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How many references in a 1500 word essay?

Hey,

I know this will differ depending on the degree and of course the essay question. I submitted a 1500 word essay last week and I included 19 references, 14 different sources. I know that this might seem like quite a lot, the only reason I felt I needed to include this many was because it was a question on describing the actions of certain characters in a story, meaning that some of my quotes were taken straight from the text in order for me to analyse them. Does this seem like quite a lot? I argued some references off one another and I analysed thoroughly after each one. I am just after counting how many words I referenced altogether and it was 300, a fifth of my word count. I'm a bit worried as i was delighted with how well i had referenced and backed everything up, but now I'm worried that I might have over referenced.

PS the topic is Celtic Mythology (if that helps)

Thank you!! :smile:
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Avatar for Inazuma
Inazuma
20
Not too many, I do masses and for an equivalent sized essay I calculated I'd have between 43-89 references...
In a science degree its extremely important to have a lot of references and 19 wouldn't be enough for a 1500 word essay, youd be looking at 25ish bare minimum for a low first. In science degrees when you reference you put the information in your own words and cite the source, youd be marked down for quoting directly and each paragraph must have a minimum of one citation just to get 40%.

It does sound like you justified it well though, if I was a teacher I think id mark you up for that (despite not remembering how English essays on stories and characters should be structured too well anymore, been a while since GCSE English XD).

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