Previously I have addressed you all about how to write and frame a professional literature review. Under which I have mentioned everything which is important to frame a perfect literature review from which reader can easily collect information about the selected issue or topic. So, if you guys remembered while addressing about literature review, I mentioned this term, “referencing”. What does exactly referencing mean? Let’s understand the meaning of this term briefly.
- Basically, while working on your academic study, you search and respond to the work of other authors and to acknowledge this work in your literature review, it is highly essential to cite the correct author.
- The content you are using is not published or written by you on the first level; logically speaking, you use other peoples’ knowledge and concepts to improvise your work. So, in order to acknowledge the right person, it is necessary to mention the name and the source from which you have selected the data.
- So, when we give credit to the original writer for utilizing their content, we cite the details of the content, meaning the author’s name, the date when it was published and the title of the particular content. This process is called as referencing when you give the required credit to the original writer of the paper, book or journal.
- Now referencing is actually very interesting to do and the most important part about referencing is you can use different styles to refer the particular author you selected to complete your study.
- In simpler words, referencing allows readers to trace the origin ideas and concepts you use to complete your literature review. Secondly, referencing is one of the most important parts of completing a perfect literature review. Proper referencing significantly demonstrates the author’s engagement with existing scholars and their published theories, which adds value and weight to your arguments.
- Further, one of the most important roles that referencing plays is precisely helping you avoid the misconduct of plagiarism. Citing the correct sources gives credit to the original authors of the journal articles, which avoids and prevents false accusations of academic misconduct. So, in this regard, it is very necessary to cite the correct author for the particular article, book, or journal you’ve selected.
- Now comes the question: Why use these references and citations? Owing to this, it helps the writer acknowledge influential work and scholars in their field and also facilitates the writer’s adding legitimacy and authenticity to the arguments they are going to present in their literature review.
- Here, it is clear what referencing is and why the writers need to use proper citations in their literature review. Now comes the second salient feature of referencing, which is the different available styles that the writer can use to cite the accurate author in their LR short for Literature Review. Seven different styles are established to refer to:
1. Harvard referencing
2. Vancouver referencing
3. APA referencing
4. Chicago referencing
5. OSCOLA referencing
6. MHRA referencing
7. MLA referencing
Above is the available style which the writer can use according to the style mentioned by the educator and in the exceptional case when the guidelines do not mention which referencing style should be used, the writer, by default, must go for the “The Standard Harvard style” of referencing, I repeat only at time of exception of this particular situation, other than this the writer always must strictly adhere to the guidelines provided to complete the following task assigned.
I hope that the above explanation about the importance and meaning of referencing will benefit all my audience in order to draft a perfect literature review in their future assignments…with this, I will pen down my words. Happy writing!