code: private List<Reference> copyReferences(List<Reference> references) {
  		if (!deepCopyReferences) {
  			return Collections.emptyList();
  		}
  
  		List<Reference> result = new ArrayList<>(references.size());
  		for (Reference reference : references) {
  			result.add(dataObjectFactory
  					.getReference(copy(reference.getSnakGroups())));
  		}
  		return result;
  	}
docs: Copies a list of {@link Reference} objects.
  
  @param references
  object to copy
  @return the copied object