diff --git a/lib/puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks.rb b/lib/puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks.rb
index 40330271..d5da4665 100644
--- a/lib/puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks.rb
+++ b/lib/puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks.rb
@@ -228,6 +228,10 @@
       warn 'Skipping metadata validation; the metadata-json-lint gem was not found'
     end
   end
+
+  if File.exist?('REFERENCE.md')
+    Rake::Task['strings:validate:reference'].invoke
+  end
 end
 
 task :metadata do