Why do I need to reference?

"We provide references to acknowledge the persons who are the intellectual owners of the information we are using. The intellectual owners could be the authors of books or articles, the designers of a product, the producers of a film, or even the webmasters of a website." (Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2010:4).

When do I reference?

"You should provide references when you quote an author’s words directly; write someone else’s ideas in your own words (paraphrase);
summarise someone else’s ideas; use data, facts or other information from any source; and use tables, figures, diagrams, photos or any other graphs that are not your own." (Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2010:5).

When do I not need to reference?

"You do NOT need to provide references if information or views are regarded as general knowledge. In this case, general knowledge refers to cases in which the same information appears in at least five sources without any references; the readers of your text are probably already familiar with the information; and the readers of your text will easily be able to find the information in general information sources. (magazines, newspapers, etc.)." (Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2010:5).

How do I provide references?

"There are a few standard ways in which to provide references. Different organisations, scientific journals or even the various departments of a faculty could all have different prescriptions for the way in which you should reference sources. Therefore, it is vital that you find out what the specific prescriptions of your subject field, department or faculty are." (Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2010:5).

Which style guides are recommended for my specific subject area?
 

At Stellenbosch University (US) the following sources are recommended for the Harvard, APA and Vancouver methods:

Recommended reference style guides by specific subject area or faculty
Bellville Park Campus Information Centre

Faculty of Law

 Department of Psychology

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - Language departments

What bibliographic tools are available?
Refworks and EndnoteWeb as well as many other open source bibliographic tools like Zotero. Ask a Librarian if you need help or training.

Where can I get referencing help or training?

• Help is available online or in print in referencing style guides recommended for your specific faculty.

• Printed reference guides are located in the reference areas and in the Learning Commons and Research Commons in the JS Gericke library. Ask a Librarian if you need more help.

• Referencing is included in all Language Centre academic literacy

• Referencing is included in all Information Science - Centre for Knowledge Dynamics and Decision-making  Information skills courses.

• The Writing Lab offers writing workshops and consultation to all students. Referencing forms part of these academic writing skills workshops.