Social Work

Social Work uses the Harvard referencing style.  You are required to follow this guidance for all of your assessed work.  

This short tutorial explains why and when to reference and introduces you to the Harvard style of referencing.  It takes about 20 minutes to complete.

This short tutorial explains what plagiarism is and also gives you tips on how to avoid it. It takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Why should I reference?

Referencing is important in academic writing and an essential part of any of your assignments. It:

• allows you to acknowledge your sources,
• gives academic credibility to your work,
• demonstrates your knowledge of a subject area,
• prevents accusations of plagiarism.

What is plagiarism?

What should I reference?

You should always reference a source when:

• using a direct quote
• summarising a theory
• discussing someone else's opinion
• using case studies
• quoting statistics or visual data
• but not when stating your own opinion, observation or experience.

If you are unsure use this flowchart to check whether you need to reference (click on the image to enlarge).