3.3 How to acknowledge a source

Referencing styles

To acknowledge a source, you must name the original author and note where you found the material.

There are different ways to write acknowledgements – these are known as ‘referencing styles’. The most common referencing styles are:

• Harvard (author-date)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• Oxford (documentary-note or footnote referencing).

As a student, you need to make sure you’re using a consistent and correctly formatted referencing style in your work. For external assessments, please refer to the course syllabus page on the NESA website for referencing information. If you’re not sure what referencing style to use, check with your teachers.

Where do you need to acknowledge a source?

There are 2 places you need to acknowledge the source you’ve used:

1. in the text
2. at the end of the text.

You should acknowledge the source at the point in the text where you use it with an in-text citation, a footnote or an endnote. Whether you use in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes will depend on what referencing style your school uses.

You’ll be expected to use an in-text citation, footnote or endnote whenever you:

• quote (that is, use someone else's exact words)
• directly copy (for example, a table, map or image)
• paraphrase (that is, put someone else's ideas into your own words)
• summarise (that is, create your own short account of someone else's words or ideas).

At the end of the text, you should also provide a reference list of all the sources you’ve acknowledged in your work in alphabetical order. Every source you’ve included as an in-text citation, footnote or endnote should also be in your reference list.

A bibliography is a list of all the sources you used in the preparation of your work, not just the ones you cited in the text. You may be asked to provide both a reference list and a bibliography, but they are not the same thing.

What if it’s not a written task?

For practical tasks, you still need to acknowledge the work, words and ideas of others that you’ve used in your work. This includes other people’s designs, material drawn from outside sources or any outside assistance. You will need to provide a written acknowledgement of this in your journal, folio, diary or log as per your course requirements.

If you have any questions about how to acknowledge the work, words or ideas of others in either your written or practical tasks, speak to your teachers. It’s always better to check than to risk committing plagiarism.

Check your understanding

After you have worked through Topic 3, complete the quiz to confirm your understanding of the content.

Go to the Topic 3 quiz

Once you have completed the quiz, please return to the homepage and select Topic 4