Referencing Sources

Most ideas and information that we have and use come from someplace or someone.

Very few of us are like Sir Isaac Newton whose theory of gravity, it is said, literally came to him when an apple fell on his head from a tree under which he was sitting.

When we are preparing written, oral or media materials to present to others in an academic or business setting we must be careful to indicate clearly all the sources of our ideas and information. If we fail to provide adequate information about those sources, we could be accused of misrepresenting the information as if it were our own.

The first step we must take is to keep a very careful track of all the sources that we use on a page or pages of "References" that will be the very last page or pages included in our work.

We then must chose between one of two main systems or "styles" that have been developed for our use to ensure ease and consistency when we need to reference or document sources throughout out written work: