Referencing & Plagiarism: Welcome

Referencing: When you use an idea or information from another source, e.g.. from a book, journal, film, image or sound recording, etc. you must acknowledge where you got this information. Acknowledging the work of other people in your own work is referencing. See the Referencing tab above for help on how to reference.

Plagiarism:  If you do not acknowledge where you got the information from, e.g. you directly copy or sumarise (or paraphrase) someone else's work without referencing, then this is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence.  The University punishes it as cheating. For more information see the Plagiarism tab above. 

When used correctly referencing gets you better marks because it:

• Adds weight to your discussion and arguments
• Demonstrates you understand the key issues in your subject 
• Shows your ability to evaluate and critically apply this understanding to your work
• Evidence that you have been reading around your subject
• Enables others to find your references easily.

• Understanding what plagiarism is?... see the Learning Enhancement Team

• Referencing my work using RefWorks?

• Suspected of plagiarism?... see MDXSU - Responding to an allegation of academic misconduct

Cite Them Right Online is the MDX approved resource for information on citing and referencing.  

It's really important to learn how to reference your work properly.  A good piece of coursework is full of references to work that's been done by others before you, so good referencing habits will get you great marks. There are two parts to referencing:

• Identify the reference in the text of your work. This is citation or in-text citation.
• Provide a detailed list of all references you have used at the end of your work, this is a bibliography or reference list.

There are many different referencing styles. The most commonly style used at Middlesex University is Harvard. For detailed information on how to cite and reference, please have a look at Cite Them Right basics.