There are some important ethical and legal issues whenever you use someone else's information:
- Your lecturer needs to see how other people's work/ideas have helped to form your knowledge/understanding.
- You legally must give credit to the person who created the information or idea (moral rights).
- You must not break any copyright or plagiarism laws, or student policies.
When you reference correctly you avoid these issues.
Good referencing will:
- give your work credibility
- show that you have researched your topic
- show how much work you have done
- help you to get a better grade
- help your reader find more information on the topic
- avoid plagiarism.
