On a side note, have you learned about structs yet? Putting all the variables you pass by reference to your functions into a structure would make your parameter lists easier to read and understand.
The 'feedbacks' you have received are telling you that pass by reference is not required in the various function because they are not changing the values of the items being passed. You should review and revise the parameter lists. Look up "pass by value" and 'pass by reference' in the tutorial here.