Academic referencing is a highly important skill: it shows that you have done your research, that you are not simply 'making things up', and that you are not trying to pass off other people's work as your own.

Any researcher will tell you that compiling references within their work can be a fairly boring and methodical process, but one that is an absolute necessity for maintaining academic integrity . It can, in the beginning, be difficult to get used to because there are so many different formats you could possibly adhere to.

It is necessary to include references when:

• Quoting or paraphrasing the work of someone else,
• Referring to theories, arguments or perspectives developed by other people,
• Using information from media such as television, film, documentaries, podcasts, YouTube
• Using information from websites, including news articles
• Presenting data, tables, graphs from secondary sources
• Including visual imagery in the body of the work

It is likely than when you transition to university that you will have one style of referencing that your Subject, School, or Faculty prefers.?Below are some sources which talk through why referencing is important to maintain academic integrity, and how different referencing formats work, as well as some 'reference managers' that can make the process easier.