No matter what kind of academic paper you write, you must always document what authors and works you cite and where your arguments come from. If this is not done sufficiently, you risk committing plagiarism. Read more about plagiarism and how to avoid it here and other rules for the exam here.
In your assignment, you therefore continuously insert references in the text, which are listed together in the assignment's bibliography.
How you present your citations and references depends on what referencing system you use. Sometimes the specific referencing system you need to use will be in your academic regulations, course description or on your study portal. If your degree programme has no special requirements, you can ask your supervisor or lecturer what they prefer. You can also find more information in this overview of referencing systems used at AU.
No matter what referencing system you end up using, it is important to apply it consistently and make sure your citations and references are accurate. We recommend that you install a referencing tool to help you.
You should include in-text citations in the body of your paper. These citations must refer to your references, which you list in a reference list at the end of the paper.
There are many different referencing systems, so it’s important to find out which style you need to use early on in the writing process. For example, the psychology programme at AU uses the APA 7th edition guidelines. The history programme uses Chicago Full Note, and medicine and health sciences programmes often use the Vancouver referencing system.
| What in-text citations look like | What a reference in a reference list looks like | |
The APA 7th edition referencing systemBody of paper: Example of an alphabetical in-text citation with the author and year of publication in parentheses: | Det er altid vigtigt at underbygge opgavens argumentation med korrekte referencer (Rienecker & Stray Jørgensen, 2022) | Rienecker, L., & Stray Jørgensen, P. (2022). Den gode opgave: håndbog i opgave-, projekt- og specialeskrivning (6. udg.). Samfundslitteratur. |
The Vancouver referencing systemBody of paper: Example of a numerical in-text citation | Det er altid vigtigt at underbygge opgavens argumentation med korrekte referencer (1) | (1) Rienecker L, Stray Jørgensen P. Den gode opgave: håndbog i opgave-, projekt- og specialeskrivning. 6. udgave. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur; 2022. |
There are different ways to present direct quotations. Note that:
Short quotations: You can include a short quotation in your text with quotation marks. For example: “We need an example in English here” (xxxx, p.).
Long quotations: In some systems, longer quotations must be set off from the body of the text. For example, the quotation can be presented as a free-standing indented block of text without quotation marks. The citation is inserted below. Different referencing styles handle long quotations in different ways. You should always make sure to check the format used in your chosen referencing style.
Page numbers: Whether you include page numbers in the citation depends on the referencing style.
Remember that you can include your own works as references when you re-use texts or papers you have submitted for assessment in another class.
Your reference list is a list of all of the references you refer to in your in-text citations.
The referencing system you use dictates how you should organise your reference list. It will tell you things like:
Whether your reference list should be organised alphabetically or numerically. This means your reference list will either be listed in the order in which citations appear in your document or alphabetically according the first letter of your authors’ last names. See the example under 'Example of referencing system'
How authors’ names are listed, whether the title of the work should be in italics, etc.
When you compile a reference list, it is a good idea to follow a specific referencing system. If you are not sure which referencing system to use, you can check your academic regulations, course description or study portal, or you can ask your supervisor or lecturer.
The APA 7th edition referencing system |  |
Vancouver referencing system: |  |
Reference management tools such as EndNote and Zotero can create reference lists automatically in Word and Google Docs. Learning how to use a reference management tool can save time when you write papers. It also takes the guesswork out of how to present your references as well as making it easier to collaborate and share references with fellow students.
EndNote is AU’s primary reference management tool. As an AU student, you can use EndNote for free. AU Library offers courses in EndNote and provides user support.
The main advantages of EndNote:
It supports a variety of referencing systems and types of materials
There's no space limit and importing references is quick – ideal for large collections of references
You can automatically import PDFs and you have full-text search options directly from EndNote
You can easily search your references and your texts, including PDFs and PDF comments
Please be aware that ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI are currently generating references that can be false or inaccurate.
Even though these references might look correct due to the fact that some details are right (title of the journal or the name of an author, for example), the reference as a whole might be a fabrication. Read more about using chatbots in connection with academic work.
See more on how to reference GAI (exemplified by ChatGPT).
If you want to know more about reference management, searching for information, and related subjects take a look at AU Library's many useful resources. To become fully aware of the rules regarding exams and cheating read more.
AU offers students a course on Data Protection (GDPR). If you complete the course you'll get a certificate of completion. Read more about the course:
The content of this page is written in collaboration with AU Library.
