Citations and Bibliography

A reference is a source citation you use when incorporating sources into your text. The reference contains a set of details that allow the reader to identify and locate the source you are referring to. Some common details in a reference include the title, author, publication year, and publisher.

When creating citations and reference lists, you must follow a standard. A standard includes rules on what information to include for each source, the order in which the details should appear, and which punctuation marks should be used to separate them. By using a standard, you ensure that your references are clear and easy to read. Examples of the most common citation standards include APA, Chicago, Vancouver, and Harvard.

Plagiarism is using someone else's text as your own without making precise source references. You avoid plagiarizing by always putting quotes in quotation marks and citing the source of the literature you use. As soon as you use something others have written or created, you should always include a source reference.

Reference management is keeping track of the literature you cite and use in your assignment. You should always be able to document where your knowledge comes from, whose theory you are using, or whose argument you are building your discussions on. Therefore, you should follow these three rules:

• Every time you paraphrase, quote, or use others' work to build your argumentation, you must credit them by making a reference in the text.
• The reader should be able, based on the information you provide in your reference and bibliography, to find the material you are using. It is therefore important that all references within the text have a corresponding entry in the bibliography with comprehensive information.
• Regardless of which style you choose for your references and bibliography, or if you do it in your own way, you must be consistent.