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Learning Resource Centre: Citation & Referencing

Citation, Referencing & Plagiarism

If you use someone else's words, or ideas, you need to cite/reference these. Proper citation is important to avoid plagiarism and the academic consequences that can arise from using other authors work without proper acknowledgement. It also supports and strengthens your argument, and demonstrates what you have read.

Find out more about copyright and plagiarism on our website here.

You can use the simple tools on this page to help you generate bibliographies and citations for a wide range of resources.

You can also refer to your school diary under the 'Guide to References' page.


How do I reference/cite?
  • An in-text citation is a short citation within the text of your assignment, after a quote or paraphrasing of another's work. 
    • Include: surname of author(s), year of publication and page number(s).
    • Direct quote example: "Gaugin, the suffering artist, the victim of 'civilised society', has become one of the cultural myths of our time, the quintessential romantic artist" (Howard 1993, p.60).
    • Paraphrase example: Howard (1993, p.60) argues that Gaugin is seen as the ultimate example of the romantic artistic rebel.
  • reference list is a list of full bibliographic details of all sources acknowledged in the body of your essay. This is placed at the end of your assignment and listed in alphabetical order (author's surname).
    • Include: Author surname, author initial(s) (year of publication), Title, edition, publisher, place of publication. You can get these details from the title page (don't use the front cover!)
    • Use capital letters only for the first word in the title, and any proper nouns thereafter.
    • Make sure to put the title in italics, or underline if handwritten.
    • Example: Howard, M 1993, Gaugin, Collins Eyewtiness Art, Harper Collins, NSW.
  • A bibliography is a separate list of any other resources used in the preparation of your essay but not actually cited within the body of your work. This is the same format as a Reference List, placed at the end of your assignment and listed in alphabetical order (author's surname).

See the guides and examples for various sources below.


When do I need to reference/cite?
  • When you are quoting someone else's words (make sure to use quotation marks as well!)
  • When you are paraphrasing/summarising someone else's words.
  • When you are using someone else's ideas or concepts.
  • If it is common knowledge or your own thoughts - you do not need to reference.

How do I know if something is common knowledge?

"Generally speaking, you can regard something as common knowledge if you find the same information undocumented in at least five credible sources. Additionally, it might be common knowledge if you think the information you're presenting is something your readers will already know, or something that a person could easily find in general reference sources. But when in doubt, cite; if the citation turns out to be unnecessary, your teacher or editor will tell you." (source: Purdue OWL)

Reference Generators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvard Referencing Generator: Harvard Referencing Generator allows you to either enter a URL, a journal article, or a book title and enter in some basic information. The site will then generate a reference for you which you can save or copy and paste. This is a good tool to produce a quick citation, but do be aware these generators can make mistakes so double check it's veracity after use. 

Using the Library Catalogue For Citations

If you found the book you want to reference in the LRC, there is a quick and simple way to get it's citation.

  1. Login to the catalogue using you student number. If you do not have a PIN, leave this blank.
  2. Search for the book you need to reference.
  3. Drag and drop this book into 'My List' 
  4. Click on 'My List' - in the 'options' next to the book select 'View Citation' and 'Harvard'
  5. Copy and paste this citation into your assignment.

Catalogue citation screenshot

The Credible Hulk

The Credible Hulk Image

Source: http://www.reasonistproducts.com/atheist-products/featured/the-credible-hulk-always-cites-his-sources/

Guides & Examples

Here are some examples of in-text and reference list citations for a variety of resources. Compare yours to ensure they're correct!

Harvard Citation of References

Book  single  author  with Edition given

In-text   (Doss 2003)
Reference list
Doss, G 2003, IS Project Management Handbook, 3rd edn, Aspen Publishers, New York.

Book two authors

In-text (Laudon & Laudon 2003)
Reference list
Laudon, KC & Laudon, JP 2003, Essentials of management information systems: managing the digital firm, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.

Book three authors

In-text: Initially (Coveney, Ganster, Hartlen & King 2003)
In-text: thereafter (Coveney et al 2003)
Reference list
Coveney, M, Ganster, D, Hartlen, B & King, D 2003, The strategy gap: leveraging technology to execute winning strategies, Wiley, Hoboken, N. J.

Book editor only

In-text (Shaw 2003)
Reference list
Shaw, MJ (ed) 2003, E-business management: integration of Web2, Kluwer Academic, London.

Book  - translator

In-text (De Certeau 1984)

Reference list

De Certeau, M 1984, The practice of everyday life, trans. S Rendall, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Chapter of book

In-text (Howard 1998)
Reference list
Howard, S 1998, 'Verbal protocol analysis', in B Henderson-Sellers, A Simons and H Younessi (eds.), The open process specification, Addison Wesley, Sydney, pp. 27-27.

Encyclopaedia – author

In-text (Karlof 2002)
Reference list
Karlof, B 2002, 'Benchmarking', in H Bidgoli (ed). Encyclopedia of information systems, Academic Press, New York, vol. 1, pp. 65-80.

Encyclopaedia – without author’s name

In-text The new shorter Oxford English dictionary (1993, p66) defines ‘amercement’ as. Reference list The new shorter Oxford English dictionary 1993, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Government Publication

In-text: initially (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2002)
In-text: thereafter (DFAT 2002)
Reference list
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2002, Connecting with Asia's tech future: ICT export opportunities, Economic Analytical Unit, Commonwealth Government, Canberra.

Newspaper article in print

In-text (Barker 2004)
Reference list
Barker, G 2004, '$54m Deal To Heat Up Broadband War', The Age, Business, 24 February, p 2.

Newspaper online

In-text (Varghese 2004)
Reference list
Varghese, S 2004, 'The Linux desktop is here', The Age, accessed 1 March 2004, from <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/13/1076548215848.html>

Television or radio program

In-text (Sold down the river 2003)
Reference list
Sold down the river 2003, television program, 4 Corners, ABC Television, Sydney, broadcast 14 July.

Video or audio recording

In-text (Sangare 1997)
Reference list
Sangare, O 1997, 'Dugu Kamalemba', in The divas from Mali, (audio CD), Network Medien, Frankfurt. Track #10.

Podcast

In-text (Vincent Ward Interview 2006)

Reference list

‘Vincent Ward Interview’ 2006, podcast, The Movie Show, SBS, 7 July, accessed 25/10/2006, http://www20.sbs.com.au/podcasting/

Magazine article

In-text (Knight 2004)

Reference list
Knight, W 2004, 'How to second guess the next hack attack', New Scientist, 24 January, p 19.

Website

In-text (Arch & Letourneau 2002)
Reference list
Arch, A & Letourneau, C 2002, 'Auxiliary benefits of accessible web design', in W3C web accessibility initiative, accessed 26 February 2004, from <http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html>

Blog

In-text (Webber & Boon 2006)

Reference list

Webber, S & Boon, S 2006, Information literacy weblog, weblog, accessed 24/10/2006, http://information-literacy.blogspot.com

 

          

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