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Mathematics and Physics

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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)

Referencing style guide

Picture of IEEE Reference Guide Handbook The School of Mathematics and Physics uses the IEEE Referencing style. A guide to using the IEEE style is available from the Library or as a PDF download.

This help guide covers the basic types of reference you will encounter.

 

 

Referencing and Plagiarism

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?

The Oxford English dictionary defines plagiarism as "the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own".

"A student commits plagiarism when he or she incorporates in his or her own work substantial unacknowledged portions of another person’s material, or attempts to pass off such work as original through its inclusion. In this context, substantial means more than trivial or minimal."

University of Lincoln, University General Regulations 2015/16

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.

 

Books on referencing

RefWorks

RefWorks logo

RefWorks is referencing software which allows you to:

  • store references
  • organise references
  • generate citations
  • generate reference lists
  • share references

It's available to all staff and students, click here to log in.