Power and politics in referencing
Living a Feminist Life by In Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed argues that "citation is how we acknowledge our debt to those who came before; those who helped us find our way when the way was obscured because we deviated from the paths we were told to follow. In this book, I cite feminists of color who have contributed to the project of naming and dismantling the institutions of patriarchal whiteness”.
- Feminist Shelters by Sara Ahmed (2015)In this blog post, Ahmed talks about citation as feminist memory and the strict citation policy she adopted when writing Living a Feminist Life.
- Making Feminist Points by Sara Ahmed (2013)Earlier reflections on the politics of citation from Sara Ahmed.
- Reference lists as sites of diversity? Citations matter by Deborah M. Netolicky (2018)Reflections and resources on citation practices in the field of education. She indicates that she considers the following questions when looking at reference lists, which may be useful to you:
How does this list situate my work in the field? With what kind of scholarship am I aligning my work?
From what nations, cultures and classes do my references come?
To what extent do they represent Euro- or Anglo- centric ways of knowing and being?
What is the gender mix of my reference list?
Whose voices are silent?
Whose scholarship have I ignored or excluded? - for the reader – citations, reference lists, tables of contents and indexes by Pat ThompsonReflections on citations as signposts for readers as well as politics and performativity in citation practices.
- How do you wish to be cited? Citation practices and a scholarly community of care in trans studies research articles by K Thieme & MAS SaundersResearch and reflections on citation in Transgender studies as a collaborative and potentially caring practice.
Referencing refresher
Top tips for referencing
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Whether you quote the words of the original source, or use your own words, in all cases you need to give a reference to where the idea or information came from.
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Paraphrase your sources where possible to show you understand them well enough to write about in your own words and help you avoid plagiarism
- Be systematic in notes and drafts about where the ideas have come from to avoid plagiarism and to make reference checking in the final draft easy
- Learn the art of referencing early or even cite while you write (don’t leave it until the last minute!)
- Academic Integrity at La TrobeGuide to the university rules and policies on academic integrity to help you understand your responsibilities
- Referencing - Achieve@UniFind out what, when, why and how to reference in your studies with this guide
- Academic Referencing Tool - Harvard StyleThis tool includes examples of the most common in-text referencing, direct quotations, and paraphrasing. Bibliography/Reference List and detailed style notes are also available. If you cannot find an example that matches your resource type, choose one or a combination of examples that are the closest match.