Referencing: A helping hand

Being back in university over the last few months has taught taught me a lot, more than I could have hoped for, and one of these things  is that correct referencing is key.

Being back in a University environment naturally means being exposed to assignments and correct practice within such tasks. As I am also on teaching placement, which is also happens to be in the same University, I am seeing that my learners are faced with similar tasks. Referencing can be challenging at first but, as with most things in life, the more you repeat the process, the simpler it becomes. 

Now I could go on about the correct practice for referencing, however, there is a wealth of such information all over the internet, so as such, I am going to point you in the right direction to a helpful tool which you can use to create references or simply use as a guide to learn the format. 

A few weeks back in an ICT session in University we had a talk about Microsoft Word and the built in referencing system. However, being a mac user, I was horrified to get onto my Macbook to find my version didn't include such luxuries. This sent me off scouring the internet for an alternative, which is where I stumbled across an excellent website.

There is an excellent resource available to use, for free I may add, at Neil's tool box. This website provides users with the Harvard referencing generator, a simple and effective tool that simply allows users to input all the details into the labeled boxes (supplied with format examples) and compiles the information into a reference that can be copied and pasted into your assignment. 

Above: The website allows users to select from a number of different types of resources, which it will then build an appropriate reference for.

Above: An example of the website's input system, which asks for all the information required to build your reference

Its that simple! if your in a position where you software doesn't come with its own generator, then this tool can become invaluable to you, allowing more time to be spent on your actual assignment writing. 

Resource available at: http://www.neilstoolbox.com/bibliography-creator/