When undertaking a written task it is often necessary to quote authors, facts or ideas from sources of information you have used.
This is done to give credit to the ideas of others, lend weight to your own arguments and support your understanding of the concepts, and to allow others to locate the sources used.
Acknowledging the source of the information is an important component of academic integrity and is done through the process of citation and referencing. It is a skill and requires practice, so you will be introduced to referencing from Year 7.
There are many different sources of information you might use in a task, e.g. books, journal articles, video or audio clips, online encyclopedias, organisational websites, blogs, podcasts and personal communication such as letters or interviews.
Loreto uses the Harvard author-date system of citation and referencing. The reference tools and information below will guide you in how to do this successfully.
An online generator of Harvard author-date system references for a comprehensive range of information sources (print and online), that can be inserted into a Reference List or Bibliography.
The generator will save time when it comes to preparing a Reference List or Bibliography. However, you still need to ensure that the information you enter into the generator is accurate, e.g. correct spelling and punctuation.
The catalogue can automatically generate a reference for any library books. As with the Online Referencing Generator, the citations will be in the Harvard style.
To generate a refence for a library book:
Essentially, you need to include as much information as possible so that someone else could use your citation to locate a copy:
Murdoch University 2018, Why referencing is important, online video, 29 November, viewed 2 September 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3jWxqqLLAE>. Duration: 2 mins.
In the text of an assignment at the point you introduce an author’s ideas, insert author and year of publication detail about the source (e.g. book, journal article, webpage) you used. For example:
According to Anderson (2019, p. 34), recent findings about gut bacteria “challenge the whole paradigm of mental illness being caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.” (direct quote = taken word for word)
Depression and anxiety are two mood conditions that have been linked to the health of microbes in the gut (Anderson 2019). (paraphrase = describing in your own words part of what the author said)
Including a page number is optional, and mainly used to draw the reader’s attention to a specific page - helpful if the book is long.
Each citation you have included in your assignment must have a corresponding entry in a Reference List. At the end of the assignment on a separate page with the heading References, present the sources in alphabetical order by author’s surname (or title for sources without an author).
The term 'Reference List' is sometimes used interchangeably with the term 'Bibliography'. Strictly speaking, these are different, as a Bibliography is generally a larger list which includes everything you used in your assignment (the items in a Reference List) as well as other sources of information you used in preparing your assignment (e.g. background reading) but didn't cite in the final document.
A teacher can always clarify what you need to include.
Plagiarism occurs when you use the information or ideas of others, but don't acknowledge them through citation.
Brock University 2014, What is plagiarism and how to avoid it, online video, 2 September, viewed 4 November 2019, <https://youtu.be/Pmab92ghG0M>. Duration: 2 mins.