Legal referencing (AGLC4)

What is referencing?

Referencing is the process of providing a source for the ideas and evidence you’re using when you write an assignment. 

Part of writing academically involves talking about other people’s research. At university, you always need to provide a reference for the sources you've used. Why do you need to do this?

• to give credit to the original author
• to help whoever is reading your assignment find the information you've used
• to avoid accidental plagiarism.

Don’t leave it to the last minute! Start organising your references while you’re taking notes. Whenever you find an idea in an academic source that’s relevant to your topic, make a note of the author and identify which source you got it from (including the page number), so you can easily turn that into a reference when you're writing your assignment and using that idea.

When you’re writing your essay, every time you discuss someone else’s ideas, you need to add a reference. Depending on the referencing style you are using, this could be an in-text citation, or a footnote, which will match a full reference that you will provide in your reference list. Legal Referencing in Australia follows the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review, Inc), known generally as AGLC4.
 

Other resources for referencing