Referencing

Schools, universities, publishers, businesses etc, are types of organisations that often have a set referencing system. This means that all material published by or within that organisation is presented in the same way. 

At Smith's Hill High School we all use APA 7th referencing style; APA stands for the "American Psychological Association". Note: At SHHS we use a simplified version of APA 7th; these simplified versions can be found on the pages Creating In-Text Citations (for paraphrasing and quotes) and Creating a Reference List. We use a simplified version for greater ease of use.   

"Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas that you have used in your assignments or research, in a way that uniquely identifies the source. It is not only necessary for avoiding plagiarism, but also for supporting your ideas and arguments". APA 7th also contains a style guide. This is a formalised set of rules for how to present your work; this includes rules about what fonts you can use, what size you should use, line spacing etc.

Tip: You do not need to reference your own ideas or commonly known facts such as Hobart is the capital of Tasmania. But if you have read, watched or listened to the ideas of another person and you include their idea/s in your assessment task, you must acknowledge that it is their idea. This is the case if you directly quote them or paraphrase their ideas into your own words. 

The work in this section is in part adapted from Curtin University's "Assignment Skills" pdf (Assignment Skills, 2021)

APA provides a set of rules about how your presented paper (assignment/essay) should look. It is sometimes referred to as a Style Guide or Formatting Guide.

Order of Pages / Sections of an Essay

Number your pages consecutively starting with page 1. Each section begins on a new page. Put the pages in the following order:

• Page 1: Title page

• Page 2: Abstract (if your teacher requires an abstract)

• Page 3: Text 

• References begin on a new page after the last page of text

• Tables begin each on a new page after the main body text (if your teacher requires tables) 

• Figures begin on a new page after the tables (if your teacher requires figures)

• Appendices begin on a new page after the tables and/or figures (if your teacher requires appendices)

Font 

APA recommends you use:

• sans serif fonts such as 12-point Calibri, 12-point Arial, or 11-point Lucida Sans Unicode, or

• serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 12-point Georgia,

Line Spacing

In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper. This provides teachers with room to leave comments.

Margins

Use 'normal' margins on every side of the page.

Reference List

See the guide in Creating a Reference List

From Society and Culture Personal Interest Project (PIP) Advice:

"Which referencing method is preferred?

The syllabus does not prescribe a referencing system but does recommend using a consistent and correctly formatted referencing system throughout the PIP. The Harvard (in-text citations) or Oxford (footnoting) methods are recommended as they are widely used and taught to students doing the PIP" (Personal Interest Project (PIP) Advice, NESA, 2024).

From English Extension 2 Major Work Advice:

"How should the bibliography and footnotes be formatted?

The syllabus does not mandate any particular system of referencing or citation for bibliographies, reference lists, footnotes or endnotes. Care should be taken to be consistent in the application of whatever style is employed. The style should be appropriate and informed by purpose, audience, medium and/or the intended point of publication" (English Extension 2 Major Work Advice, NESA, 2024).

From History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus: 

 "A consistent system of referencing should be used to acknowledge the use of sources" (History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus, NESA, 2024).  

Consult with your teacher and check their requirements for referencing HSC works, they may provide you with specific resources, if they do not, you can consider the following:

• If you are required to use the Harvard referencing style, it is suggested that you use the guide provided by the University of Wollongong: https://uow.libguides.com/uow-harvard-guide.

• If you are required to use the Oxford Footnoting referencing style, it is suggested that you use the guide provided by Victoria University: https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/oxford-referencing/getting-started-with-oxford-referencing

"Plagiarism is when you pretend that you have written or created a piece of work that someone else originated. It is cheating, it is dishonest, and it could jeopardise your HSC exam results." (Board of Studies, HSC Assessments and Submitted Works, Advice to Students, 2006).

In all academic contexts, if you quote or paraphrase someone else's ideas you must acknowledge this by using an in-text citation and reference list entry. This is a legal, moral and scholarly requirement that you must acknowledge the ideas of others when you use them to build your own insights and understanding. Acknowledging your sources of ideas is actually a way to support your argument, by referring to the ideas of experts, your argument gains credibility.

Schools, universities and other educational institutions often use plagiarism-detecting software to identify plagiarism. These detectors will even pick up sentences where students have changed every third word. Teachers are also typically fairly expert at noticing shifts in students writing that indicate potential plagiarism that needs investigating. AI Natural Language generators such as Chat GPT, Bing Chat, and Google Bard all are tools that can be very easily misused. Copying text from AI tools, including paraphrasing tools, and not acknowledging the source of information through a reference is problematic, for students who have been told to reference their ideas, not citing information sources is plagiarism and is likely to bring negative consequences as described in the schools' academic policies.

Ultimately, learning how to acknowledge other people's ideas in your own work is part of being a good person, it feels good. If you need help to better understand what plagiarism is, just have a chat with one of your teachers or the teacher-librarian in the library. You can also have a look at the NESA guide to understanding plagiarism and how to avoid it at this link: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-all-my-own-work/plagiarism/what-is-plagiarism