge and scholarly research.

Source: Puteri Sofia YouTube Channel. 

Referencing

What is referencing?

The process of referencing is how you give credit to the people who provided the material you used in your work. It helps the reader understand how you have developed your own thoughts and arguments by drawing on the work of others. 

What is paraphrasing?

The act of expressing something in a different way, usually in a more concise and straightforward manner, in order to clarify its meaning is known as paraphrasing.

In-text Citation

 An in-text citation is a brief reference that helps identify the original source of an idea within the body of your essay. Typically, it consists of merely the last name of the author, the date, and the page number.

Example: (Schenk, 2015) or (Schenk, 2015, 15) or (Schenk, 2015:15) 

Bibliography or Reference list

A list of books or works by an author that were used or consulted in the writing of a research paper, book, or article is called a bibliography. Typically, it appears near the conclusion of a book, essay, or research paper.

ExampleBernardo, J.M., 2005. Reference analysis. Handbook of statistics25, pp.17-90. or Davidson, D., 1979. The inscrutability of reference. The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy10(2), 7-19.

How to reference a print book. 

Source: Dundalk Institute of Technology. https://dkit.ie.libguides.com/harvard/citing-referencing  

 

How to reference journal article

Source: Monash Health Library https://monashhealth.libguides.com/publishing/referencing

 

How to reference an eBook

Source: Assignment Help https://www.assignmenthelp.net/harvard-referencing

Referencing Guides

Plagiarism

                                             Source: OER Commons https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73073/student-old/

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a distinct violation that involves failing to properly attribute a specific source. Using someone else's words, ideas, or work without giving them credit is called plagiarism.

Plagiarism is using other people's ideas from books, journals or other sources without acknowledging the original author. While you are writing an assignment, you should take care not to write down information from a source and present it to your reader as your own. You can avoid plagiarism simply by quoting the author and thereby giving him/her credit.

How to avoid plagiarism 

 Writing down the complete bibliographical reference of each source you use

 Using quotation marks when you repeat another author's words exactly

 Always giving credit to original authors for their information and ideas

 Writing down exactly which ideas you found in which source
Source: http://science.widener.edu/svb/essay/plagiar.html

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