As a student at Falmouth University, you'll be exploring ideas, techniques, and theories from a wide range of sources - books, articles, artworks, performances, and more. You'll be developing your own perspective by engaging with what others have said, seen, made, or written - and bringing those influences into your own work. Referencing is the way you give credit to these sources, helping to show where your ideas come from and how they connect to a wider creative and academic conversation.
Referencing might feel unfamiliar at first, but it is a vital skill that supports your integrity as a student and as a practitioner in your field. Referencing is a systematic way of:
It's important to get referencing right. If you leave it out, or get it wrong, or mix up styles, you could lose marks - or even risk being accused of plagiarism - a form of academic misconduct. That's why it's worth learning how referencing works early on.
The standards are set by the kind of academic writing that appears in peer-reviewed journals. This is an important way for scholars (academics) to set out their latest ideas and research. Their work always builds on a body of earlier research and authors are careful to show how their ideas have developed and to acknowledge the sources of their inspiration and evidence. In turn, this new writing enters 'the public domain' and becomes available as a source of inspiration to more scholars (including you).
Your work is part of this developing 'web' of ideas - it does not exist in isolation but should link itself to what other writers and thinkers have said and written. Careful referencing allows you to do this and will earn you marks.
