Make your referencing hold up under a close read

Consistency matters more than any single citation

A single formatting slip in a reference list rarely costs marks on its own. What does cost marks is a list that drifts between two styles partway through, or a paper that never settles on one at all. Decide the required style before you start drafting: retrofitting citations into a different format late in the process is where most inconsistency creeps in.

• Confirm the required style (Harvard, APA 7, OSCOLA, Chicago, or another) before writing your first citation.
• Keep a running reference list as you write, rather than reconstructing it at the end.
• Use the same abbreviation and punctuation conventions across every entry — a mixed list is usually a string of small inconsistencies, not one big error.

Make evidence do work in your argument

A citation should support a claim you're already making, not replace one. One of the most common ways marks are lost here has nothing to do with formatting: a paragraph that summarizes a source instead of using it to advance your own argument.

• Introduce a source's relevance before quoting or paraphrasing it, not after.
• Follow every citation with a sentence connecting it back to your point.
• Prefer paraphrase over direct quotation unless the exact wording matters.

Know the difference between quotation, paraphrase, and summary

These are three different tools, not interchangeable habits. Relying on only one — quoting everything, or paraphrasing everything — is a common reason student writing reads as thin even when the underlying research is solid.