21. References

Correctly acknowledging the work of other is a vital and legal responsibility.

References is always a tricky subject, which unfortunately most ignore until the very last minute, and end up sorting in a rush, when it is a significant part of the report. Before diving into what references are, how to use them and the numerous tools available, it must be pointed out that failing to properly reference material that is not yours can be extremely costly.

In an academic context, not referencing the work of others is equivalent to attempting to pass the work of others as you own; in other word plagiarism. This is an extremely serious offence, classified as academic misconduct, and can be sanctioned by anything from a fail to an expulsion. YES, it is that serious. In a professional context, failing to reference could be considered a violation of intellectual property rights (IPR), or breach of copyright, and could lead to extremely cost legal matters.

The references are there to acknowledge that some of the ideas, illustrations, equations, or others, is not yours. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; in fact, it is a sign that you have performed research, and is therefore seen as beneficial. For the purpose of academic assessments, you should have at least one reference per page of report. For instance, a 20 pages report should include at least 20 references.

Now what needs to be referenced? Essentially, anything that is not yours. There are however exceptions, such a general knowledge and well known facts; thus there is no need to reference that 1+1=2, or that Columbus found America in 1492.

A common question is which reference format to use... and the answer is that is does not matter, as long as you are consistent and use the same throughout. However, note that the Harvard Referencing System is the most commonly used, and if in doubt, this is the safest option. There are however formats you may found more useful; I personally use the APA referencing system as it suits my needs better.

When it comes to in text references, most field will require the author name and the publication date, between bracket. For instance: The first law of motion (Newton, 1687), states that... Alternatively, if you use the name of the author, it is then followed by the publication date between brackets, as in the following example: Newtons (1687) presents the first law of motion as... Nevertheless, in technical and engineering fields, numbered references are preferred, with the number between square brackets, thus giving the following: The first law of motion as given by Newton [1] is...

At the end of your report, and depending on the referencing format chosen, you reference section should present your complete list of references.

Please note the distinction between references, which is work you have directly referred to in the report, and the bibliography, which gathers publications that you may have read or have influenced you, but are never referred to directly. In certain cases, you may very well have a bibliography section following you reference one.

Finally, there are several tools now available to help you manage you references and simplify the process, such as RefWork, RefME, EndNote, etc...