Get Referencing!

Understanding the rules

Do this:

Read this statement from a tutor about how his students do not seem to understand the rules for referencing:

“Students charged with plagiarism often claim they misunderstand the rules for proper referencing. The most common reason encountered is students’ belief that certain types of sources are somehow "exempt" despite explicit instruction to the contrary. The range of such exemptions varies according to the student. Some believe that course texts, government documents or readings from other courses do not require referencing. Some students claim they were only required to reference limited types of sources: direct quotations but not paraphrases; statistical facts but not other people’s ideas or words. A few claim that if they include references in the bibliography, it is not necessary to reference the ideas used in the body of the essay. Several worry they will have "too many" footnotes, so they arbitrarily include some but leave others out. Each of these mistaken notions of "exempt" sources reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the logic of proper referencing.”

Think about this:

No "category" of source is exempt from referencing: books, quotations, statistics, paraphrases, government documents, speeches, and course texts all must be cited. To learn more about referencing go to: Essay-writing skills.

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