Why do we reference?

(Reasons for referencing, n.d.)

•  Adhere to MLC’s Assessment Policy

Here is an extract from MLC’s Assessment Policy. Pay particular attention to section 33.

•  Plus it’s the law

Under the Copyright Act 1968, “the Law enables the person who created the material to have rights over what happens to it”  (Australian Catholic University, n.d.) and a creator has the moral right to have their work  treated with respect and attributed to them as the owner of the work (Copyright Agency, 2022).

The referencing system most used at MLC is APA 7 – American Psychological Association (APA)  – version 7.

A referencing system provides guidelines for citing various sources of information in a consistent manner. All reference lists contain the following details about each source that is used in your work:

The Four Key Components of APA 7:

• • • Author(s): The person(s) or organisation(s) responsible for creating the work
    • Date: The year of publication or creation
    • Title: The title of the work being cited
    • Source origin: The publication or retrieval details for the work (i.e. publisher, volume and issue numbers, or URL)

Examples of common formats:

• • Books:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.

Crilly, A. J. (2007). 50 mathematical ideas you really need to know. Quercus.

• • Journal articles:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), pages.

Note: for journal articles accessed digitally, include the DOI (digital object identifier) if there is one.

Moore, K. (2023). Ancient Leaf Patterns. Natural History, 131(8), 6.

Sosteric, M., & Ratkovic, G. (2022). It takes a village: Advancing attachment theory and recovering the roots of human health with the Circle of Seven Essential Needs. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Review, 34(1), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol34iss1id887

• • Websites:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of web page. Site name. URL

Ghose, T. (2023, March 1). What is the Fibonacci sequence? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/37470-fibonacci-sequence.html

• • Online Videos:

Name of account. (Specific date). Title of the video [Video]. Site name. URL.

Society for Research in Child Development. (2020, January 23). John Bowlby and Attachment Theory [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exf_rR1NnNs

In-text citations vs. reference list entries

• • In-text citations: Brief citations within the text that refer to a specific source; includes the author’s last name, the publication year, and the page number(s) if applicable, e.g. (Smith, 2020, p. 12).
  • Reference list entries: Complete citations for each source mentioned in the text, listed alphabetically at the end of the paper; provides all necessary information for readers to locate and consult the original sources.

The format may change slightly depending on the source type.

The MLC Referencing Guide (2024) gives you the format for most common source types.

Other basic formatting rules:

Organise the reference list in alphabetical order by the author’s surname.

Author’s surname comes first, followed by a comma then their initials.

If the item has no author, then use the title first.

Punctuation is important used –

The date of publication us in brackets (If there is no publication date use n.d. in it’s place).

Fullstops are used between each element of information (except not at the end of a URL).

Use a space after each punctuation mark.

Titles are in italics. If it’s an article in a journal, newspaper or magazine, the title of the publication is italicised, not the title of the article.

If your citation goes over a line, you must use a hanging indent. (CLICK HERE on how to create a hanging indent in Word)

Example Reference List:

Correct format

Incorrect format

In-text citations

In-text citations are required whenever you use the ideas or words of someone else in your own work as either as a direct quote or paraphrase.

Note: In-text citations do form part of the word count.

Watch the following video to find out about in-text citations.

Direct Quotes

This is where you use the exact words of someone else’s work and then cite it.

Citing requires you to include the author, year of publication and page or paragraph number (preceded with p. or para. if possible).

Below are the different ways you could include quotes in your work.

Parenthetical examples:

1. With an introductory sentence

Within a decade a significant proportion of jobs that exist today in Australia will be replaced by automation: “21% of physical jobs and 28% of location-based jobs will disappear by 2030” (Higgins et al, 2021, p.13).

2. Incorporated into your own sentence

Due to automation, artificial intelligence and physical robotics, it is predicted that “21% of physical jobs and 28% of location-based jobs will disappear” in Australia by 2030 (Higgins et al, 2021, p.13).

Narrative example (the author is part of your sentence)

3. With an introductory phrase

A recent study by Higgins et al (2021, p.13) predicts that in Australia “21% of physical jobs and 28% of location-based jobs will disappear by 2030”.

Click here for more on direct quotes and how to cite them (from scribber.com)

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is putting someone’s else’s words into your own words and is an alternative to a direct quote. It is preferred to direct quotes as it allows you to demonstrate that you understand the idea you are citing. In this way paraphrasing is more than a simple rearrangement of words, it is a substantial change to the structure of the text.

To avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing, you must cite your source with an in-text citation (Scribbr, 2022).

Click here for more on how to paraphrase and how to cite a paraphrase (from scribber.com)