Self Paced Lesson - Legal Citation - Subject Guide: Legal Citation

Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty.

Consequences of plagiarism:

• fail grade on assessment piece
• failure of a subject
• subject to allegation of academic misconduct 
• expulsion from a course

via GIPHY

Complete Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100) in your first semester or your academic record will be encumbered, which prevents you from accessing your final grades for all units.

Pay particular attention to Module 3: How do I show academic integrity in my work?

MAP100 will appear as a unit in your list on myMurdoch Learning (LMS).

Types of plagiarism:¹

¹ John Walker, 'Student Plagiarism in Universities: What Are We Doing About It?' (1998) 17(1) Higher Education Research and Development, 103.

EVERYTHING!

All information obtained from another source:

• direct quotes
• paraphrasing another's words or ideas
• summaries of another's words or ideas
• diagrams, figures, graphs, images, tables
• lectures, PowerPoint presentations

Examples:

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 2.

You do not need to reference:

• your own arguments, ideas, theories
• your own diagrams, graphs, images that you have created
• common knowledge

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation

The citation style which is followed by the Murdoch University School of Law is outlined in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC),
produced by Melbourne University Law Review Association in collaboration with the Melbourne Journal of International Law.

The AGLC is a very detailed document.
The purpose of this Lesson is to introduce you to the AGLC and to highlight important features with which you will need to be familiar from a very early stage of your legal studies.
It is therefore recommended that you familiarise yourself with the General Rules, found in Part I, and with the rules to which you are directed in the topics which follow.

As you progress through your studies, you will be expected to correctly cite more complex legal materials.
The notes contained in this lesson are not exhaustive, and you will need to refer frequently to the AGLC for further elaboration.

Tip: use the University of Melbourne's re:cite guide to assist with citations.

Especially tricky citations can be addressed to Aus Gde to Leg Citn on Twitter (for all the world to see in perpetuity).

Legal Citation is a standardized set of guidelines that allows the writer of legal discourse to refer to legal authorities and sources with enough clarity to enable the reader to find or follow those references.
This referencing of statements and sources of law must be done clearly, concisely and consistently to ensure efficient and accurate location of these resources.

Citation is an essential part of writing at University.
When you write in university you must acknowledge the books, journal articles and other information sources you use in your work.
If you do not acknowledge your sources you are stealing another person's ideas and words, a serious offence in university.

This subject guide contains an online lesson detailing the requirements for citing secondary materials such as books, journal articles,  and commentaries, as well as primary materials, such as cases and legislation.
Each topic within the lesson has a series of self test questions designed to assist you in your understanding of legal citation. 

The Lesson and associated self test questions contained in this guide take you through the process of learning how to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4^th ed, 2018) to recognise and construct citations for the assignments you will submit in the Murdoch University School of Law.
It is not an exhaustive coverage of all of the rules contained within the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, but is a good outline of key materials you will come across during your studies.

Always refer to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation when completing your work.
Consult the AGLC Referencing Style Guide for your everyday use - it includes explanations and examples of the most commonly used resources and rules.

Research Strategy Template

Use the Research Strategy Template to organise your legal research.

Record:
- Databases searched
    - Filters used
- Search terms
- Search strings
- Sourced materials - correctly cited at the time of reading
- Quotes - with pinpoint referencing

EndNote

Install EndNote and AGLC Referencing Style

To use AGLC with EndNote you will need to download and save 2 small files from the Install AGLC Referencing Style to EndNote link below:

• Legal Reference Types e.g. Reported Cases, Legislation, Parliamentary Debates, Treaties, Books, Journal Articles etc
• AGLC4 (UTS) style: this allows you to correctly format references and use them with Word

EndNote for Law Tips

Note: EndNote has a number of issues with AGLC. 
Make a Plain Text Copy as a final step and manually edit the Word document into Headings or Sections.

Below are examples of including quotes within your work, illustrating both the incorrect, and correct, ways quotes can be included.

Original Text:

As well as 'conditionally exempt documents', there are also 'exempt documents' under the FOI Act. These tend to be documents of highly confidential or damaging nature. To put it simply, there is less room for debate as to whether or not the release of these documents will be harmful.

Original Source Footnote:

Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

EXAMPLE 1 (verbatim plagiarism):

INCORRECT

As well as 'conditionally exempt documents', there are also 'exempt documents' under the FOI Act. These tend to be documents of highly confidential or damaging nature. To put it simply, there is less room for debate as to whether or not the release of these documents will be harmful.

WHY

• direct copy of original text
• no acknowledgement/reference
• verbatim plagiarism: material copied verbatim from text without in-text acknowledgement of source

EXAMPLE 2:

INCORRECT

As well as 'conditionally exempt documents', there are also 'exempt documents' under the FOI Act. These tend to be documents of highly confidential or damaging nature. To put it simply, there is less room for debate as to whether or not the release of these documents will be harmful.¹

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

WHY

• no quotation marks around copied words

EXAMPLE 3 (sham plagiarism):

INCORRECT

Documents of a highly confidential or damaging nature are 'exempt documents' under the FOI Act. To put it simply, there is less room for debate as to whether or not the release of these documents will be harmful.¹

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

WHY

• original wording copied - just rearranged
• no quotation marks around copied words
• sham plagiarism: material copied verbatim from text and source acknowledged in-text, but represented as paraphrased

EXAMPLE 4 (illicit plagiarism):

INCORRECT

Not all documents are automatically accessible under an FOI request, as some may be confidential or damaging to the government or police, for example. Requests to access these 'exempt documents' may be denied, although these requests may be reviewed.

WHY

• original words have been paraphrased effectively, which is good, as this demonstrates an understanding of the original work
• no acknowledgement of source of concept
• illicit plagiarism: material paraphrased from text without in-text acknowledgement of source

EXAMPLE 5:

CORRECT

Not all documents are automatically accessible under an FOI request, as some may be confidential or damaging to the government or police, for example. Requests for access to these exempt documents may be denied, and, although these requests may be reviewed, there is little scope for debate.¹

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

WHY

• original words have been paraphrased effectively, which is good, as this demonstrates an understanding of the original work
• source of concept has been acknowledged

EXAMPLE 6:

CORRECT

Not all documents are automatically accessible under an FOI request, as some may be confidential or damaging to the government or police, for example. Labelled 'exempt documents', requests for access may be denied, and, although these requests may be reviewed, there is little scope for debate.¹

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

WHY

• original words have been paraphrased effectively, which is good, as this demonstrates an understanding of the original work
• source of direct quote and concept has been acknowledged

EXAMPLE 7:

CORRECT*

As Withnall Howe states 'As well as 'conditionally exempt documents', there are also 'exempt documents' under the FOI Act. These tend to be documents of highly confidential or damaging nature. To put it simply, there is less room for debate as to whether or not the release of these documents will be harmful'.¹

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe,  Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

WHY

• source of direct quote has been acknowledged
• as the quote is 3 lines or less, it has been incorporated into the text using single quotation marks

*  Direct quotes of exact words should be used sparingly.
   Paraphrase or summarise the author's words instead, as this demonstrates your understanding of the information.

EXAMPLE 8:

CORRECT

Not all documents are automatically accessible under an FOI request, as some may be confidential or, for example, could be deemed damaging to the government, national security, or police. Labelled 'exempt documents', requests for access may be denied, and, although these requests may be reviewed, there is little scope for debate.¹ These types of documents are specified within the FOI Act: For example:

Documents affecting national security, defence or international relations

                   A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:

                     (a)  would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to:

                              (i)  the security of the Commonwealth;

                             (ii)  the defence of the Commonwealth; or

                            (iii)  the international relations of the Commonwealth; or

                     (b)  would divulge any information or matter communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government,
                         an authority of a foreign government or an international organization to the Government of the Commonwealth,
                         to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person receiving the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or of an authority of the Commonwealth.²

¹ Sarah Withnall Howe, Administrative Law (LexisNexis, 3^rd ed, 2020) 91.

² Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 33.

WHY

• original words have been paraphrased effectively, which is good, as this demonstrates an understanding of the original work
• source of direct quote and concept has been acknowledged
• quote longer than 3 lines has been indented from the left margin, is in smaller font, is without quotation marks, and has the closing punctuation included

Original Text:

Division 2—Exemptions

33  Documents affecting national security, defence or international relations

                   A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:

                     (a)  would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to:

                              (i)  the security of the Commonwealth;

                             (ii)  the defence of the Commonwealth; or

                            (iii)  the international relations of the Commonwealth; or

                     (b)  would divulge any information or matter communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government,
                         an authority of a foreign government or an international organization to the Government of the Commonwealth,
                         to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person receiving the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or of an authority of the Commonwealth.

Original Source Footnote:

Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 33.

Task:

Interpret s 33(a) of the FOI to determine whether a document would fall within the s 33(a)(i) exemption.

EXAMPLE 1:

INCORRECT

Documents affecting national security, defence or international relations

            A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:

            (a)  would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to:

                        (i)  the security of the Commonwealth;

                        (ii)  the defence of the Commonwealth; or

                        (iii)  the international relations of the Commonwealth; or

             (b)  would divulge any information or matter communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government,
                    an authority of a foreign government or an international organization to the Government of the Commonwealth,
                    to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person receiving the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or of an authority of the Commonwealth.

WHY

• original words copied - does not demonstrate an understanding of the original work
• source of direct quote and concept has not been acknowledged
• quote longer than 3 lines has not been indented from the left margin, is not in smaller font

EXAMPLE 2:

INCORRECT

It must be determined whether the document could practically be expected to injure the safety of the Commonwealth.

WHY

• language of the legislation has not been used
• using incorrect synonyms practically, injure and safety has changed the meaning of the legislation.
• no acknowledgement of source of concept

EXAMPLE 3:

INCORRECT

It must be determined whether the document would, or could, reasonably be expected to, cause damage to the security of the Commonwealth.

WHY

• no quotation marks around copied words
• no acknowledgement of original source

EXAMPLE 4:

INCORRECT

It must be determined whether the document  fits into this category contained in s 33(a)(i):

Documents affecting national security, defence or international relations

                   A document is an exempt document if disclosure of the document under this Act:

                     (a)  would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to:

                              (i)  the security of the Commonwealth;¹

¹ Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 33.

WHY

• source of direct quote and concept has been acknowledged
• quote longer than 3 lines has been indented from the left margin, is in smaller font, is without quotation marks, and has the closing punctuation included
• original words copied - does not demonstrate an understanding of the original work

EXAMPLE 5:

CORRECT

It must be determined whether whether disclosure of the document would ‘reasonably be expected’ to ‘cause damage’ to the ‘security of the Commonwealth’.¹

¹ Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 33(a)(i).

WHY

• paraphrases but quotes key terms
• is concise
• source of direct quote and concept has been acknowledged, including pinpoint reference - section, sub-section, paragraph

There may be times when another citation style is required

For instance, those undertaking criminology units, may be advised to comply with the APA citation.
This takes into account the material used in that discipline, such as psychological tests, statistics and case studies.

Students in the Business School and other faculties may be required to use Chicago citation.

For information about these and other citation styles see the Library's referencing guides.

It is the responsibility of each student to confirm the citation style required before work is submitted.
If you are unsure, check your unit guide or speak to your tutors and lecturers.