Introduction
If you’re undertaking a master’s course, it’s likely that you are already familiar with the concept and practice of referencing. However, depending on where and when you previously studied, the requirements at master’s level in the UK may be different from those you have been accustomed to in the past.
At this level, there’s an expectation that you will reference accurately and appropriately. You’re expected to know what you’re doing, and plagiarism caused by careless or weak referencing is likely to be treated less sympathetically than at undergraduate level.
On this page, you’ll find the information you need to make sure you understand the basic requirements. We’ll look at the mechanics of referencing (the ‘how’) as well as exploring why referencing is such an important part of the work you’ll do at master’s level (the ‘why’).
Mechanics of Referencing
Referencing is often looked upon with a sense of dread, but in essence it is a simple process and one that you can and should become competent at carrying out. Whilst you will need to invest some time to understand the process and some of its nuances, the basic mechanics of referencing are quite easily understood. Let’s explore these now.
There are numerous referencing systems and it’s entirely possible that you may have to switch between two or more during your time at university. Understanding the basic mechanics of referencing can help you to master individual systems and switch between them when required.
Irrespective of the system you are using, there are two steps you need to take: the citation and the reference.
Step 1 – the citation
The citation is the (usually brief) information you give in the body of your work, immediately upon using a piece of evidence. It will take the form of either:
- an in-text citation, e.g. (Smith, 2020)
or
- a footnote or endnote,
but never both. Which of these you deploy will depend on the referencing system you are using.
Step 2 – the reference
The reference is the fuller information about the source which you provide at the end of your work, in either a Reference List or a Bibliography.
- A Reference List contains an entry (usually organised alphabetically by author surname) of every source cited in your work. A Bibliography goes further, containing not just sources you’ve cited but also sources from your wider research which have influenced your overall thinking, but which you haven’t cited directly in your work.
Again, the choice of Reference List or Bibliography will be dependent on the referencing system you are using and the conventions of your discipline.
Here’s a video from the team at Cite Them Right (the University’s recommended resource for referencing queries) highlighting that distinction between citations and references:
Now that we understand the basic mechanics of referencing, it’s important to understand why we need to reference at all.
Why do we reference?
Students can sometimes see referencing as a chore, and as something they have to do, rather than something that actually enhances or adds value to their work.
This is the wrong way to think about referencing. In any walk of life, being professional involves working within the conventions and protocols of that occupation. In academia, referencing and acknowledging your sources is one such convention. It’s not something that students alone have to do – it’s a practice we all have to adopt when we engage in any kind of research and writing at university.
Reasons to reference consistently and accurately include:
- To acknowledge when we use the work or ideas of others
- To display the depth and breadth of our research
- To add weight and legitimacy to our own ideas and arguments
- To refute or challenge an existing idea or argument
- To ensure we are balanced and include an appropriate range of arguments and points of view
- To place our own research in context
- To allow our readers to further research the topic
When thinking about why we reference, many students tend to focus on the first of these reasons – we reference to show where our evidence came from so we don’t get accused of plagiarism.
But this is a very limited and unconstructive way of thinking about referencing. What you should notice is that many of the reasons listed serve to make your writing better and more effective.
By locating your ideas and arguments within the existing field of scholarship you demonstrate a deeper appreciation of your subject. By engaging with a range of ideas and arguments you make your own arguments stronger and more rigorous. And by pointing your reader towards the resources you’ve drawn upon you become an active participant in the research going on in that area.
So try not to see referencing as something you have to do, see it as something that adds significantly to the quality and depth of your work. Or to turn that on its head, realise that work which is not properly evidenced and referenced is intrinsically weak and unpersuasive, and certainly not of the standard we want to achieve at master’s level.
Practical ways you can develop your referencing skills
- Look back at a previous piece of work you have done and assess how effectively you have cited and referenced the evidence you used. Is there an entry in the Reference List or Bibliography for every source you cited in the main body? Is there any evidence you’ve failed to cite?
- Notice in the reading you do how evidence is cited and referenced, for example in a journal article or book that you read. Be aware that different publications will have different requirements (the variations in referencing are almost endless), so this won’t necessarily be the exact format you will be required to follow, but it will help you understand the mechanics of referencing, and the ways in which published writers in your field use evidence to support their writing.
- Read our companion guides on Referencing Systems and Using Evidence Effectively. These will help you to identify the system(s) you might need to use and to start exploring in more detail the role that evidence plays within your own writing.
Summing Up
At master’s level, it’s important to make sure that you understand how and why you need to reference. Getting into good practices in this area means you will avoid the risk of plagiarism, cite and reference accurately and efficiently, and in so doing enhance the quality of your work.
