Clear, accurate and thorough references are the cornerstone of historical enquiry. Historians need to be able to demonstrate where their information comes from so that their readers can follow research trails and understand how ideas were developed. It is also important to provide good references to give credit to the secondary sources that contributed to the development of the piece, and to avoid plagiarising other people’s work.
Referencing is the public identification of the location where a historian found a piece of information. Whenever we use primary and secondary sources to evidence or contextualise our work, we must identify the place where they came from. For primary sources, most often this might be an archive (physical or digital), a newspaper or perhaps a website. Common secondary sources include other history books and journal articles, and appropriate websites. Of course, anything can be a source – a podcast, an Instagram post, a song – the list is endless. Just remember that any time you reproduce something that is not your own work, you must identify this to your reader and show them how they can find the source on their own.
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