Referencing is a standard way to acknowledge where information has come from. It indicates to your tutors that you have carried out research while avoiding plagiarism - presenting other peoples work and ideas as if it were your own.
Giving credit to the original authors thoughts, words, and ideas means that you:
All of these are what your tutors are looking for when marking your work.
Still not sure why you should use references? Check out Noam's story at The Stolen Scream, and his blog detailing where he's found his stolen image.
Remember that referencing is about respecting the work of others, acknowledging their ideas, and encouraging others to respect yours!
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is where you have used the words or ideas of others, and are representing them as your own by not clearly acknowledging their true source. That is, not referencing those words or ideas adequately.
Wintec takes plagiarism seriously, and the consequences can be severe. Check the various quick guides and reference managers to the right for information on how reference, and tools to make the process easier.
Start referencing when you start your assignment - keep track of everything you read, and where you get the different ideas and phrases that you find. You may find that one of the reference managers will help you with this process.
There are two parts to an APA reference which are linked through the common elements which begin each part, which in this example is the authors surname and the year the book was published -
Classroom management begins by forming a positive relationship with the students (MacFarlane, 2004, p. 90).
MacFarlane, A. (2004). Kia hiwa ra: Listen to culture: Maori students' plea to educators. Wellington, New Zealand: New
Zealand Council for Educational Research.
Check out the following for quick guides to APA referencing.
Enter the information about the source of the information you are citing to generate references.
As with any reference generator, it is recommended that you check the reference against the full Publication Manual, or one of the Quick guides above.
Check the Copyright for Students guide for information about what you can and can't do with the different types of material that you might want to use within your assignments, or projects.