Citing others’ work is a key part of maintaining academic integrity. If you fail to acknowledge other’s ideas – whether from a journal article, website or artificial intelligence tool (e.g. ChatGPT) – it’s considered plagiarism. 

A tip for making sure your references are accurate is to keep track of them as you conduct your research, says Academic Skills Advisor Adam Ferris. 

“I like to keep a Google Doc with handy quotes and useful phrases that I want to include in my final assignment, writing out my reference list entries at the start,” he says. 

This makes it easier for Adam to reference direct quotes and ideas from scholarly sources as he writes, creating “a nice mix" of his own voice and in-text citations to support his arguments. 

To help with referencing, Peer Mentor Murray Pascale recommends EasyCite, which has examples of citations and reference lists in the different styles used by RMIT. 

“When it comes to referencing, EasyCite is your best friend,” Murray says.