4.8 Using facts or information from another
When you make factual claims or present any sort of information, it is essential that you indicate the source(s) of your information. This is primarily to allow your readers to go to the original source to confirm the facts or information for themselves. In turn, this helps to bolster the credibility of your own assertion of these facts.
Here is part of an original passage from Aitken and Orr to allow you to see how it was presented in the original.
ORIGINAL
From Guy Aitken and Robert Orr, Sawer’s The Australian Constitution (Australian Government Solicitor, 3rd ed, 2002) 155–6:
The history of constitutional reform in Australia is littered with failed attempts. Of the 44 proposals put, only the following eight proposals were carried:
- Section 13 was amended in 1907 …
- Section 105 was amended in 1910 …
…
The 44 proposals were put at 19 separate referendums. Referendums can be held at the same time as general elections, and on nine of the 19 occasions this has occurred.
The next example shows how that information could be paraphrased.
PARAPHRASE
… efforts at constitutional reform. There have been 44 proposals to amend the Australian Constitution, presented at a total of 19 referendums, and nine of those coincided with general elections.8 Australians have mostly been …
________
8 Guy Aitken and Robert Orr, Sawer’s The Australian Constitution (Australian Government Solicitor, 3rd ed, 2002) 155–6.
Remember, if you fail to indicate the source(s) of your information, you are effectively claiming to be the source of that information yourself. If this is not the case, then you are misleading the reader.
Making factual claims with no reference to your sources is, then, another good way to lose marks. Of course, there will sometimes be things that are commonly known or easily confirmed and so do not usually need to be referenced, like the name of the current Chief Justice of Australia or the fact that Australia is a federation. But there may be occasions when it is wise to provide references even for such matters as these. As always, much depends on the context and nature of your writing task.
TIP: CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
Whenever you give information to your reader which you have found from some place other than your own experience, always provide a source.
