Referencing is important in academic work to inform others the source of your ideas and make sure you are not copying or plagiarising. When referencing other’s work (e.g.: ideas, theories, quotes, methods, data), you are required to acknowledge the original sources and cite them in your work with the recognized citation style to avoid plagiarism.

You may also use bibliographic management tools to help generate the in-text citations and reference list entries, and organise the references better in a few clicks to save your time and effort.

• Why Do We Need to Cite
• How to Cite
• Bibliographic Management Tools
• Useful Resources on Referencing & Citation

Why Do We Need to Cite

Without referencing the source of other's work (e.g.: ideas, theories, quotes, methods, data) in your work could lead to plagiarism - a serious type of academic misconduct. To give credit to the work of someone and avoid plagiarism, we have to cite the source(s) properly.

Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) of Lingnan University provided some more details on Avoiding Plagiarism. You may learn more by taking their Online Tutorial on Plagiarism Awareness. You may also find some more useful links here for further information and instructions for Lingnan Staff and Students.

How to Cite

Citation styles are sets of rules to cite sources properly in academic writing. You should only use ONE unique citation style that should be adopted throughout the whole academic work. The most common citation styles include APA Style, Chicago Style and MLA Style.

Different citation styles have different rules for in-text citations and reference list entries (listed at the end of the paper), but they share standard elements to identify the source information, including author’s name, book title, journal title, article title, publication date, etc. Below are some samples of commonly used citation styles for your reference:

• English Resources
  • APA Style
    Chen, L. H. (2007). Choosing Canadian Graduate Schools from Afar: East Asian Students’ Perspectives. Higher Education, 54(5), 759-780.
  • Chicago Style
    Chen, Liang-hsuan. "Choosing Canadian Graduate Schools from Afar: East Asian Students' Perspectives." Higher Education 54, no. 5 (2007): 759-80.
  • MLA Style
    Chen, Liang Hsuan. "Choosing Canadian Graduate Schools from Afar: East Asian Students’ Perspectives." Higher Education 54.5 (2007): 759-780.
     
• Chinese Resources (As there is no standardized citation style for Chinese resources. You may need to seek advice from your professor for the accepted format in your academic work. Samples of commonly used citation styles for Chinese resources are provided below for your reference only.)
  • APA Style:
    廖炳惠（1995）。〈近五十年來的台灣小說〉。《聯合文學》，11(12)，127-137。
  • Chicago Style: 
    廖炳惠。 〈近五十年來的台灣小說〉《聯合文學》 11, no. 12 (1995): 127-137。
  • MLA Style:
    廖炳惠：〈近五十年來的台灣小說〉，《聯合文學》，第 11 卷 12 期（1995 年 10月），頁 127-137。

To make sure you are using the correct citation style for your assignment, you should always seek advice from your professor for the recommended citation style.