Referencing is a key academic practice for university students. Through correct referencing, you acknowledge the author/s contribution to your understanding and give your reader the opportunity to reproduce your research by following the same cited texts. You also show that you can work with accuracy and rigour by learning and following a set of rules.
You can lose marks for incorrect referencing, or even find yourself guilty of accidental plagiarism. So do read through all of the sections - not just the sections on how to write citations. Once you have learnt the principles, you will be able to adapt them to cite all the different materials you may use in your studies at university.
|
Material |
Author |
Date |
Title |
Publication details |
|
Book |
Cottrell, S. |
2005 |
Critical thinking skills |
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan |
| Journal article | Weingart, S.N., Zhang, L., Sweeney, M, & Hassett, M. | 2018 | Chemotherapy medication errors | The Lancet Oncology, 19(4), pp. e191-e199 |
A journal article in the Harvard referencing style:
Gulddal, J. (2020) 'That deep underground savage instinct: narratives of sacrifice and retribution in Agatha Christie's Appointment with Death', Textual Practice, 34(11), pp. 1803-1821.
You need to provide a citation whenever you refer to an idea that you derived from a source. This is the case whether you use a direct quote, a paraphrase, or even just a direct or indirect mention. You need to include a brief citation in the text at the place where you refer to the source, and a full citation in your bibliography or reference list. The style of referencing you are using will dictate which details you include in your citations, how you signpost brief citations (in the body of the text or in footnotes, directly or by assigning a number which links to full details in a reference list), and what order you put information in. Check your course handbook to see what style your department prefers.
Examples:
Direct quote with brief citation-
Wenger (1998, p.181) argues that; "Engagement, imagination and alignment each create relations of belonging".
Indirect mention with brief citation in Harvard style:
Theorists have considered the impact of a variety of circumstances on the creation and expansion of identity (Wenger, 1998; Lee, 2013; Morton and Grainger, 2009).
If your source has three or more authors, list the first followed by et al:
The results were described as "disappointing" (Jensen et al, 2011).
A reference list is a list of all the sources that you have referred to in your text. A reference list may be ordered in alphabetical order of authors' names, or numerically, depending on the referencing system you are using.
If you have been asked to include a reference list, you may also include a bibliography which lists works that you have read but not cited.
A reference list should be ordered alphabetically by author’s surname unless you are using a numeric referencing system. In this case, sources are assigned a number when they first appear in the text, and are listed in numerical order.
Example bibliography using the Harvard referencing style
Abu Salem, H., Gemail, K.S. and Nosair, A.M. (2021) 'A multidisciplinary approach for delineating wastewater flow paths in shallow groundwater aquifers: A case study in the southeastern part of the Nile Delta, Egypt', Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 236, article number 103701.
Ashbourn, J. (2014) Biometrics in the new world: the cloud, mobile technology and pervasive identity. 2nd edn. London: Springer.
Environment Agency (2020) The flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy action plan 2021. Bristol: Environment Agency.
Mintel (2019) Sports and energy drinks - UK. Available at: http://www.academic.mintel.com (Accessed: 5th July 2022).
Nasta, S. and Stein, M.U. (ed.) (2020) The Cambridge history of Black and Asian British writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.