WHY IS REFERENCING IMPORTANT IN ACADEMIC WRITING?

Date: 11 Jul 2021

Academic writing becomes a part of our lives from a very young age, and from that young age we are told to use referencing as an essential tool in our manuscripts as an assignment writer. It is not practical in school life to do so, but it is just to develop your habit of referencing so you keep on doing it later in your academic life.

As we grow up, we learn different ways we can use referencing as a tool in our writing. We learn different modes and types of citation and ways to use it, and we get to know that this way the referenced author gets exposure to more people. But, is it all? Is it the only reason why we are required to use referencing? Is it done just to give the referenced author more audience? Simple answer is no. Now let’s get into details.

Types of citations

There are different standard and type of citations which are given below:

• Havard Referencing
• APA Referencing
• MLA Referencing
• Vancouver Referencing
• Chicago Referencing
• OSCOLA Referencing
• IEEE Referencing

What kind of information should be cited?

Books, research articles and journals are not the only sources that need acknowledgement. Any source of ideas or information requires to be referenced. Following are the sources that should be referenced.

• Journal articles
• Books
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Online discussion forums
• Websites
• Brochures
• Interviews
• Documentaries
• Reference any reprinted picture or diagram from any of the source above

Why is citation given so much importance?

Research paper writers or a dissertation writer are not the only ones supposed to use references. It implies on all essay writers, assignment writers, book report writers and in fact all sort of academic writers. Academic writing refers to the presentation of information and ideas, building different arguments and supporting the arguments with your own ideas and with the help of the voice of the others. And this requires referencing. Referencing help the author in many ways, but it equally helps the reader, as well. Here is why.

New window of knowledge

When writers compose a manuscript, they tend to search for relevant information from different sources. And when each source contains the references, it open for writers a new window of knowledge where they get to know about more and more relevant sources and authors.

Credit to the referenced author

Crediting the author of the source of information is very important. It not only helps them to be exposed to larger audience but it is also very respectful of the writer to do so by academic means. Referencing indicates that the words or the ideas that you have borrowed are the intellectual property of the author that you are referencing with the source.

Improves authenticity of the work

When you reference researches, findings and ideas from publishes articles, books or papers, it makes your study authentic. Readers get more interested when they see something referenced from a person who is very much renowned in the relevant field.

Evidence to support the ideas

Referencing helps you to support the ideas of your work with evidence. If you reference the experts from the field, it ultimately casts an impact on the reader that you are very well aware of the study, the field and the ideas you are working on. It also shows that your work is very well defended by the references you use.

Persuasive content

By using references from publishes sources, you can easily build persuasive argument and defend it strongly by using the proved points and findings from the prior studies.

Elimination of plagiarism

Plagiarism is a theft. By referencing others in your manuscript, you eliminate the probabilities of plagiarism and the originality of your work ultimately improves.