International Relations

Referencing and plagiarism

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.

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.

Plagiarism is "the wrongful... publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas of another" (Oxford English Dictionary)

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.

Managing your references

Reference management software helps you to store and organise your references and generate citations and reference lists. The Library provides access and support to:

RefWorks

EndNote