The North-West University has adopted 3 referencing styles that students and staff need to adhere to. The 3 NWU referencing styles are APA, NWU Harvard style, and the NWU Faculty of Law referencing style. The 3 NWU referencing styles prevents a student from getting away with plagiarism.
Here are what the 3 NWU referencing styles entail:
APA
The APA style is an author-date citation. This will include the student making a short reference (author-date) made in text with a corresponding entry in an alphabetical reference list. This type of referencing gives the author recognition and provides proof of the source used. The reference list needs to be on a new page, with the entry being alphabetized according to the author's surname.
Text references examples:
Patients need to know that they can trust and rely on health care practitioners to take care of their problems (Healy, 2011). - author's name and date at the end of the sentence
or
According to Healy (2011) patients need to know that they can trust and rely on health care practitioners to take care of their problems. - narrative format with author name and date at the beginning
NWU Harvard Style
NWU Havard Style reference consists of the author’s surname, the date and page number(s) where the information referred to was found. If your article source is from a web page, you don't need to include page numbers.
The reference list needs to be on a new page with the heading as References. The entries need to be in alphabetical order according to the first author. The entries need to be in chronological order from old to new with single authors before co-authors.
Text references examples:
According to Healy (2011:17) patients need to know that they can trust and rely on health care practitioners to take care of their problems. - As part of the sentence
or
Patients need to know that they can trust and rely on health care practitioners to take care of their problems (Healy, 2011:17). - At the end of the sentence
or
South Sudan has been facing severe food deficits for many years due to a decrease in local food production which resulted in poor food stocks from previous harvests and high prices for staple food (FAO, 2018) - an in-text reference to an internet source
NWU Faculty of Law referencing style
For this reference style, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) should be followed. South African English must be used for submissions, this is emphasized as MS Words default English is American English. Italics need to be used for references that are in different languages. Entries need to be in alphabetical order.
The layout needs to be as followed:
- Margins: left (2,5 cm), top (2,5 cm), right (2,5 cm), bottom (2,5 cm), footer (2 cm). The paper size is A4.
- Font type: Tahoma 12pt
- 1.5 line spacing
- Heading placed on the left side of the margin with page numbers at the bottom.
- Tables and graphics need to have appropriate headings and numbering
Even if a student paraphrases from a source they would still need to reference that source. Plagiarism is seen as a serious offence at NWU, which is why the referencing styles were adopted to make clear which ideas are the students' and which are referenced.
Click here To get a more in-depth explanation of the 3 referencing styles
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