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Referencing Example

This is an example that is designed to show the difference between plagiarising work, copying sections, quoting it and correctly using it as a reference. Please note that These principles also apply to any diagrams used in submitted work that have originated from books/notes/journal articles etc

It uses a section from:

“The term value proposition (VP) was developed in 1983 by Michael Lanning and published in an internally circulated McKinsey Staff Paper (Lanning & Michaels, 1988). The concept was developed “not as a freestanding idea … but … in the context of a framework for strategy: the value delivery system (Lanning, 2019). Although research in this area has progressively increased, the VP concept has received little attention compared to the very substantial literature on customer value. This neglect is surprising especially as some scholars identify its potential as “the firm's most important single organizing principle” (Webster, 2002, p. 61), crucial to the value creation process (Payne & Frow, 2005), the essence of marketing strategy (Payne, Frow, & Eggert, 2017), a statement of the firm's core strategy (Lehmann & Winer, 2008), with decisions impacting implementation of marketing right across the firm (Morgan, 2012).”

This would be regarded as plagiarism

(Where the text is directly copied from the source with no reference to that source - this can result in a zero mark for the piece of work)

The term value proposition (VP) was developed in 1983 by Michael Lanning. Although research in this area has progressively increased, the VP concept has received little attention compared to the very substantial literature on customer value.

This would also be regarded as plagiarism

 (The citations and quotes are correct for the sources used, but the there is no reference to the source that originally collated these sources - this can result in a zero mark for the piece of work)

This neglect is surprising especially as some scholars identify its potential as “the firm's most important single organizing principle” (Webster, 2002, p. 61), crucial to the value creation process (Payne & Frow, 2005), the essence of marketing strategy (Payne, Frow, & Eggert, 2017), a statement of the firm's core strategy (Lehmann & Winer, 2008), with decisions impacting implementation of marketing right across the firm (Morgan, 2012).

This would be regarded as a type of copying

(Where the text is directly copied from the source without the use of quotation marks (“”), even where there is a reference to that source - this can result in the copied section being ignored during the assessment)

Although research in this area has progressively increased, the VP concept has received little attention compared to the very substantial literature on customer value (Payne et al, 2020).

This is quoting a passage (not wrong, but not ideal)

(Where the text is directly copied from the source, but it is referenced and clearly indicated with quotation marks and indentation that it is a direct quote - this should only be used when it is impossible, or inappropriate for some reason, to re-word the section)

According to Payne et al (2020):

“Although research in this area has progressively increased, the VP concept has received little attention compared to the very substantial literature on customer value.”

You should only quote directly if you believe that any changes to the phrasing would change the meaning or effect intended by the original author. However, bear in mind that a careful paraphrase that does justice to the source (and is acknowledged – see below) is much more readable that a lengthy quotation.

This is correctly using a reference

(Note that the words used are the student’s own. They are not simply replacing words with other similar words. They have clearly read the original text and summarised the relevant parts for their argument -I.e., the importance of the VP concept to marketing - whilst giving credit to the original authors)

According to Payne et al (2020), the value proposition (VP) is an underutilised but important concept. Specifically, the authors (ibid.) highlight the wide-reaching implications to both marketing strategy and marketing implementation by citing the work of Payne, Frow, & Eggert (2017) and Morgan (2012).

Note: the use of “ibid.” on the second line. This is used when referring to the previous source for a second time.

Practical help

Students are recommended to look at the advice and online courses (Intro to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism) available from the Warwick University Library Referencing page