Referencing

WHAT IS REFERENCING?
WHY DO WE NEED IT?

Referencing is providing your reader with evidence of where you found your information. This means they can look it up themselves if they want to read further into the topic.

You need to reference your work so that you don’t get accused of copying from others, this is called plagiarism. Your assignments will generally go through a plagiarism checker to make sure you haven’t just hit ‘copy and paste’ from the internet! This does not mean you can’t use secondary sources of information, it just means that you need to know how to make your work your own and how to reference your sources properly.

DIRECT VS INDIRECT

When you want to include information from a secondary source in your assignment there are two ways to do this; directly and indirectly.

Direct Quotes

Copying an article of text word for word
MUST be in quotation marks to not be considered plagiarism
Should be no longer than one sentence, keep it neat!

Indirect Quotes

Rewrite the information in your own words
No need for quotation marks

Both types of quotation require in-text citations.

REFERENCING COMES IN TWO PARTS

In-text citations - these are used within the main body of your assignment, usually just containing the name of the author, the year and other specific information such as page number (for books).

Full references - these contain all of the information your reader needs to know if they want to look further into the topic, they are in the bibliography. Each type of secondary source comes with its own referencing format.

BOOKS WITH ONE AUTHOR

Citation order:

Author/editor
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title (in italics)
Edition (edition number if not the first edn and/or rev. edn)
Place of publication: Publisher
Series and volume number (where relevant)

In-text reference: according to Surname (Year)... OR current research suggests (Surname, Year)...

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

Example:

Bilton, H. (2010) Outdoor Learning in the Early Years: Management and Innovation. 3rd Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.

BOOKS WITH MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR

The same order applies, however there is now two or more authors to consider. These are cited in alphabetical order by surname.

In-text reference: according to Surname and Surname (Year)... OR current research suggests (Surname and Surname, Year)...

When there are four or more authors the in-text citation includes the first name, followed by ‘et al’ in italics: Surname et al (Year) talk about…

The full reference in the bibliography includes all authors of the book.

Layout:

Surname, Initial. and Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

Example:

Barnes, C., French, S., Swain, J. and Thomas, C. (2014) Disabling Barriers - Enabling Environments. 3rd Edition. London: SAGE Publications.

If the ebook looks like a printed book, reference it in the same way.

If some of the information is missing, just use what you do have. Sometimes there will be a percentage instead of a page number, use it!

Citation order:

Author/editor
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title of book (in italics)
Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

In-text reference: according to Surname (Year)...

OR current research suggests (Surname, Year)...

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title of book. Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Adams, D. (1979) The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-ebooks (Accessed: 23 June 2021).

You should also include the link to the ebook and the date you accessed it. This is important because the internet is continually changing and sometimes your readers won’t be able to access the same material as you, by including the date you have provided evidence that it was available at the time you used it.

You can also find information in journal articles either printed or online. Again, the referencing format is similar, just remember to link and date anything you have found online.

Citation order:

Author (surname followed by initials)
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title of article (in single quotation marks)
Title of journal (in italics – capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words such as and, of, the, for)
Issue information: volume (unbracketed) and, where applicable, part number, month or season (all in round brackets)
Page reference (if available) or article number

If accessed online:

Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal, Issue information, Page reference.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal, Issue information, Page reference. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Norrie, C. et al. (2012) 'Doing it differently? A review of literature on teaching reflective practice across health and social care professions', Reflective Practice, 13(4), pp. 565–578.

Websites can be a little more complicated as they don’t always have all of the information that you need to provide a full reference. Try and include as much information as you can find.

Citation order:

Author/organisation as author
Year that the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
Title of web page (in italics)
Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

If there is no clear author, use the title of the page instead.

If there is no author or title, use the URL.

If there is no date listed, write ‘no date’ in the brackets where it should be.

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Verlet, J.R.R. (2021) GroupVerlet. Available at: http://www.verlet.net/ (Accessed: 14 May 2021).

ONLINE VIDEOS

Streaming sites such as YouTube have their own referencing format.

Citation order:

Name of person, username or organisation posting video
Year video posted (in round brackets)
Title of film or programme (in italics)
Date uploaded (if available)
Available at: DOI or name of streaming service/app or URL (Accessed: date)

In-text citation:

Surname/Username/Organisation (Year) states…

Layout:

Name of person or organisation posting video (Year video posted) Title of film or programme. Date uploaded. Available at: DOI or name of streaming service/app or URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Cambridge Cosmology (2021) Professor Gabriella González: Black holes and gravitational waves. 12 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txuq1sO8fkY (Accessed: 5 May 2021).

TELEVISION

Citation order:

Title of programme (in italics)
Year of transmission (in round brackets)
Transmission channel
Date of transmission (day/month), time of transmission

In-text citation:

As seen on Title of programme (Year)...

Layout:

Title of programme (Year of transmission) Name of channel, Day Month, time of transmission.

Example:

The Apprentice (2017) BBC One Television, 23 September, 21:00.

FILM

Citation order:

Title of film (in italics)
Year of distribution (in round brackets)
Directed by ...
[Feature film]
Place of distribution: distribution company

In-text citation:

As seen on Title of film (Year)...

Layout:

Title of film (Year of distribution) Directed by ... [Feature film]. Place of distribution: distribution company.

Example:

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Directed by M. Moore. [Feature film]. Santa Monica, CA: Lionsgate Films.

NEWSPAPERS

Citation order:

Author
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title of article (in single quotation marks)
Title of newspaper (in italics – capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words such as and, of, the, for)
Edition if required (in round brackets)
Day and month
Section and page reference (if available)

If accessed online:

Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper (Edition), Day and month, Section and page reference.

Example:

Prymm, J. (2019) ‘Surge in US tech tycoons buying London homes’, Evening Standard, 19 June, p. 10.

MAGAZINES

Citation order:

Author (surname followed by initials)
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title of article (in single quotation marks)
Title of magazine (in italics – capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words such as and, of, the, for)
Issue information, that is, volume (unbracketed), part number, month or season (all in round brackets)
Page reference (if available)

If accessed online:

Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Magazine, Issue information, Page reference.

Example:

MD (2021) ‘Pandemic update’, Private Eye (1546; 30 April–13 May), pp. 8–9.

PODCASTS

Citation order:

Author/presenter
Year that the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
Title of podcast (in italics)
[Podcast]
Day/month of posted message
Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of podcast [Podcast]. Day/month of posted message. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Hussain, M.M. (2021) IEEE EDS podcasts with luminaries: episode 2: Prof. Jayant Baliga [Podcast]. 25 January. Available at: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vu8enf88e6e. (Accessed: 18 April 2021).

CD-ROM OR DVD

Citation order:

Title of publication (in italics)
Year of publication (in round brackets)
[CD-ROM] or [DVD]
Producer (where identifiable)
Available: publisher/distributor

Layout:

Title of publication (Year of publication) [CD-ROM] OR [DVD]. Producer. Available: Publisher/Distributor.

Example:

World development indicators (2002) [CD-ROM]. The World Bank Group. Available: SilverPlatter.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE INTERNET

Citation order:

Photographer
Year of publication (in round brackets)
Title of photograph (in italics)
Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Layout:

Surname, Initial. (Year) Title of photograph. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Example:

Kitto, J. (2013) Golden sunset. Available at: http://www.jameskitto.co.uk/photo_1827786.html (Accessed: 14 June 2018).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

At the end of your assignment you should create a reference list called a ‘Bibliography’.

This is where you put all of your full references. This includes the extra information that the in-text citations don’t need, such as multiple authors, full titles, URL and access dates. Your list should be sorted alphabetically for ease of use.

The bibliography is not included in the word count for your assignment!

CREATE A BIBLIOGRAPHY

Referencing

WHAT IS REFERENCING? WHY DO WE NEED IT?

DIRECT VS INDIRECT

REFERENCING COMES IN TWO PARTS

BOOKS WITH ONE AUTHOR

BOOKS WITH MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR

The same order applies, however there is now two or more authors to consider. These are cited in alphabetical order by surname.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WHAT IS REFERENCING?
WHY DO WE NEED IT?