Referencing is a method of acknowledging sources of information that you have used in your assignments. It is an important part of academic writing.
You must acknowledge any source you use both within the text of your assignment (also known as an in-text reference) and by listing it at the end of your assignment (also known as an end-text reference or reference list).
To acknowledge the source of information and therefore avoid plagiarism.
To show the breadth of your research.
To allow the reader to find and verify the information used.
ALWAYS if you:
Quote - use someone else's exact words
Paraphrase - convert someone else's ideas to your own words
Summarise - create a brief account of someone else's ideas
Copy - statistics, figures, tables or images
When Do You NOT Need to Reference?
When you are describing your own experiences or observations.
When you are using general or common knowledge.
1. Record
When collecting information for an assignment topic, record all the information required to reference your sources. Make sure you include page numbers for direct quotations, journal articles and book chapters.
2. Organise
When recording the referencing information develop a system that works for you. For example, add the information immediately to your draft, or use a referencing program such as the Microsoft Word referencing tool or similar.
3. In-text
Within the text of your assignment, include a brief reference when you summarise, paraphrase or quote from another source.
4. Reference List
At the end of your assignment attach a list of the references you have cited in-text. These must be the full references required for the different sources used. Arrange the list alphabetically by the first author's surname or by title if there is no author.
Each time you use information from another source you must include an in-text reference.
General Rules
Example:
In-text: (Diabetes WA, 2019a)
Diabetes WA. (2019a). What's your risk? https://diabeteswa.com.au/whats-your-risk /
In-text: (Diabetes WA, 2019b)
Diabetes WA (2019b). What is blood glucose? https://diabeteswa.com.au/manage-your-diabetes/monitoring-blood-glucose/what-is-blood-glucose
Corporate authors names can be abbreviated.
If your reference has a corporate author, the name can sometimes be abbreviated—for example, American Psychological Association can be abbreviated to APA. You are not obligated to abbreviate the name of a corporate author, but you can if the abbreviation would help avoid cumbersome repetition and will appear more than three times in the paper.
Example:
First in-text reference: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2022)
Second and subsequent in-text references: (APA, 2022)
"Teach your children how to handle money responsibly, perhaps by setting up their own "savings account" for their pocket money and letting them pay for small items they want when shopping" (American Psychological Association [APA], 2022).
Note: This only applies to the in-text reference, do not use the abbreviation in the Reference List.
American Psychological Association. (2022). Talking to your children about the economy and financial fears. https://www.apa.org/topics/money/talking-children-economy
General Rules:
Example:
Diabetes WA. (2019a). What's your risk? https://diabeteswa.com.au/whats-your-risk/
In-text: (Diabetes WA, 2019a)
Diabetes WA (2019b). What is blood glucose? https://diabeteswa.com.au/manage-your-diabetes/monitoring-blood-glucose/what-is-blood-glucose
In-text: (Diabetes WA, 2019b)
Points to Note:
Page numbers are required when using a direct quote but optional when paraphrasing
Formatting quotations
A quotation is an exact reproduction from another source. They are word for word copies of another persons work.
Quotations of less than 40 words are set out wiithin the body of the text and enclosed with double quotation marks " ".
Example:
... children are very adaptable. However, "it is no surprise that we are much better at recognising negative signals than positives ones" (Smith, 2011, p. 36).
Quotations of more than 40 words should be set out in a block, commencing on a new line and indented from the left hand margin 5 spaces. Quotation marks are not used. Double space the entire quotation.
Example:
Governments have occasionally produced reports on:
The merits of privatization, incorporating 'expert' assessments of
likely sale and retention values. This is progress, of a kind. It does,
after all, provide the community with opportunities to scrutinise major
proposals for asset sales - opportunities long available in the
private sector. (Walker, 2010, p. 140)
Point to note:
Avoid overuse of direct quotations. It is best to paraphrase or summarise information from other sources, as this shows your understanding of the information and your ability to use it in your own work.
Direct quotations can be used for:
There are various ways to reference quotes. Read the APA Style Blog for suggestions.
The use of capital letters in titles varies:
Books, websites and web documents
Churchill's desert war: The road to El Alamein
Periodicals (journals, newspapers and magazines)
Australian Journal of Early Childhood
Australian Financial Review
Articles and chapters
Working with refugee young people: An Australian nurses's perspective
[Format] - Only use if the format is important for identification and retrieval. This is included in square brackets, for example:
Lang, k.d. (2008). Shadow and the frame. On Watershed [CD]. Nonesuch Record.
Below are some of the more common format types.
[Abstract]
[Audio podcast]
[Blog post] or [Blog comment]
[Brochure]
[CD]
[Chart]
[Computer software]
[Demographic map]
[DVD]
[Facebook]
[Graph]
[Lecture notes]
[mp3/4 etc.]
[Painting]
[Photograph]
[PowerPoint presentation]
[Press release]
[Special issue]
[Supplemental material]
[Table]
[Television series]
[Tweet]
[Video]
These abbreviations are commonly used in referencing:
| ed. | edition |
| 2nd ed. | second edition |
| Ed. | Editor |
| Eds. | Editors |
| et al. | and others |
| n.d. | no date |
| p. | page |
| pp. | pages |
| para. | paragraph |
| Vol. | volume |
| Cth. | Commonwealth |
You will notice in referencing information that the terms cite/citation are often used interchangeably with reference.
Luckily for students now, most online resources (ebooks, databases, library catalogues, video platforms) have an embedded cite/citation tool which will generate a reference (citation) for you.
Too easy! Just remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that the reference generated is correct. Check it against the examples in this guide.