7.HARVARD RFERENCING

Referencing is standard practise in College. I found getting used to using the proper referencing to be very challenging and I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. The process of writing down the page number as you are trying to take notes and taking down all the relevant details from the reference material is very time consuming in itself. However when I got used to thinking in terms of citeing the source material as I went along it stopped being as much of a distraction to the assignment.

According to Pears and Shields (2003, p.1),'By providing references you:

• demonstrate the breadth of your research
• allow the reader to independently consult and verify your sources of information
• avoid plagiarism '.

I found that the more I got used to using the Harvard Referencing the more it made sense from the point of view of giving evidence to support what was written in a report. It also gives the reader the ability to see clearly which work is your own and which is from other sources.

In researching the Harvard Referencing system I found a very useful book in the itb Library titled "Cite them right: referencing made easy" by Richard Pears and Graham Shields. This book demonstrates how to reference everything from ancient manuscripts to personal e-mails.
The most important thing about referencing your work is avoiding plagiarism by citing properly because if you have not properly referenced the material it will look like you are trying to pass off someone Else's work as your own. I think you could avoid a lot of trouble by taking the time to proof read reports for proper referencing.