Referencing: avoid plagiarism and learn about referencing

 Referencing is an essential element you need to complete when you are writing up your assignments or articles. Make sure you are using information ethically and avoid accusations of plagiarism. Follow the advice below to ensure that you are prepared to reference and don't waste time at the end of your project.

Key Steps

Follow these key steps to make sure you reference well:

1. Plan early in your project how you are going to keep your references
2. Choose your referencing style
3. Check with your tutor or the publisher you want to send your article to for their referencing style or requirements
4. Keep a record of the references of the resources you use
5. Be consistent

Resources

We have a number of resources to help you to manage your references:

• RefWorks for Keele students - all Keele students have access to this. You can store and then export your references.
• RefWorks for NHS users - this is only available for NHS staff who are involved in research or are completing a long-term project such as a systematic review.
• Cite them right - this is an excellent resource available to Keele students. It will help you to construct references for a wide variety of types of content.

For more information about these resources please go to our Referencing help page.

More help

Start by learning how important referencing is by completing our etutorial Introduction to referencing and plagiarism.

Sign-up to training sessions and get help from our training and information support librarians.

For more help contact the Health Library.