Referencing
When writing essays or assignments, you must acknowledge and cite your sources of information – this is known as referencing.
All academic work is part of a greater body of knowledge. Showing where your work fits into this is an important part of academic practice at university. Referencing is important because it:
- allows the reader to locate the books, chapters or articles you have referred to
- provides evidence to support your argument
- protects you against charges of plagiarism
- shows that you have read widely
- distinguishes your own ideas from others'.
How to reference
When writing a body of work (e.g. thesis, essay or assignment), every source of information or idea that is not your own must be credited twice:
- where the information is used in the work
- in a reference list at the end of the document.
The format of these citations will differ depending on the referencing style you are required to use, which is usually listed in your Subject Learning Guide (ask your tutor or lecturer if you are unsure).
The four main styles used at La Trobe University (LTU) and supported by the Library are:
Academic Referencing Tool
To help you determine the correct format for your referencing, refer to the Academic Referencing Tool provided by the Library. This tool includes examples of the most common in-text referencing, direct quotations, paraphrasing and footnoting. Bibliography/Reference list and detailed style notes are also available.
If you cannot find an example that matches your resource type in the tool, choose one or a combination of examples that are the closest match.
Help guide
For comprehensive information on when to use referencing, including an example assignment with annotations explaining the referencing principles, refer to the 'Referencing' help guide on Achieve@Uni. This guide also provides answers to some frequently asked questions about referencing.
Generating references
Some applications and websites can provide a citation for a resource or even generate a bibliography listing multiple resources in the format that you require. Two common approaches you can use are described below.
You can use EndNote to create bibliographies for your body of work (e.g. thesis, essay or assignment). It will save you time and reduce the risk of errors. EndNote can be used to:
- store bibliographic records (e.g. details of books, chapters, journal articles, websites, conference papers, theses, reports, etc.)
- automatically generate citations and bibliographies in specific styles (e.g. AGLC4, APA 7) in Word documents
- search and retrieve bibliographic records from library collections and journal indexing databases.
EndNote is available for LTU staff and students to download via OnTheHub.
For information on using Endnote, refer to our help guide or attend an EndNote workshop.
If your resource is held in LTU Library's collections, you can generate a citation for it in a number of formats.
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Search for the item in the Library collections.
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After selecting the item from the search results and viewing its details to confirm it is the correct resource, check the section titled 'Send to'.
In that section, select the Citation option.
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In the panel that is shown, select the referencing format that you require to view a citation in that format for the item.
Note: The main referencing formats used at LTU will be listed. If you require a different format, you will need to use a different approach or you can contact the Library for advice. -
Select Copy the citation to clipboard to copy the citation. You can then paste it into your work.
Note: It is recommended that you check these citations for accuracy (e.g. using the Academic Referencing Tool) as they are generated from the item's imported data without any form of validation.