Getting good marks for your assignment, whether it is an essay, a report or a dissertation, depends on many things including the citing and referencing of all the sources you have consulted. Look at the marking criteria for your assessment for more information about how the marks for referencing will be applied. Don’t lose marks through poor or careless referencing. In academia we reference for a number of reasons:

• Your reader can see where your ideas have come from.
• You give credit to those whose ideas have influenced you.
• Referring to experts in your subject area gives your writing authority.
• It proves you have researched the topic properly.
• Your tutors can check any of the sources themselves if they need to.

Most importantly, good referencing should protect you from any possibility of committing plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a term used in universities for passing off other people's ideas as your own. This includes ideas from any sources - written, online or visual - even ideas from other students or members of staff.

Plagiarism is the substantial, unacknowledged, incorporation in a student’s work of material derived from the work (published or unpublished) of another. “Work” includes, but is not limited to, materials in all formats and sources including print, electronic, online, audio visual etc.

Leeds Beckett University (2020) Academic regulations: academic integrity. Section 10 [Online]. Leeds: Leeds Beckett University. Available from: <https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/our-university/public-information/academic-regulations> [Accessed 17 May 2021].

For more information on how to use the Leeds Beckett referencing guidelines, see our Quote, Unquote web pages. You might also want to look at:

'What is plagiarism?'

'What is the Academic Integrity Tutorial?'