Referencing advice: all you need to know in one place

It is important to reference correctly in all work that you submit as part of your studies here at Cambridge. If your assignments, projects and other pieces of work you submit are not referenced properly you will have committed plagiarism.

Every year some CJBS students are unaware that they have plagiarised in their academic work, others are more aware and are perhaps hoping they won’t get caught. Whether this is unintentional or intentional plagiarism the consequences can be very serious and investigations do take place. The University of Cambridge has a clear statement on plagiarism and you are expected to follow these rules during your period of study here.

University statement on plagiarism

Cambridge defines plagiarism as: “submitting as one’s own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement; or, in the case of self-plagiarism, unless explicitly permitted by regulation, submitting one’s own work that has already been submitted for assessment to satisfy the requirements of any other academic qualification, or submitted for publication without due acknowledgement. It is both poor scholarship and a breach of academic integrity.” Read the full University statement on plagiarism. This statement includes 6 main types of plagiarism which it is your personal responsibility to understand and avoid.

Referencing – get it right first time

There are many methods people use to manage referencing. Below we suggest some tools and tips that we find can help. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what tool or method you use, the most important thing is that the references are accurate.

Top tip: Start thinking about this right at the beginning of your research and ensure you have a plan so that it is clear in your notes when you come to write up which parts of your assignment you will need to reference.

Zotero and the Harvard Referencing Style

Here at Cambridge Judge we recommend you use Zotero to manage your references as you research.

  • Download Zotero
  • Download a “Getting started on Zotero” guide
  • The Harvard citation style. We recommend CJBS students to use the Harvard style provided by Cite Them Right (see more below). To install it:
    • In Zotero, go to Edit > Preferences, and from the Cite tab, go to Get additional styles…
    • Type in Cite to the search box and select “Cite Them Right 10th edition – Harvard” (DO NOT select (no “et al.”))
    • From within your word processing software, choose ‘Document Preferences’ from the Zotero ribbon and select this as your preferred style

Cite Them Right

An additional resource is the Cite Them Right website which offers guidance on constructing your citations and references in the Harvard style.

Plagiarism and referencing support

During Michaelmas Term we give a lecture on avoiding plagiarism and the importance of referencing. You can view the slides from this lecture on SlideShare.

The Information & Library Services team are available to advise you on all aspects of referencing and plagiarism. If you have questions, please do get in touch with us.

Andrew Alexander

Andrew Alexander

Deputy Information & Library Services Manager
Andrew Alexander

Latest posts by Andrew Alexander (see all)