This essay will be discussing about referencing. Referencing is a system usually used in academic assignments. It is essential for students as we are required to indicate the sources of our previous research which has been written in our essays, and this will be further discussed below. In spite of many different referencing systems, the focus will be ‘Harvard Referencing System’. It will be in accordance with the order to discuss the origins, uses and purposes of using in academic referencing.
Owing to different versions from different people, someone argue whether the origin of Harvard Referencing System was Harvard University. The first appearance of the system traces back to 1881, a zoologist …show more content…
Regarding to this, referencing is to give credit to the authors of the ideas, like a kind of respect to them since the ideas are theirs but not ours. Secondly, it is to demonstrate that your writing is based on wide-ranging research, the ideas are relying on appropriate research. Consequently, the words will be much convincing in persuading readers to read. And that is the purpose of in-text citations and reference list, readers can easily refer to the reference list by the in-text citations, so they can access to the sources to find out more information of the ideas. And most importantly, good referencing is essential to avoid an accusation of academic theft –plagiarism. (Pears and Shields, 2008, p.1) Plagiarism means stealing people’s work or ideas as own ideas without acknowledgement of use (referencing). Plagiarism can lead to serious consequence like a fail for the assignment, even be kicked out of school. These purposes explain why referencing is so important to us as a student.
In conclusion, although the origin of Harvard Referencing System is still a mystery, it is a fact that the style of referencing has been commonly used in writing. It is owing to the convenient way of referring in-text citations to the last page (bibliography or reference list). It is especially useful for students to show that the arguments are well-founded, as well as to prove the originality of work as to avoid plagiarism. And for sure to credit the ideas to the