Referencing
Common Mistakes
Getting your bibliography right takes time and practice. These are the mistakes students make most often, and how to avoid them.
Citations not in alphabetical order
All items in a bibliography should be in alphabetical order regardless of whether it’s an author’s last name, title or name of a corporation.
If a number is the first part of a reference, it is put in alphabetical order they way it would be said or spelt out. So 360 would be alphabetised as three hundred and sixty.
Outdated or unreliable sources
Your assignment is only as good as the resources you used for your research. It’s important to ensure the sources you use to create your assignments are current, relevant, authoritative, and accurate. You can use the CRAAP test to assess each resource as you use it.
Remember, Wikipedia is not considered a reliable or credible source of information. It is alright to look at an article in Wikipedia to get an overview of the topic but it should not be used as one of your actual sources. Even Wikipedia says it should not be used for academic research.
Incorrect punctuation
Punctuation is an important part of referencing and, if not done correctly, can result in a loss of marks. Always double check our referencing guide to see where the full stops and commas need to go.
Relying too heavily on referencing generators
Referencing generators, like MyBib and Citefast are great tools to help you create and organise your reference list but you can run into problems if you blindly trust the citation they give you. It’s worth remembering that they are only as good as the data you feed in – so if anything is missing, you’ll get incomplete, inaccurate results.
When using any referencing generator you will still need to refer to our referencing system to make sure all of the necessary information is included and it is in the correct format.
The other thing to be aware of with a referencing generator is that it is worth setting up a free account so that you have the ability to save your references as you go. Without an account, you run the risk of losing your list after a few days. Both Citefast and MyBib offer free accounts.
Including extra date information when not needed
Most references only need the year of publication. Referencing generators often add the month and day as well, so you will need to delete these yourself.
The exceptions are YouTube-style videos and newspaper articles, which do include the full date.
Leaving the bibliography until the end
Record each source as you use it, rather than trying to find them all again when your assignment is finished. Keep a Word document going, or leave a referencing generator open in your browser while you research.
References
Betts, J. (2021). 10 common citation mistakes (and how to ensure you avoid them). https://www.bibliography.com/citations/10-common-citation-mistakes-and-how-to-ensure-you-avoid-them/
St George’s University of London Library. (2020). Top 10 referencing mistakes… and how you can avoid them. https://stglibrary.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/top-10-referencing-mistakes/