Two contradictions are inherent in our research into referencing practices and the subsequent development of teaching strategies to remedy inappropriate practices. First, aggregate studies and teaching strategies that tend toward a one-size-fits-all formula for researching and teaching referencing do not consider individual differences in students' development of the complex set of skills that we know are involved in referencing practice. Further, although we say that we want students to be creative in their reading and writing practices, our teaching encourages them to look for correct answers in their reading of sources and to imitate set formulae for writing essays. This article examines four case studies taken from a larger aggregate study of EL1 and EL2 students. In their interviews and essay scripts, these students show varying levels of awareness of appropriate referencing practices. After examining these differences, I adapted Ada's (Cummins, 1996) framework for comprehensible input and critical literacy, as well as work by Hinkel (2002), Keck (2006), and Kintsch (1998), to develop some strategies for teaching referencing that address individual differences. (Contains 1 table.)