Common Referencing Errors Committed by Graduate Students in Education

The purpose of this paper is to detect the common errors mistakenly formed by the graduate students in creating their reference list. These errors become the basis of the library’s reference department to improve its Information Literacy Program and to collaborate with the schools in enhancing the teaching and learning of citation and referencing. This study employed citation analysis in tracking the current status and quality of the reference list. The paper analyzed 20 master’s theses submitted in an open institutional repository. Results showed that there was an increase in error in 2019 compared with those theses submitted in 2018. Most common errors were found in the retrieval of information component of the reference list such as missing place of publication and/or missing volume or issue number. This case study shows us the current work of the librarians in Kazakhstan to ensure students learn how to respect academic integrity.