Home› Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options

Referencing

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I need some help referencing my essay.

I've basically copied something from Wikipedia but put it into my own words. The paragraph is mostly facts though so I can't really change it that much.

Now I need to reference it (I think) and I don't know how to reference it. It isn't a direct quote but it's obvious I got the information from somewhere so how do I reference it?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    if it's fairly factual stuff, reference the thing that wikipedia references. (assuming the article is referenced.) this works well and makes you look like you've read more than you have :p

    otherwise see if you can find the source of the info, or a book or something that's got the same info and reference that.

    if it's not particularly in depth, you could probably get away with referencing wikipedia, but it's best avoided if possible.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Never reference Wikipeda in essays! Thats what I've been told anyway. We are encouraged to use it for background knowledge if neccessery but never to reference or quote directly from it.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Renzo wrote: »
    Never reference Wikipeda in essays! Thats what I've been told anyway. We are encouraged to use it for background knowledge if neccessery but never to reference or quote directly from it.

    :yes: thats what we've always been told
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeh don't use it. :no:
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We haven't been told not to, although I know from past experiences from here that it's not acceptable everywhere so I try not to use it. In this case, I'm using it for background information on H&M like how it started etc. So do I need to reference this?
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I always reference anything that i have read for an essay, just to show that I have done some work, even if you don't mention in the body of the text. You can always have a subtitle under references of 'background reading', if that makes you feel better.

    Assuming you are using the harvad reference,

    Aurthor Surname, Initials., (publication year). Title [medium]. Publisher (if you can find it!). Date last updated. Available from: URL [ date that you accessed the info]

    example:

    Fowler, H., (2004). H&M for dummies [Online]. Wikipedia (that is if you assume wiki is a publisher). Last updated 15th February 2007. Available from: http://www.wikipedia/H&M.com.html [Accessed 19 March 2007].
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Renzo wrote: »
    Never reference Wikipeda in essays! Thats what I've been told anyway. We are encouraged to use it for background knowledge if neccessery but never to reference or quote directly from it.

    Yeah my tutor went a bit mental for that last Semester...well, the abnormally big writing in block capitals (with about ninety million exclamation marks) on my essay would imply that he did...LOL :blush:
Sign In or Register to comment.