Why is referencing so important?

[Start transcript]

[Dr Ben Byrne]

It's really about giving people credit for their work. Supporting your own work with there's. And particularly importantly, for me, then providing a way for other people to navigate all of that work, that web of knowledge.

[Dr Juliana Ryan]

So, that's one of the reasons why accurate and appropriate referencing is so important to academic integrity. Because referencing properly is like leaving a little trail of breadcrumbs where the person who reads your work and see where you've come from, so the ideas and information that you've drawn on to create your work. And how you got to your destination, which is the piece of work that you've produced as your uni assignment.

[Dr Kristen Sharp]

So, it's incredibly important when we're thinking about academic integrity to actually understand that it's a set of skills and that we acquire in learning about how to attribute authorship and how to basically just give credit where credit is due to people.

[Dr Lukas Parker]

We actually want you to go out and show us that you can find the answers to your own questions. And by doing so, you are actually showing us that you've learned, and that is the exciting thing about University.

[Dr Ben Byrne]

And actually, it's the same thing that Wikipedia relies on. It's the same principle that is really at the heart of the Internet with hyperlinks. You know, if you write a post online and you provide links to something, you are sharing or referring to, that perhaps you are commenting on. Really, what you are doing is providing a reference and showing where ideas come from and helping other people to find them and that's what Wikis rely on, that's the basic functionality of them. And that's exactly what you are being asked to do when you are asked to reference. It's really crucial to actually building and sharing knowledge.

[Dr Alexia Kannas]

When we use and reference the work of others correctly, we are also showcasing the research we've done and demonstrating our mastery of it.

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