Responsible use and referencing of all your sources is a necessity. If you are concerned about the need to be scrupulous in this area of your work, perhaps it would help if you remembered why you need to do so. We acknowledge ideas, facts, any material at all from others: because it would be dishonest not to; because it can give authority to our work; because it promotes further research. We have found there are many possible worries and questions students have about aspects of referencing, but the two major ones are: "How much should I quote?" and "How can I avoid plagiarism?" Our answer to the first question is, "as little as possible". Our answer to the second could be very long. The shorter version amounts to "if you are aware of it, you will avoid it". The more you process information and are aware of ideas, the less likely you will be to lift work from other people. The next concern is about the details of how you will reference - that is, what style of referencing you should choose and what its rules are. Comply with the standard style of your discipline and consult the manuals published by relevant associations. One final point - use software packages to make your life easier. There are many software packages which you can use to handle your referencing and bibliography. You can find an excellent review of these packages on this site:

	Attending to details.
	Tackling the writing of drafts.
	Revising and editing.
	Revision.
	Editing.
	I have difficulty showing whether it's my idea or someone else's. Do you have ways to help with this?
	Writing the literature review.
	Some writing tips.