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Welcome

What is referencing?

Referencing is necessary for acknowledging that you have used the ideas and written material belonging to other authors in your own work. It demonstrates that you have undertaken an appropriate literature search and that you have carried out appropriate reading. The following are examples of sources you might access and need to reference:

  • Books
  • Journal articles
  • Electronic journal articles
  • Web pages, picture galleries, images and diagrams
  • Emails
  • Video, films, CD-Roms and audio recordings
  • Newspapers
  • Conference papers
  • Pamphlets
  • Theses and other academic work
  • Radio or TV broadcasts (you must check that your lecturer is happy for you to use this type of material in your assignment)
  • Personal communication
  • Interviews (if this is a personal interview, you must always ask permission of the interviewee before using such material)

Why do it?

  • So that anyone reading your assignments can trace the sources you have used in the development of your work and give you credit for your research effort and quality
  • If you do not acknowledge another writer's work or ideas, you could be accused of plagiarism
  • Accurate referencing is commensurate with good academic practice and enhances the presentation of your work: it shows that your writing is based on knowledge instead of guesses and mere opinion
  • Accurate referencing can improve your marks

There are two elements for referencing: (1) citing and (2) the Reference List. You must do both parts.

So what is citing?
When, in your assignments, you have used an idea from a book, journal article and so on, you must acknowledge this in your text. We refer to this as 'citing'.

What style should I use?

The largest schools in GCU, (Glasgow School for Business and Society and the former School of Health and Social Care) use an amended form of Harvard referencing (known as GCU Harvard). This is ususally used for undergraduate work, so detailed examples are given in SMILE. If your undergraduates are using RefWorks bibliographic software, they should use the ‘GCU Harvard’ styles. Other forms of referencing used at GCU are:

Always show your supervisor a sample bibliography to confirm it is in the format they want.

This Unit will offer guidance on referencing for two commonly used styles: Harvard and Numerical.

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