1. Referencing Guidelines
You need to acknowledge other people’s work
which you have used to create your own work.
Referencing helps to avoid plagiarism and shows
your readers what you have researched and how
you have used the information.
SACE Board of SA Student Guide to Referencing, 2015
March 2016

2. • To demonstrate your academic integrity.
•Support your argument or illustrate important points you are making.
•Make it easy for readers to find the sources you have used.
•Fulfil your moral and legal obligations to recognise and acknowledge
the authors of the original ideas.
•Avoid plagiarism so that you are not falsely claiming someone else’s
work or ideas as your own.
Why should information sources be referenced?

3. Referencing styles
There are a variety of different referencing styles
In-text OR footnotes OR endnotes
While the styles and format of each differ they all aim to acknowledge
the source that you are using either directly or indirectly within your
assignment and at the end of your assignment.
The examples used in the Guidelines for Referencing are available on the
SACE website and are based on the Harvard Author-Date system.
Check with your teacher to determine which
referencing style they want you to use.

4. Harvard Author-Date system
The Harvard System of referencing requires two elements: in-text citations
throughout your assignment, and a list of references at the end.
1. In-text citations
Include three pieces of information about a source within the text of your work:
*the surname of the author or authors OR the creator OR the title
*the year of publication
*the page number (where the information/idea can be located on a
particular page, or when directly quoted)
2. List of references
At the end of your assignment, you must include a List of References in alphabetical
order, which is a list of all the sources of information you have used to research your
assignment and have included as in-text references.
Check with your teacher to determine if they want you to include both
a reference list and a bibliography.
Reminder : A bibliography is included at the end of the assignment and includes all
sources used in the research for your assignment – not just those cited in the body of
the assignment and included in the reference list.

5. The basic format of your reference includes the author’s surname
OR title in round brackets with the year (date) of publication
followed by a comma and the page number if applicable. For
example:
(Smith 1999, p. 32)
The basic format is altered if you choose to give prominence to the
author’s surname OR title in the body of a sentence. For example:
Smith (1999, p. 32) suggests OR
School libraries are valuable places as suggested by Smith (1999,
p. 32).
Author Date System Format

6. When should information sources be
referenced in your assignment?
Direct quote
Short quotations
Long quotations
Used less commonly and only to support or
illustrate important points that you are making.
Indirect quote
Summary or paraphrase
Put the author’s words into
your own
Ask yourself “What is the author actually
saying” and then use your own words.

7. An example of in-text referencing
Direct quote
The following is an extract from ‘Eau what a feeling’ 2013 Good Health pp. 94-
96, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost.
Sports drinks are made up of carbohydrate and fluid to allow an athlete to
rehydrate, refuel and meet their electrolyte needs before, during and after
exercise.
To use this extract as a direct quote in your essay it must be written within
quotation marks. The quote is not usually included in the total word count.
Example (where author/article title is part of the main sentence) :
According to the article ‘Eau what a Feeling’ (2013, p 94) “sports drinks are
made up of carbohydrates and fluid to allow an athlete to rehydrate, refuel
and meet their electrolyte needs before, during and after exercise.”
Example (where author/article title is not part of the main sentence):
“Sports drinks are made up of carbohydrates and fluid to allow an athlete to
rehydrate, refuel and meet their electrolyte needs before, during and after
exercise”(‘Eau what a feeling’ 2013, p. 94).

8. The following is an extract from ‘Eau what a feeling’ 2013 Good Health pp. 94-96,
Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost.
They provide a replacement of electrolytes, particularly sodium, which helps
increase fluid absorption and encourages fluid intake by driving the thirst
mechanism, as well as potassium, which can assist in muscle contraction during
exercise, but only if you are exercising for more than two hours.
To use this extract as an indirect quote, quotation marks are not used, since
the words are not exact quotes.
Example : where author/title of article is part of the main sentence :
The article ‘Eau what a feeling’ (2013, p. 95) confirms that sports drinks containing
electrolytes are beneficial but only for exercise over two hours.
Example : where author/title of author is not part of the main sentence :
Sports drinks containing electrolytes are beneficial, but only for exercise over two
hours (‘Eau what a feeling’ 2013, p. 95)
An example of in-text referencing
Indirect quote
For further examples download the document
How to create in-text references using the Harvard Referencing System.
from the RHS library page – Research Toolkit tab

9. Reference List
‘Eau what a feeling’ 2013, Good Health, February, pp. 94-96,
accessed 9 March 2016, Australia New Zealand Reference
Centre, EBSCOHost.

10. The following types of information sources
should be acknowledged:
Advertisements Other students work Others’ ideas Blogs
Encyclopaedia
articles
Personal interviews CDROMS & DVDs Letters
Pictures Magazines Maps TV programs
Pamphlets Journals Newspapers Movies
Artworks Teachers Lecturers Books
Websites Emails Discussion groups music

11. •Your own experiences
•Your own experimental results
•Common knowledge
Common knowledge includes
•Facts that are commonly known (eg there are twelve months in a
year)
•Facts that are so well known that they are available in a number of
different kinds of sources (eg WW2 began in 1939)
•Commonsense observations (eg interest rates going up will affect
mortgage payments)
The following types of information sources do
not need to be referenced :

12. Create your Reference List
using the Online Referencing Generator
Use the Online Referencing Generator (ORG) to construct both your Reference List
and/or Bibliography.
Access is via the quick links box on the RHS library webpage and the password is
available from the library.
For more information on how to use ORG, check out the 6 steps located on the
Research Toolkit tab – intext-referencing (Harvard author/date) on the RHS library
webpage.
For each source of information on the ORG
there is a corresponding example of an in-text
reference to help you. For example
Website without author :
If you use either of the following library databases: Australian New Zealand
Reference Centre or History Reference Centre from the Quick Links box on the RHS
library webpage, you can use their cite tool to create your reference.

13. What strategies can you use to prepare for the referencing
of information sources in your assignments?
 Organise notes and record details of where information was actually
found as you go.
 Record details of the information source being used on the pages of
your notes, printouts or photocopies of information so that it will be
easy to compile your in-text references.
 Set up a chart to keep track of the basic bibliographic information using
the ORG of the information sources used.
 Know the difference between a direct and indirect quote.
 Practice putting an authors OR creators ideas into your own words.
 Try to pass up drafts with in-text referencing so that your teacher can
check whether you need extra help.
 Ask the library staff for assistance!

14. Final Tips
 Check which referencing style your teacher wants you to use.
 Use consistent format and punctuation.
 Use the ORG to create your references but if you are using
information sources from the library databases use the cite tool to
create your reference. Copy and paste the reference.
 Keep a logical record of potential references as you research
particularly for information you want to use as in-text references.
Remember if the source has a page number you will need to include
this as well.