Referencing (TAFE)

This guide is designed to help you with referencing your sources for assignments.

This guide covers:

• APA (American Psychological Association)
• Harvard (edn) 2020

Which style should I choose?

Not sure which style to use? Check with your teacher/lecturer.

This guide has been created for the TAFE Queensland community using authoritative style manuals and associated web sites. These resources are listed on the Referencing Resources tab of this Guide. Please remember this is only a guide.

Considerable effort has been applied to ensure that the examples in this Guide comply to the guidelines set out in these style manuals, however the manuals are open to interpretation. For further guidance, please consult the original style manuals or web sites.

Please send any feedback or corrections to Ask a Librarian.

When writing assignments you must acknowledge quotations, information and ideas taken from other authors in a bibliography or reference list.

You need to acknowledge your sources:

• to acknowledge someone else's work
• to show what you have read
• to show that you have understood the research published in your area of study
• to lend authority to what you are writing
• to support and strengthen your argument

You must acknowledge and cite your sources. This is important to avoid plagiarism, whether or not you use the author’s own words.

Plagiarism occurs when you use other people’s ideas, words or data as if they were your own. Deliberate plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct.