What Is Academic
Referencing?
In academic writing, authors need to cite their sources. So, if you’re a student or a researcher, you need to show when you’ve used someone else’s words or ideas. This allows you to do a few things, including:
- Demonstrate your understanding of the subject area
- Show that you have done your research
- Back up your arguments with existing theories or studies
- Credit the work of other writers and researchers
- Prevent any accusations of plagiarism
Academic referencing usually involves two things:
- In-text citations (or footnotes) in the main body of your writing
- A reference list or bibliography at the end of your document
How this works will depend on the system you are using. Our expert academic proofreaders can help you ensure that your referencing is always correct.
Referencing Styles
And Systems
Our expert editors can work with a range of referencing
styles, including:
We can work with other referencing styles on request, too. Just let us know which system you’re using when you upload your work, and we’ll tailor our service accordingly. For more information on legal referencing styles, such as OSCOLA and AGLC, see our dedicated legal referencing page.
What We Do With References And Citations
When we proofread your document, we will:
- Check that your references and citations are correctly presented as per your specified style guide.
- Ensure that your references and citations are correctly ordered as per your specified style guide.
- Comment on any references or citations that are missing source information to indicate what information is required.
- Comment on any quotations that aren’t correctly presented as per your style guide.
When we edit your document, we will also:
- Highlight text that might require a citation.
- Check that all of your citations are present in your reference list and indicate where you need to add a reference.
- Ensure that quotations are correctly presented as per your specified style guide.
Where references don’t include sufficient information to identify the source type, we may not be able to offer a correction or suggestion. Additionally, if your referencing is currently in a different style than the one you have requested, we would not convert the references from one style to another. However, we can arrange this as an additional service.
