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AGRI10048 Plant Production Systems

Why is Citing Important?

Citing the sources you use is important because if you draw upon other people's work in your writing and research and do not acknowledge those sources you can be accused of plagiarism. Citations also allow your readers to follow up sources you have referred to enabling the sharing of ideas. More information on why citing is important.

All scholarship builds upon the work of others. When you use the work of others, you must acknowledge it appropriately for several reasons:

  • To make a clear distinction between your own ideas and those of others
  • To give credit to those whose ideas you have drawn upon
  • To avoid plagiarism
  • To allow the reader to trace your sources and asses your interpretation of ideas drawn from them

(Academic Skills Unit, 2013).

Reference:

University of Melbourne (2011). Academic honesty and plagiarism, retrieved from http://academichonesty.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism.html

Managing Your References

Reference management programs (also known as citation managers or bibliographic management software) provide many useful features that can help you with your research such as:

  • Storing and organising your references, and
  • Generating citations and bibliographies in the style you prefer.

As there are a number of different programs available it is important to choose the one that suits your needs. The University of Melbourne has licensed access to:

  • EndNote -  Using Endnote you can create a database of references, and then create a bibliography of your work in the citation style you require.

            Additional Endnote referencing styles can be found here:

  •  RefWorks - Reference management website.  Registration required.

 Other reference management programs you might consider include:

  • Mendeley - Reference manager with desktop and web applications.  Store PDFs and share articles with colleagues. Freely available service. Also an academic network service. More information

 See the Managing References Subject Research Guide for further programs under the Other Programs tab.