Referencing for a non fiction book

[wordstosentences]

Hello everyone, I'm new here

I'm asking this question on behalf of my Dad: What are the legal requirements when referencing a source? How much of a source are you able to reference while avoiding plagarism?

He'll be referencing standard things like other text books, PDF's, online archives, websites etc.

I'm asking here because I'm unsure if Australian law places any unique obligations on us.

Thanks very much!

[Peter McLennan]

'Referencing' is not the same thing as 'quoting' (copying). Especially in non-fiction, you should include a reference for everything you quote (or allude to), regardless of how small the extract is and whether you quote verbatim or paraphrase. The reference says where you got it from and should ideally be the original source rather than an indirect source. If you do this, you avoid the risk of plagiarism regardless of how much or little you quote, since plagiarism means trying to pass someone else's work off as your own.

The question of how much is acceptable is a matter of intellectual property rights. The guidelines vary depending on the genre and, yes, Australian law is a bit different to that of other countries. For example, you'll often hear about 'fair use', but that's a US thing.

[Rkcapps]

I've never considered it except in my uni days. We would indent the quoted section then footnote it as such, Prue Vines, Law & Justice in Australia, page 307 so Author, Name of book, page number. This was enough when I studied law... nothing has changed.

[Josilver]

Any university webpage will have info on referencing. There are many types- harvard, APA. As long as you refrence the material and dont try to pass it off as your own you should be ok. As for copying - a maxumun of 10percent springs to mind.