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Bib­li­o­graph­ies and cita­tions

It can be dif­fi­cult to keep track of all the sources you use in writ­ten as­sign­ments, cre­ate your ref­er­ence lists and make sure your ref­er­ences are cor­rect. The lib­rary can help you with that.

5 reas­ons to keep track of your sources

When you write an as­sign­ment at uni­ver­sity or in up­per sec­ond­ary school, it is not enough to share your own thoughts and opin­ions. You are also ex­pec­ted to in­clude ex­ist­ing know­ledge, re­search and the­or­ies. This is where ref­er­ences play an es­sen­tial role – and for sev­er­al good reas­ons.

You show that your work builds on ex­ist­ing know­ledge

Academic work is not about inventing everything from scratch. It is about building on previous research. When you reference sources, you show that you have familiarised yourself with what others have written on the topic and that your arguments are grounded in academic knowledge.

You make your as­sign­ment more cred­ible

An assignment without sources can easily appear unsubstantiated. References serve as documentation for your arguments and strengthen your credibility by showing where your knowledge comes from.

You help the read­er ex­plore fur­ther

Sources are not only there for the lecturer or examiner. They also help the reader locate additional knowledge and information. By including references, you demonstrate how your assignment contributes to the wider academic conversation.

You avoid pla­gi­ar­ism

Plagiarism means using someone else’s ideas or wording without citing the source – and it is a serious violation of university or upper secondary school regulations. By referencing correctly, you make it clear which words and ideas are your own and which are drawn from others.

You prac­tise an im­port­ant aca­dem­ic com­pet­ence

Referencing correctly is a skill you will need throughout your studies and often in your professional life as well. It is about precision, transparency and academic respect. The earlier you become familiar with it, the better. 

References are not just a technical detail or something you do “just in case” – they are a cornerstone of academic work. They show that you take your assignment and your academic integrity seriously.

Keep track of your sources with Mendeley

When you use di­git­al ref­er­ence man­age­ment tools such as Mendeley, End­Note or Zotero, you can eas­ily in­sert ref­er­ences and auto­mat­ic­ally gen­er­ate your read­ing list without hav­ing to re­mem­ber all the format­ting rules your­self.

It saves time, re­duces er­rors and en­sures that your ref­er­ences fol­low the cor­rect format, such as APA.

At CBS, Mendeley is avail­able to stu­dents and re­search­ers. As a private user, you can cre­ate a free ac­count with slightly less stor­age space, which is still per­fectly suit­able for writ­ing as­sign­ments.

Learn more about Mendeley

Get help with APA

Are you un­sure about the ref­er­en­cing rules or how the APA format should look? Then take a look at the lib­rary’s pop­u­lar APA guide.

The guide cov­ers everything from in-text cita­tions to how to struc­ture your ref­er­ence list.

There are lots of ex­amples to help you get it right.

Libguide on APA

Ques­tions about cita­tions and ref­er­ence lists

Wheth­er you are strug­gling with APA, foot­notes or something else en­tirely, we are ready to help. We can an­swer your ques­tions about cita­tions, ref­er­ence lists and ad­vise you on how to cite the use of AI in your as­sign­ments.

Drop by, and we will help you move con­fid­ently to­wards sub­mis­sion!