Latin American Studies Research Guide

The Mansfield Library subscribes to ProQuest RefWorks to make research and the citation process easier for you. RefWorks is a citation management tool that stores your electronic articles and references in one place for easy access, organization, citation, and sharing. You can save web page content and metadata, create collections to organize or share resources, and upload full documents.

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Watch the video below for an introduction to RefWorks.

Referencing is about giving credit where it’s due, and it’s one of the main ways we build trust and credibility in academic work. Using someone else’s ideas without citing them is plagiarism, like stealing someone’s work and putting your name on it. It’s a big deal, with real academic and even legal consequences.

Walker and Taylor (2006, The Columbia Guide to Online Style) break referencing down into five key principles:

1. Intellectual Property – Ideas are owned. If you dont give credit, it’s theft. It’s about more than rules—it’s about ethics and contributing to a larger conversation in your field.
2. Access –Giving anyone the ability to check your sources.
3. Economy – Including enough information for someone to find the source.
4. Transparency – A clear citation style helps others follow your thinking and research trail.
5. Standardization – Citations make sense across subjects and disciplines.

Still wondering why it really matters? Neville (2007, The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism) lists 9 reasons to cite your sources:

• To trace the origins of ideas
• To connect ideas into a bigger picture
• To discover and develop your own voice
• To make your arguments stronger
• To share knowledge with others
• To show respect for other scholars
• To show who and what influenced your thinking 
• To meet grading criteria
• And yes—to avoid plagiarism