Referencing and Academic Honesty

Adding references to your work is something best done as you write, rather than leaving them right until the end when you have less time and may not remember which sources you included or not. This resource aims to help you check that your references are accurate before you submit your final assignment, using Cite Them Right as a guide. 

Whether you added references to your work via a reference management tool like EndNote or Mendeley, or manually by typing them out, you should always double check them before you hand in your work.

The examples in the videos below use the referencing style MLA. You can find the same or similar guidance for different styles on Cite Them Right as well.

Referencing checklist 

1. Check which referencing style you should be using

Before you start writing, make sure you know which referencing style you should be using. Different disciplines or faculties may require you to use a particular referencing style. 

 

• Check which referencing style your discipline or faculty recommends. It is always worth checking with your lecturer or module handbook regarding the referencing style you need to use for your assignment. Examples on this page are in APA 7th style.

2. Check you have an in-text citation each time you refer to another author's work

Check you have included an appropriate in-text citation each time you paraphrase, summarise or directly quote another author’s work. Have you included an in-text citation everywhere that one is required? 

 

• If you’re unsure, refresh your memory of how to summarise, paraphrase and quote, as well as of what is classed as common knowledge.
• Not sure what the difference is between an in-text citation and a full reference? See the Library’s referencing FAQs.

This is something you should be doing as you write, not as an afterthought. Every time you mention an idea, opinion, study or findings from another author’s work, through summarising, paraphrasing or directly quoting, you should add an in-text citation reference straight away so that you don’t get confused later about whether it was your idea or actually someone else’s.

3. Check every in-text citation has a corresponding reference in your reference list

Check every in-text citation in your written assignment has a corresponding full reference in your reference list. 

 

• Have you included every source you mentioned in your main text in the references at the end of your paper?
• Note that some referencing styles such as MHRA and OSCOLA also require footnotes. 

4. Check every in-text citation is formatted correctly

Check every in-text citation is formatted correctly, according to the conventions of the referencing style you’re required to use. 

 

• Use Cite Them Right to help you identify the type of source (for example, an electronic book, journal article, web page, law report, etc.) and the appropriate format for your referencing style.
• For example, an in-text citation for a printed book would be formatted differently in APA 7th than it would in MHRA.
   

5. Check every reference in your reference list contains the required components 

Check every reference in your reference list contains all the required components, according to the conventions of the referencing style you’re required to use. 

• For example, if you’re citing an electronic journal article in APA 7th, have you included the author’s surname, initials, year of publication, title of the article, title of the journal, volume number, issue number, page numbers and URL or DOI?
• Use Cite Them Right to help check you have included all the necessary components in each reference for the type of source and referencing style you are using.

6. Check the punctuation and format are correct for every reference in your reference list

Check the punctuation and format are correct for every reference in your reference list according to the conventions of the referencing style you’re required to use. It’s important to pay attention to detail here.

• Have you put brackets, full stops or commas in the right places? Have you italicised the right text? Should the publication date be at the beginning or the end of the reference? Do you need to include the first name and surname of the author(s), or just the initials, and in which order?
• Use Cite Them Right to identify how your references should look for each type of source and check the reference for each source against the example given in Cite Them Right. Use the ‘You try’ function to create your own reference following the example given for the type of source you’re using, and copy and paste it into your document.

7. Check the order of your references in your reference list

Check the order of your references in your reference list according to the conventions of the referencing style you’re required to use. 
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• For example, if you’re using APA 7th Edition you’ll list sources alphabetically. If you’re using Vancouver, you’ll list sources in the number order they appeared in the text. See guidelines for each referencing style on Cite Them Right.