Referencing

Why reference?

• Acknowledge those who did the work. Give credit to author for time, money and effort spent conducting research.
• Provide sources for readers to check our work. Part of triangulation process. Allows readers to check our accuracy of reporting.
• Provide readers with full text so they can read & learn from them. To read more than a summary that we provide, they can obtain the full text from the reference.

Leads to a chain of references, like a family tree, leading to the original source. Can see how subject has developed, what has been investigated and where gaps exist in knowledge.
Literature reviews and referncing position our research in overall body of knowledge. We become part of the whole body of science developed through history.
Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”