Referencing your sources means using a systematic approach to showing what information or ideas you are quoting or paraphrasing, and importantly where they come from. Using words, ideas or information created by someone else in your work is allowed and in many circumstances it is a necessity, but you must show that they are not your own words, ideas or information by indicating their source using a reference.
There are many different types of referencing systems, and the use of any particular one will depend on the field of study you are researching and writing about, for the AI Group, we use Chicago referencing style (See Below). All referencing systems have the same basic components:
- An in-text reference to show that a piece of information, idea, quotation, etc. you have included in your writing belongs to another writer. It is always designed to be short because it is interrupting the text, and is usually in parentheses: "A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." (David Brinkley 2000).
OR
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." (David Brinkley 1).
OR
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him[1]."
OR
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him1." - The reader then uses the in-text reference to find full bibliographic information (about when and where the source was published, and by which publisher) either at the end of the page or more usually at the end of the paper. A referencing system that in the text uses the author's family name will always list sources on the references page alphabetically by author's family name; a referencing system that uses numerical in-text references will usually list sources in the order in which they appear in the writing (not by author's name). This enables the reader to find sources easily.
- If you are quoting an author verbatim, you must use quotations marks ("") to encapsulate the sentence or sentences. If you are quoting more than a sentence or two, such as paragraph you need to indent the paragraph and put it in quotations marks. For example:
"Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love."
(Bible, 1AD)
What do I need to Reference?
- All work done by other researchers which you want to refer to in your own writing
- Other writers' words.
What do I not need to Reference?
- General Knowledge
- Information that is common knowledge in your field
- Ideas that are definitely your own, and findings or insights from your own research
Where do you Reference?
You should reference all information and ideas from existing work that you use in your writing. The same applies regardless of the fact you use your own words or the source's words. Any information that is not referenced is assumed to have come from you or is general knowledge in your field of research, so neglecting to reference someone's work often means you are leading your reader to believe that the work is your own. This is called Plagiarism, it is bad, very very bad.
Chicago style:
This referencing system is used widely in science and technology, and in some fields of the humanities. The in-text reference uses the family name of the author/s plus the year the work was published:
In-text reference:
(Dunne 2008) NB: no comma between name and date or . . . according to Dunne (2008)
If there are more than two authors, generally the name of the first is used followed by the words "et al." has it's origins in Latin (et alii) meaning "and others". So for example:
The consumption of alcohol in Ireland has significantly increased from the year 1999 to 2007. (Dunne et al. 2008).
References page:
This page comes at the end of the paper, thesis or book (but before any appendices) and has full bibliographic information. In other words, it provides all the publication (or other information about the source) that readers need to either find it themselves or to assess its validity. It contains a list arranged alphabetically by the last name of the main author and only includes works that have been referred to in the text (i.e. that have in-text references. For example:
Clinton H. 2008. An argument against wet paint on walls in
public places. Journal of Idiots, 8: 14-30.
Dunne M. 2008. Increasing alcohol consumption in Ireland.Beer Markets Journal 1: 1-2.
Website Referencing:
When referencing a file or document available for viewing/downloading via the World Wide Web, provide the following information:
1. Joseph Pellegrino, "Homepage," 12 May 1999, <http://www.english.eku.edu/pellegrino/default.htm> (12 June 1999).
Professional site:
1. Gail Mortimer, The William Faulkner Society Home Page, 16 September 1999, <http://www.utep.edu/mortimer/faulkner/main faulkner.htm> (19 November 1997).
2. National Association of Investors Corporation, NAIC Online, 20 September 1999, <http://www.better-investing.org> (1 October 1999).
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