references in uni essay

How to Reference in an Essay (9 Strategies of Top Students)

Are you feeling overwhelmed by referencing?

When you’re first asked to do referencing in an essay it can be hard to get your head around it. If it’s been a while since you were first taught how to reference, it can be intimidating to ask again how to do it!

I have so many students who consistently lose marks just because they didn’t get referencing right! They’re either embarrassed to ask for extra help or too lazy to learn how to solve the issues.

So, here’s a post that will help you solve the issues on your own.

Already think you’re good at referencing? No worries. This post goes through some surprising and advanced strategies for anyone to improve no matter what level you are at!

In this post I’m going to show you exactly how to reference in an essay. I’ll explain why we do it and I’ll show you 9 actionable tips on getting referencing right that I’m sure you will not have heard anywhere else!

The post is split into three parts:

• What is a Reference and What is a Citation?
• Why Reference? (4 Things you Should Know)
• How to Reference (9 Strategies of Top Students)

If you think you’ve already got a good understanding of the basics, you can jump to our 9 Advanced Strategies section.

Part 1: What is a Reference and What is a Citation?

What is a citation.

An in-text mention of your source. A citation is a short mention of the source you got the information from, usually in the middle or end of a sentence in the body of your paragraph. It is usually abbreviated so as not to distract the reader too much from your own writing. Here’s two examples of citations. The first is in APA format. The second is in MLA format:

• APA: Archaeological records trace the original human being to equatorial Africa about 250,000–350,000 years ago (Schlebusch & Jakobsson, 2018) .
• MLA: Archaeological records trace the original human being to equatorial Africa about 250,000–350,000 years ago (Schlebusch and Jakobsson 1) .

In APA format, you’ve got the authors and year of publication listed. In MLA format, you’ve got the authors and page number listed. If you keep reading, I’ll give some more tips on formatting further down in this article.

And a Reference is:

What is a Reference?

A reference is the full details of a source that you list at the end of the article. For every citation (see above) there needs to be a corresponding reference at the end of the essay showing more details about that source. The idea is that the reader can see the source in-text (i.e. they can look at the citation) and if they want more information they can jump to the end of the page and find out exactly how to go about finding the source.

Here’s how you would go about referencing the Schlebusch and Jakobsson source in a list at the end of the essay. Again, I will show you how to do it in APA and MLA formats:

• APA: Schlebusch, C. & Jakobsson, M. (2018). Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics , 11 (33), 1–24.
• MLA: Schlebusch, Carina and Mattias Jakobsson. “Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa.” Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics , vol. 11, no. 33, 2018, pp. 1–24.

In strategy 1 below I’ll show you the easiest and fool proof way to write these references perfectly every time.

One last quick note: sometimes we say ‘reference’ when we mean ‘citation’. That’s pretty normal. Just roll with the punches. It’s usually pretty easy to pick up on what our teacher means regardless of whether they use the word ‘reference’ or ‘citation’.

Part 2: Why Reference in an Essay? (4 Things you Should Know)

Referencing in an essay is important. By the time you start doing 200-level courses, you probably won’t pass the course unless you reference appropriately. So, the biggest answer to ‘why reference?’ is simple: Because you Have To!

Okay let’s be serious though … here’s the four top ‘real’ reasons to reference:

1. Referencing shows you Got an Expert’s Opinion

You can’t just write an essay on what you think you know. This is a huge mistake of beginning students. Instead this is what you need to do:

Top Tip: Essays at university are supposed to show off that you’ve learned new information by reading the opinions of experts.

Every time you place a citation in your paragraph, you’re showing that the information you’re presenting in that paragraph was provided to you by an expert. In other words, it means you consulted an expert’s opinion to build your knowledge.

If you have citations throughout the essay with links to a variety of different expert opinions, you’ll show your marker that you did actually genuinely look at what the experts said with an open mind and considered their ideas.

This will help you to grow your grades.

2. Referencing shows you read your Assigned Readings

Your teacher will most likely give you scholarly journal articles or book chapters to read for homework between classes. You might have even talked about those assigned readings in your seminars and tutorials.

Great! The assigned readings are very important to you.

You should definitely cite the assigned readings relevant to your essay topic in your evaluative essay (unless your teacher tells you not to). Why? I’ll explain below.

• Firstly, the assigned readings were selected by your teacher because your teacher (you know, the person who’s going to mark your essay) believes they’re the best quality articles on the topic. Translation: your teacher gave you the best source you’re going to find. Make sure you use it!
• Secondly, by citing the assigned readings you are showing your teacher that you have been paying attention throughout the course. You are showing your teacher that you have done your homework, read those assigned readings and paid attention to them. When my students submit an essay that has references to websites, blogs, wikis and magazines I get very frustrated. Why would you cite low quality non-expert sources like websites when I gave you the expert’s article!? Really, it frustrates me so, so much.

So, cite the assigned readings to show your teacher you read the scholarly articles your teacher gave to you. It’ll help you grow your marks.

3. Referencing deepens your Knowledge

Okay, so you understand that you need to use referencing to show you got experts’ opinions on the topic.

But there’s more to it than that. There’s actually a real benefit for your learning.

If you force yourself to cite two expert sources per paragraph, you’re actually forcing yourself to get two separate pieces of expert knowledge. This will deepen your knowledge!

So, don’t treat referencing like a vanity exercise to help you gain more marks. Actually view it as an opportunity to develop deeper understandings of the topic!

When you read expert sources, aim to pick up on some new gems of knowledge that you can discuss in your essays. Some things you should look out for when finding sources to reference:

• Examples that link ideas to real life. Do the experts provide real-life examples that you can mention in your essay?
• Facts and figures. Usually experts have conducted research on a topic and provide you with facts and figures from their research. Use those facts and figures to deepen your essay!
• Short Quotes. Did your source say something in a really interesting, concise or surprising way? Great! You can quote that source in your essay .
• New Perspectives. Your source might give you another perspective, angle or piece of information that you can add to your paragraph so that it’s a deep, detailed and interesting paragraph.

So, the reason we ask you to reference is at the end of the day because it’s good for you: it helps you learn!

4. Referencing backs up your Claims

You might think you already know a ton of information about the topic and be ready to share your mountains of knowledge with your teacher. Great!

So, should you still reference?

Yes. Definitely.

You need to show that you’re not the only person with your opinion. You need to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants.’ Show what other sources have said about your points to prove that experts agree with you.

You should be saying: this is my opinion and it’s based on facts, expert opinions and deep, close scrutiny of all the arguments that exist out there .

If you make a claim that no one else has made, your teacher is going to be like “Have you even been reading the evidence on this topic?” The answer, if there are no citations is likely: No. You haven’t.

Even if you totally disagree with the experts, you still need to say what their opinions are! You’ll need to say: “This is the experts’ opinions. And this is why I disagree.”

So, yes, you need to reference to back up every claim. Try to reference twice in every paragraph to achieve this.

Part 3: Strategies for How to Reference in an Essay (9 Strategies of Top Students)

Let’s get going with our top strategies for how to reference in an essay! These are strategies that you probably haven’t heard elsewhere. They work for everyone – from beginner to advanced! Let’s get started:

1. Print out your Reference Style Cheat Sheet

Referencing is hard and very specific. You need to know where to place your italics, where the commas go and whether to use an initial for full name for an author.

There are so many details to get right.

And here’s the bad news: The automated referencing apps and websites nearly always get it wrong! They tell you they can generate the citation for you. The fact of the matter is: they can’t!

Here’s the best way to get referencing right: Download a referencing cheat sheet and have it by your side while writing your essay.

Your assignment outline should tell you what type of referencing you should use. Different styles include: APA Style, MLA Style, Chicago Style, Harvard Style, Vancouver Style … and many more!

You need to find out which style you need to use and download your cheat sheet. You can jump onto google to find a cheat sheet by typing in the google bar:

Download a pdf version of the referencing style cheat sheet, print it out, and place it on your pinboard or by your side when writing your essay.

2. Only cite Experts

There are good and bad sources to cite in an essay.

You should only cite sources written, critiqued and edited by experts. This shows that you have got the skill of finding information that is authoritative. You haven’t just used information that any old person popped up on their blog. You haven’t just gotten information from your local newspaper. Instead, you got information from the person who is an absolute expert on the topic.

Here’s an infographic listing sources that you should and shouldn’t cite. Feel free to share this infographic on social media, with your teachers and your friends:

3. Always use Google Scholar

Always. Use. Google. Scholar.

Ten years ago students only had their online university search database to find articles. Those university databases suck. They rarely find the best quality sources and there’s always a big mix of completely irrelevant sources mixed in there.

Google Scholar is better at finding the sources you want. That’s because it looks through the whole article abstract and analyses it to see if it’s relevant to your search keywords. By contrast, most university search databases rely only on the titles of articles.

Use the power of the best quality search engine in the world to find scholarly sources .

Note: Google and Google Scholar are different search engines.

To use Google Scholar, go to: https://scholar.google.com

Then, search on google scholar using keywords. I’m going to search keywords for an essay on the topic: “What are the traits of a good nurse?”

If you really like the idea of that first source, I recommend copying the title and trying your University online search database. Your university may give you free access.

4. Cite at least 50% sources you found on your Own Research

Okay, so I’ve told you that you should cite both assigned readings and readings you find from Google Scholar.

Here’s the ideal mix of assigned sources and sources that you found yourself: 50/50.

Your teacher will want to see that you can use both assigned readings and do your own additional research to write a top essay . This shows you’ve got great research skills but also pay attention to what is provided in class.

I recommend that you start with the assigned readings and try to get as much information out of them, then find your own additional sources beyond that using Google Scholar.

So, if your essay has 10 citations, a good mix is 5 assigned readings and 5 readings you found by yourself.

5. Cite Newer Sources

As a general rule, the newer the source the better .

The best rule of thumb that most teachers follow is that you should aim to mostly cite sources from the past 10 years . I usually accept sources from the past 15 years when marking essays.

However, sometimes you have a really great source that’s 20, 30 or 40 years old. You should only cite these sources if they’re what we call ‘seminal texts’. A seminal text is one that was written by an absolute giant in your field and revolutionized the subject.

Here’s some examples of seminal authors whose old articles you would be able to cite despite the fact that they’re old:

• Education: Vygotsky, Friere, Piaget
• Sociology: Weber, Marx, C. Wright Mills
• Psychology: Freud, Rogers, Jung

Even if I cite seminal authors, I always aim for at least 80% of my sources to have been written in the past 10 years.

6. Reference twice per Paragraph

How much should you reference?

Here’s a good strategy: Provide two citations in every paragraph in the body of the essay.

It’s not compulsory to reference in the introduction and conclusion . However, in all the other paragraphs, aim for two citations.

Let’s go over the key strategies for achieving this:

• These two citations should be to different sources, not the same sources twice;
• Two citations per paragraph shows your points are backed up by not one, but two expert sources;
• Place one citation in the first half of the paragraph and one in the second half. This will indicate to your marker that all the points in the whole paragraph are backed up by your citations.

This is a good rule of thumb for you when you’re not sure when and how often to reference. When you get more confident with your referencing, you can mix this up a little.

7. The sum total of your sources should be minimum 1 per 150 words

You can, of course, cite one source more than once throughout the essay. You might cite the same source in the second, fourth and fifth paragraphs. That’s okay.

But, you don’t want your whole essay to be based on a narrow range of sources. You want your marker to see that you have consulted multiple sources to get a wide range of information on the topic. Your marker wants to know that you’ve seen a range of different opinions when coming to your conclusions.

When you get to the end of your essay, check to see how many sources are listed in the end-text reference list. A good rule of thumb is 1 source listed in the reference list per 150 words. Here’s how that breaks down by essay size:

• 1500 word essay: 10 sources (or more) listed in the reference list
• 2000 word essay: 13 sources (or more) listed in the reference list
• 3000 word essay: 20 sources (or more) listed in the reference list
• 5000 word essay: 33 sources (or more) listed in the reference list

8. Instantly improve your Reference List with these Three Tips

Here’s two things you can do to instantly improve your reference list. It takes less than 20 seconds and gives your reference list a strong professional finish:

a) Ensure the font size and style are the same

You will usually find that your whole reference list ends up being in different font sizes and styles. This is because you tend to copy and paste the titles and names in the citations from other sources. If you submit the reference list with font sizes and styles that are not the same as the rest of the essay, the piece looks really unprofessional.

So, quickly highlight the whole reference list and change its font to the same font size and style as the rest of your essay. The screencast at the end of Step 8 walks you through this if you need a hand!

b) List your sources in alphabetical order.

Nearly every referencing style insists that references be listed in alphabetical order. It’s a simple thing to do before submitting and makes the piece look far more professional.

If you’re using Microsoft Word, simply highlight your whole reference list and click the A>Z button in the toolbar. If you can’t see it, you need to be under the ‘home’ tab (circled below):

You’ve probably never heard of a hanging indent. It’s a style where the second line of the reference list is indented further from the left-hand side of the page than the first line. It’s a strategy that’s usually used in reference lists provided in professional publications.

If you use the hanging indent, your reference list will look far more professional.

Here’s a quick video of me doing it for you:

9. Do one special edit especially for Referencing Style

The top students edit their essays three to five times spaced out over a week or more before submitting. One of those edits should be specifically for ensuring your reference list adheres to the referencing style that your teacher requires.

To do this, I recommend you get that cheat sheet printout that I mentioned in Step 1 and have it by your side while you read through the piece. Pay special attention to the use of commas, capital letters, brackets and page numbers for all citations. Also pay attention to the reference list: correct formatting of the reference list can be the difference between getting the top mark in the class and the fifth mark in the class. At the higher end of the marking range, things get competitive and formatting of the reference list counts.

A Quick Summary of the 9 Top Strategies…

Follow the rules of your referencing style guide (and that cheat sheet I recommended!) and use the top 9 tips above to improve your referencing and get top marks. Not only will your referencing look more professional, you’ll probably increase the quality of the content of your piece as well when you follow these tips!

Here’s a final summary of the 9 top tips:

Strategies for How to Reference in an Essay (9 Strategies of Top Students)

• Print out your Reference Style Cheat Sheet
• Only cite Experts
• Always use Google Scholar
• Cite at least 50% sources you found on your Own Research
• Cite Newer Sources
• Reference twice per Paragraph
• The sum total of your sources should be minimum 1 per 150 words
• Instantly improve your Reference List with these Three Tips
• Do one special edit especially for Referencing Style

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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How to reference in a university essay

Knowing how to reference correctly in your university essays is very important. Doing it wrong, or not at all, could affect the grade you are given. Here's how to get your referencing right...

We all know referencing isn’t the most exciting thing on the planet but it’s easy to do once you know how and can also make a difference to the grades you’re getting on your essays.

Here are our tips on referencing to make sure you nail it every time!

Referencing styles

There are many different styles of referencing such as Harvard, Chicago, APA etc. so you want to make sure you’re using the right style as some courses or universities may differ.

Whilst there are useful websites such as Cite This For me and tools on Microsoft Word itself which can pretty much do all the work for you, it’s still good to know how to do it yourself and use resources like these to double check afterwards. These tools are useful, but often don't get it totally right. You can find guidance on how to cite in the correct style online, or you may be able to buy a handbook for your referencing style that explains all the nuances.

How to reference in an essay

Any time you mention the work of someone else – whether this is a direct quote or if you’re rewording a theory of theirs –  you need to reference!

Most essays you write will usually end up being knowledge built up from other authors or theorists and so citations in your work are absolutely necessary. When mentioning the work of others throughout your essay, your citation will usually be the source and date it was published in brackets somewhere in the sentence. Depending on the style of referencing, you may also have to include page numbers too.

For example:

“…..transgressive performances of gender (Baym 2015)" – Harvard Style

“Where there is power there is resistance” (Foucault 95) – APA Style

Your actual list of references at the end of your essay needs to correspond to the citations you have in your essay. To make this easier and ensure you haven’t forgotten any, always do your references as you go along.

A Harvard Style reference may look something like this:

“Baym, N. (2015) Personal Connections in the Digital Age. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Polity Press”

Referencing is not only useful to your readers if they are left wanting more information about the topic you’ve written about, it also shows that you have done some wider reading and have actually understood what you have read.

As well as giving readers other related texts to explore and proving your own understanding of the discussions around your topic, referencing properly also prevents you from getting into trouble for plagiarism. While unis won't expel you for making a small referencing error, presenting someone else's ideas and words as your own is against the code of conduct for students and can lead to disciplinary action. And yes – that includes the use of AI-written text. Universities use plagiarism software to detect unattributed quotes or ideas, and there are now also softwares that can detect AI-produced work, so make sure you've correctly referenced and all your work is actually your ow n to avoid getting in trouble.

Finally, here's a quick checklist of everything your citations and reference lists should include (this list will vary depending on the referencing style you're using):

• Name of the author, usually formatted as Last name, First name or Last name, First initial
• Date of publication
• Title of the text, if you have used a journal then you need the title of the journal itself along with the page numbers as well as the title of the individual essay
• If you have cited a website then you need to include the URL in your reference list along with the date you accessed it
• If you have cited a book then the place of publication and publisher should be included

Happy referencing!

- More advice for coping with uni life

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How to Write an Academic Essay with References and Citations

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Written by  Scribendi

If you're wondering how to write an academic essay with references, look no further. In this article, we'll discuss how to use in-text citations and references, including how to cite a website, how to cite a book, and how to cite a Tweet, according to various style guides.

You might need to cite sources when writing a paper that references other sources. For example, when writing an essay, you may use information from other works, such as books, articles, or websites. You must then inform readers where this information came from. Failure to do so, even accidentally, is plagiarism—passing off another person's work as your own.

You can avoid plagiarism and show readers where to find information by using citations and references. 

Citations tell readers where a piece of information came from. They take the form of footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical elements, depending on your style guide. In-text citations are usually placed at the end of a sentence containing the relevant information. 

A reference list , bibliography, or works cited list at the end of a text provides additional details about these cited sources. This list includes enough publication information allowing readers to look up these sources themselves.

Referencing is important for more than simply avoiding plagiarism. Referring to a trustworthy source shows that the information is reliable. Referring to reliable information can also support your major points and back up your argument. 

Learning how to write an academic essay with references and how to use in-text citations will allow you to cite authors who have made similar arguments. This helps show that your argument is objective and not entirely based on personal biases.

How Do You Determine Which Style Guide to Use?

Often, a professor will assign a style guide. The purpose of a style guide is to provide writers with formatting instructions. If your professor has not assigned a style guide, they should still be able to recommend one. 

If you are entirely free to choose, pick one that aligns with your field (for example, APA is frequently used for scientific writing). 

Some of the most common style guides are as follows:

AP style for journalism

Chicago style for publishing

APA style for scholarly writing (commonly used in scientific fields)

MLA style for scholarly citations (commonly used in English literature fields)

Some journals have their own style guides, so if you plan to publish, check which guide your target journal uses. You can do this by locating your target journal's website and searching for author guidelines.

How Do You Pick Your Sources?

When learning how to write an academic essay with references, you must identify reliable sources that support your argument. 

As you read, think critically and evaluate sources for:

Objectivity

Keep detailed notes on the sources so that you can easily find them again, if needed.

Tip: Record these notes in the format of your style guide—your reference list will then be ready to go.

How to Use In-Text Citations in MLA

An in-text citation in MLA includes the author's last name and the relevant page number: 

(Author 123)

How to Cite a Website in MLA

Here's how to cite a website in MLA:

Author's last name, First name. "Title of page."

Website. Website Publisher, date. Web. Date

retrieved. <URL>

With information from a real website, this looks like:

Morris, Nancy. "How to Cite a Tweet in APA,

Chicago, and MLA." Scribendi. Scribendi

Inc., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2021.

<https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/how_to_cite_a_website.en.html>

How Do You Cite a Tweet in MLA ?

MLA uses the full text of a short Tweet (under 140 characters) as its title. Longer Tweets can be shortened using ellipses. 

MLA Tweet references should be formatted as follows:

@twitterhandle (Author Name). "Text of Tweet." Twitter, Date Month, Year, time of

publication, URL.

With information from an actual Tweet, this looks like:

@neiltyson (Neil deGrasse Tyson). "You can't use reason to convince anyone out of an

argument that they didn't use reason to get into." Twitter, 29 Sept. 2020, 10:15 p.m.,

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1311127369785192449 .

How to Cite a Book in MLA

Here's how to cite a book in MLA:

Author's last name, First name. Book Title. Publisher, Year.

With publication information from a real book, this looks like:

Montgomery, L.M. Rainbow Valley. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1919.

How to Cite a Chapter in a Book in MLA

Author's last name, First name. "Title of Chapter." Book Title , edited by Editor Name,

Publisher, Year, pp. page range.

With publication information from an actual book, this looks like:

Ezell, Margaret J.M. "The Social Author: Manuscript Culture, Writers, and Readers." The

Broadview Reader in Book History , edited by Michelle Levy and Tom Mole, Broadview

Press, 2015,pp. 375–394.

How to  Cite a Paraphrase in MLA

You can cite a paraphrase in MLA exactly the same way as you would cite a direct quotation. 

Make sure to include the author's name (either in the text or in the parenthetical citation) and the relevant page number.

How to Use In-Text Citations in APA

In APA, in-text citations include the author's last name and the year of publication; a page number is included only if a direct quotation is used: 

(Author, 2021, p. 123)

How to Cite a Website in APA

Here's how to cite a website in APA:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year, Month. date of publication). Title of page. https://URL

Morris, N. (n.d.). How to cite a Tweet in APA, Chicago, and MLA. 

https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/how_to_cite_a_website.en.html       

Tip: Learn more about how to write an academic essay with  references to websites .

How Do You  Cite a Tweet in APA ?

APA refers to Tweets using their first 20 words. 

Tweet references should be formatted as follows:

Author, A. A. [@twitterhandle). (Year, Month. date of publication). First 20 words of the

Tweet. [Tweet] Twitter. URL

When we input information from a real Tweet, this looks like:

deGrasse Tyson, N. [@neiltyson]. (2020, Sept. 29). You can't use reason to convince anyone

out of an argument that they didn't use reason to get into. [Tweet] Twitter.

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1311127369785192449

How to Cite a Book in APA

Here's how to cite a book in APA:   

Author, A. A. (Year). Book title. Publisher.

For a real book, this looks like:

Montgomery, L. M. (1919). Rainbow valley.

Frederick A. Stokes Company.

How to Cite a Chapter in a Book in APA

Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor Name (Ed.), Book Title (pp. page range).

With information from a real book, this looks like:

Ezell, M. J. M. (2014). The social author: Manuscript culture, writers, and readers. In

Michelle Levy and Tom Mole (Eds.), The Broadview Reader in Book History (pp. 375–

394). Broadview Press.

Knowing how to cite a book and how to cite a chapter in a book correctly will take you a long way in creating an effective reference list.

How to Cite a Paraphrase in APA

You can cite a paraphrase in APA the same way as you would cite a direct quotation, including the author's name and year of publication. 

In APA, you may also choose to pinpoint the page from which the information is taken.

Referencing is an essential part of academic integrity. Learning how to write an academic essay with references and how to use in-text citations shows readers that you did your research and helps them locate your sources.

Learning how to cite a website, how to cite a book, and how to cite a paraphrase can also help you avoid plagiarism —an academic offense with serious consequences for your education or professional reputation.

Scribendi can help format your citations or review your whole paper with our Academic Editing services .

Take Your Essay from Good to Great

Hire an expert academic editor , or get a free sample, about the author.

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing transformed into a great one. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained numerous degrees. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

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"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

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How to reference at university level

What is referencing here we explain everything you’ll need to know about how to correctly reference your work at university .

Grace McCabe

Whatever subject you are studying, you will need to include references any time you use ideas or quotes from previous research and books in your essays, papers, reports or assignments.

What is referencing?

Referencing is when we include where we got our sources in our writing. By including references, you can support your ideas and ensure you don’t plagiarise (claim someone else’s idea or words as your own).

There are lots of referencing styles, but most include:

- A citation referring to the source of the text or idea  - A reference list or bibliography with the full details of all sources 

Why do we reference our work? 

- To give the original author credit when using their ideas  - Validate your points  - Allow the reader to follow up on sources  - Allow the reader to see how recent the sources are  - Prove that you have read up about the subject  - Avoid committing plagiarism 

What is plagiarism? 

Plagiarism is the copying of ideas and presenting them as your own, either directly or indirectly. This can include copying and pasting text or images without saying where they are from, not marking a quotation or summarising without including the original source. So, make sure you always include the original author. 

Plagiarism is an academic offence and universities will not take it lightly if you have been found to plagiarise your work. If you are found plagiarising work at university, you will probably be failed, receive a warning and may even be removed from your course.  

Most universities ask for a signed declaration from students to confirm all work is their own and will scan your submissions using anti-plagiarism software. 

What are the referencing styles used at university? 

There are many different referencing styles, and your university and tutors will confirm which style they want you to use. It can vary across faculties so make sure you know which style is preferred for your chosen subjects. 

Common referencing styles include: 

- Harvard style  - Modern Language Association (MLA)  - American Psychological Association (APA)  - Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA)  - Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)  - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)  - American Medical Association (AMA)  - Chicago/Turabian style  - Vancouver style 

Tempted to pay for your essays? Tips for writing a convincing thesis How to make a good impression on your university tutor

Which referencing style should I use? 

Your university will have a referencing style guide for all students that gives examples of how they want you to reference your sources. However, if you are given the choice, many find Harvard style the most straightforward and easy to use.

Harvard style is most common in the UK, MHRA is used in humanities, APA style is used in social sciences, Vancouver is often used in biomedicine and OSCOLA is used for referencing in law. 

How do I use in-text citations? 

If you use quotes, paraphrase other’s comments or refer to other people’s points of view, you need to include an in-text citation. Quotes need to be shown using quotation marks to show that it is a direct copy of someone else’s words.

In a similar way, paraphrasing, where you rephrase the original source, still needs a citation but does not need quotation marks. The format of your in-text citation will change depending on what style of referencing you must use.

For example, in Harvard referencing you will write the quote followed by (author’s surname, date of publication) in brackets.

How do I write a bibliography or list of references? 

The bibliography is where you include all the information related to any sources you have cited throughout your essay, project or assignment. Some referencing styles such as OSCOLA or Chicago style don’t require a bibliography at the end of the piece because they have full source information included in the footnotes throughout, therefore the information has already been provided. 

Most of the time these lists are formatted alphabetically by the author’s last name and will include information about the source so others can refer to it if they wish.  Sometimes you need to include sources that you read but may have not used in your final piece, depending on the style of referencing you choose. 

These lists are an excellent way to stay organised because you can add your sources as you are reading and studying and then you will have a great source to refer to once you start working on your assignment. 

An example of a bibliography entry in the Harvard style would be: 

Author’s last name, first initial(s) (year of publication) name of book/source, edition, company and location 

Are there tools to help me reference sources? 

There are some sites and tools that can help when it comes to referencing. Often universities will make it clear whether you are allowed to use these tools and which ones they would recommend for their students.  

Universities will also provide guides to referencing.  

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Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right)

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There are different versions of the Harvard referencing style. This guide is a quick introduction to the commonly-used Cite Them Right version. You will find further guidance available through the OU Library on the Cite Them Right Database .

For help and support with referencing and the full Cite Them Right guide, have a look at the Library’s page on referencing and plagiarism . If you need guidance referencing OU module material you can check out which sections of Cite Them Right are recommended when referencing physical and online module material .

This guide does not apply to OU Law undergraduate students . If you are studying a module beginning with W1xx, W2xx or W3xx, you should refer to the Quick guide to Cite Them Right referencing for Law modules .

Table of contents

In-text citations and full references.

• Secondary referencing
• Page numbers
• Citing multiple sources published in the same year by the same author

Full reference examples

Referencing consists of two elements:

• in-text citations, which are inserted in the body of your text and are included in the word count. An in-text citation gives the author(s) and publication date of a source you are referring to. If the publication date is not given, the phrase 'no date' is used instead of a date. If using direct quotations or you refer to a specific section in the source you also need the page number/s if available, or paragraph number for web pages.
• full references, which are given in alphabetical order in reference list at the end of your work and are not included in the word count. Full references give full bibliographical information for all the sources you have referred to in the body of your text.

To see a reference list and intext citations check out this example assignment on Cite Them Right .

Difference between reference list and bibliography

a reference list only includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text

a bibliography includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text AND sources that were part of your background reading that you did not use in your assignment

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Examples of in-text citations

You need to include an in-text citation wherever you quote or paraphrase from a source. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. There are a number of ways of incorporating in-text citations into your work - some examples are provided below. Alternatively you can see examples of setting out in-text citations in Cite Them Right .

Note: When referencing a chapter of an edited book, your in-text citation should give the author(s) of the chapter.

Online module materials

(Includes written online module activities, audio-visual material such as online tutorials, recordings or videos).

When referencing material from module websites, the date of publication is the year you started studying the module.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

OR, if there is no named author:

The Open University (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Rietdorf, K. and Bootman, M. (2022) 'Topic 3: Rare diseases'. S290: Investigating human health and disease . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1967195 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

The Open University (2022) ‘3.1 The purposes of childhood and youth research’. EK313: Issues in research with children and young people . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1949633&section=1.3 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

You can also use this template to reference videos and audio that are hosted on your module website:

The Open University (2022) ‘Video 2.7 An example of a Frith-Happé animation’. SK298: Brain, mind and mental health . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=2013014&section=4.9.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

The Open University (2022) ‘Audio 2 Interview with Richard Sorabji (Part 2)’. A113: Revolutions . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1960941&section=5.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

Note: if a complete journal article has been uploaded to a module website, or if you have seen an article referred to on the website and then accessed the original version, reference the original journal article, and do not mention the module materials. If only an extract from an article is included in your module materials that you want to reference, you should use secondary referencing, with the module materials as the 'cited in' source, as described above.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of message', Title of discussion board , in Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Fitzpatrick, M. (2022) ‘A215 - presentation of TMAs', Tutor group discussion & Workbook activities , in A215: Creative writing . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=4209566 (Accessed: 24 January 2022).

Note: When an ebook looks like a printed book, with publication details and pagination, reference as a printed book.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title . Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

For ebooks that do not contain print publication details

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

Example with one author:

Bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project . Maidenhead: Open University Press.

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

Example with two or three authors:

Goddard, J. and Barrett, S. (2015) The health needs of young people leaving care . Norwich: University of East Anglia, School of Social Work and Psychosocial Studies.

Example with four or more authors:

Young, H.D. et al. (2015) Sears and Zemansky's university physics . San Francisco, CA: Addison-Wesley.

Note: You can choose one or other method to reference four or more authors (unless your School requires you to name all authors in your reference list) and your approach should be consistent.

Note: Books that have an editor, or editors, where each chapter is written by a different author or authors.

Surname of chapter author, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of chapter or section', in Initial. Surname of book editor (ed.) Title of book . Place of publication: publisher, Page reference.

Franklin, A.W. (2012) 'Management of the problem', in S.M. Smith (ed.) The maltreatment of children . Lancaster: MTP, pp. 83–95.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference.

If accessed online:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference. Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326.

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326. Available at: https://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/log... (Accessed: 27 January 2023).

Barke, M. and Mowl, G. (2016) 'Málaga – a failed resort of the early twentieth century?', Journal of Tourism History , 2(3), pp. 187–212. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2010.523145

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

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Mansell, W. and Bloom, A. (2012) ‘£10,000 carrot to tempt physics experts’, The Guardian , 20 June, p. 5.

Roberts, D. and Ackerman, S. (2013) 'US draft resolution allows Obama 90 days for military action against Syria', The Guardian , 4 September. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/syria-strikes-draft-resolut... (Accessed: 9 September 2015).

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

Organisation (Year that the page was last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Robinson, J. (2007) Social variation across the UK . Available at: https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/social-variation... (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

The British Psychological Society (2018) Code of Ethics and Conduct . Available at: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct (Accessed: 22 March 2019).

Note: Cite Them Right Online offers guidance for referencing webpages that do not include authors' names and dates. However, be extra vigilant about the suitability of such webpages.

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

Kitton, J. (2013) Golden sunset . Available at: https://www.jameskittophotography.co.uk/photo_8692150.html (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

stanitsa_dance (2021) Cossack dance ensemble . Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/COI_slphWJ_/ (Accessed: 13 June 2023).

Note: If no title can be found then replace it with a short description.

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How to Reference Essays

Last Updated: January 8, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA . Alexander Peterman is a Private Tutor in Florida. He received his MA in Education from the University of Florida in 2017. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 365,783 times.

When you begin writing a research essay, you must take into account the format of your writing and reference pages. There are several reference styles that may be assigned to you, including MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago. Each one has its own set of rules. There's no need to familiarize yourself with all 3 unless you have to, but you do need to learn at least one if you’re in any field involving academic writing. Here are summaries of each style to help you start your essay on the right track.

Referencing Essays Templates

• You will need a citation directly after every sentence (or group of sentences if you're citing the same source in multiple consecutive sentences) containing information you didn't think of yourself. These include: paraphrases, facts, statistics, quotes, and examples.
• An in-text citation using MLA will simply have the author last name (or title if no author) followed by the page number. No comma between author and page number. For example: (Richards 456) Richards is the author last name, and 456 is the page number.
• If you have an author name (or title, if no author) but no page number, simply use author last name (or title).

• The easiest way to keep track of MLA citations while doing research is to copy and paste copyright information into a word processing document as you go, or to write it down in a notebook.
• Things to include for any source are author(s), date published, publisher, page number, volume and issue number, website, date accessed, anything that appears on the copyright page or indicates how to find it again. [2] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• As an example, the format for a standard book citation using MLA style is as follows: Last name of author, First name. Title of Book. City published: Publisher Name, Year published. Source Medium.
• An MLA website citation looks like the following. If there's no author listed, begin citation with the name of the page: Last name, first name. "Page Title." Website Title. Publisher. Date published. Source Medium. Date accessed.
• An MLA scholarly article citation looks like the following: Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal . Volume.Issue (Year): page numbers. Source Medium.
• Write the title of the main work (book, magazine, journal, website, etc.) in italics, or underline if you’re writing references by hand.
• Chapter or article titles should be in quotation marks.

• If there is no author listed, as is common on websites, simply skip the author’s name and begin the entry with the title of the work.
• Alphabetize by the first letter that appears in the entry, whether it has an author name or not.

• The formatting should be in Times New Roman font, size 12, with “Works Cited” centered at the top of a new page.
• Each entry should have hanging indent, meaning all lines below the first line are indented by half an inch.
• Make sure there is a period after each section of the citations. A period should always end the citation.

• Place a parenthetical citation at the end of every sentence (or group of sentences if you're using the same source for multiple consecutive sentences) containing information you didn't know before doing research.
• An in-text citation using APA will simply have the author last name (or title if no author) followed by the year it was published. No comma between name and year. For example: (Richards 2005) Richards is the author last name, and 2005 is the year.
• If you have an author name (or title if no author) but no page number, simply use author last name (or title). This is common when citing websites.
• APA document formatting is very important. APA papers are divided up into 4 sections: the title page, the abstract, the main body, and the references page. The citations of a research paper using APA appear in the References section, the last portion of an APA document. [7] X Research source

• To form APA reference page citations, you will need such information as author name(s), date published, website URL, date you accessed the website, title of work, and so on. [8] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• For example, the format for an APA reference of a scholarly journal article is as follows: Author last name, First initial. (Year published). Article or chapter title. Journal or book title, Issue number , page number range. [10] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• The format for an APA book reference looks like: Last name, First name. (Year.) Title of Book: Capital letter also for subtitle . Location: Publisher.
• The format for an APA website reference looks like: Author, A.A. First name, & Author, B.B. (Date published.) Title of article. In Title of webpage or larger document or book (chapter or section number). Retrieved from URL address

• Capitalize the author's last name and first initial, followed by a period.
• Only capitalize the first word of a journal article title, unless the title contains a proper noun (called sentence case). Titles of books should preserve the published capitalization.
• Capitalize the city of publication, and use correct state abbreviations for states. Also capitalize the name of the publisher and end the reference with a period.
• The title of larger works, whether a book, journal, website, or magazine, is in italics (or underlined if handwriting), as is the issue number that appears right after the title. Titles for shorter works like articles and chapters should not have any indicative punctuation in an APA entry. [12] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• A period should end all citations.

Using Chicago Manual of Style

• For Notes and Bibliography, you will use a superscript at the instance of each quote in the text with a corresponding footnote at the end of the page. All footnotes are compiled into endnotes at the end of the work, on the bibliography page. [14] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• For Author Date, you will use parenthetical in-text citations that include author last name and year published, using no punctuation between name and year. The full version of each parenthetical citation is listed alphabetically on the references page. For example: (Simon 2011) Simon is the author last name, and 2011 is the year.
• You will need a citation directly after every sentence (or group of sentences if you're using the same source for multiple consecutive sentences) containing information you didn't think of yourself. These include: paraphrases, facts, statistics, quotes, and examples.

• If using a book, write down all pertinent information found on the copyright page, including the name of the publisher and the city and year of publication.
• For other sources, look for this information near the title of the piece you’re looking at. Publication date is often at the bottom of webpages.

• Title your references page “Bibliography” centered at the top of the page. Leave 2 blank lines between this title and the first entry, and one blank line between entries.
• Notes and Bibliography style uses footnotes for page endings and endnotes for chapter endings. The bibliography page will be an alphabetized list of all sources in hanging indent.
• An example format for a book is as follows: Last name, First name. Book Title . City: Publisher, Year.
• An example format for a chapter in a print scholarly journal is as follows: Author last name, first name. "Title of Chapter or Article." Book or journal Title Issue Number (Year): Page number range. (For an online scholarly journal article, tack on the following at the end: Date accessed. URL address.)
• When there is no known author, the entry should begin with the title of the document, whether it's a webpage, chapter, article, and so on.
• When there are multiple authors, the first listed author appears last name, first name, so that the citation is alphabetized by this author's last name. Subsequent authors are listed by first name, like this: Alcott, Louisa May, Charles Dickens, and Elizabeth Gaskell.
• Always end a citation with a period.

• When using Author Date style, title your references page “References” centered at the top of the page. Leave 2 blank lines between this title and the first entry, and 1 blank line between entries.
• Author Date style bibliographies should be organized alphabetically by last name (or by title if no author) in hanging indent.
• An example format for a book is as follows: Last name, first name. Year. Book Title . City Published: Publisher.
• An example format for a chapter in a print scholarly journal is as follows: Author last name, first name. Year. "Title of Chapter or Article." Book or journal title issue number: page numbers. (for an online scholarly journal article tack this onto the end: Date accessed. URL address.)
• An example format for a website is as follows: Name of Website. Year. "Page Title." Date last modified. Date accessed. URL address.

Expert Q&A

• You don't have to write each bibliography or reference entry on your own. You can download citation management software like Endnote [17] X Research source (purchase required on this one), Zotero [18] X Research source (it's free), or use websites like http://www.bibme.org/ and http://www.easybib.com/ . Select the name of your style manual before you begin creating citations. Copy and paste the citation into your bibliography or references list. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you are assigned to write a paper or other written document in one of these styles, you need to purchase the style manual. It will contain nearly every instance not only of source citation, but paper formatting as well as grammar and punctuation that is unique to that style. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• This article only lists how to cite research for each style manual. Each style has its own instructions for setting up the format of the essay, including heading, spacing, margins, font, and so on. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa/reference-list
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
• ↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html
• ↑ http://guides.nyu.edu/c.php?g=276562&p=1844734
• ↑ http://endnote.com
• ↑ https://www.zotero.org

About This Article

To reference an essay using MLA style, add a citation after any information you found through a source, like facts or quotes. When citing the reference, include the author’s name and the page number you pulled the information from in parenthesis, like “(Richards 456).” Once you’ve finished your essay, add a Words Cited page with all of the information you used to research your essay, like books or articles. To create a Works Cited page, list the sources in alphabetical order using the author’s last name, and include additional information, like year published and the medium. For more tips from our Writing reviewer, like how to reference an essay using APA style, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Rules for referencing and citation

Why  reference essays.

Referencing your work properly is one of the most important ways that you can establish the authority of your ideas, and allows you to situate your own ideas and arguments in relation to those of other scholars.

Referencing is also an important way of acknowledging your debts to other scholars. Properly referencing your work is one of the best ways of avoiding plagiarism.

You can find out more about referencing by browsing the university's  academic integrity pages

How to reference essays

The English department requires that you reference your essays in accordance with either the Chicago Manual of Style or the MLA Style guide.

The university produces handy guides to these referencing systems, which you should consult:

For instructions how to reference a wide variety of different sources, consult the examples collected in the university's academic integrity site:

This article is available to download for free as a PDF for use as a personal learning tool or for use in the classroom as a teaching resource.

Department of English and Related Literature University of York , York , YO10 5DD , UK Tel: work +44 (0) 1904 323366 | [email protected]

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Reference Your Essay

Referencing is a system that allows you to acknowledge the contributions and work of others in your writing by citing your sources. A feature of academic writing is that it contains references to the words, information and ideas of others.

All academic essays MUST contain references. Referencing guards against plagiarism , a serious academic offence. Plagiarism is copying someone else's words or ideas and presenting them as your own.

Make sure you are familiar with the referencing style your faculty or school requires. Most have guides specifying the system they prefer. Often Schools/Faculties don't mind which system you use as long as it is consistent . If this is the case, use the system you are most comfortable with.

Reference lists

Remember to list all the books and articles you use for the essay in a Reference List. This is a list of all works cited in your essay and should be the final page.

Next step: Editing your essay

Essay and assignment writing guide.

• Getting started
• Research the topic
• Organise your ideas
• Write your essay
• Reference your essay
• Edit your essay
• Hand in your essay
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• Reflective writing
• ^ More support

Study Hacks Workshops | All the hacks you need! 7 Feb – 10 Apr 2024

Writing Better University Essays/Referencing

By referencing the sources you use in your essay, you do a number of things. First of all, you comply with an academic convention. Secondly, you make your essay look more professional. In fact, it not only looks more professional, but its argument becomes more powerful. Thirdly, you allow others to check your sources. This is often only a hypothetical issue, but a look through the list of your references will allow others to judge your argument quickly. Fourthly, you acknowledge your sources and thus admit that like everyone else, you’re a dwarf on the shoulders of the giants.

The essential bits of referencing require you to provide enough information to others so that they can identify the source. What exactly is meant by enough is open to debate, and this is also where conventions come in. Essential is that you do provide references. Ideally, you would do so properly. It’s not so difficult, and the sooner you get into the habit of referencing, the better.

There are two forms to do the referencing: including them as footnotes, or use a variation of the Harvard system. Your institution may have a preference, or even a house style. In most cases, your markers will be happy with a consistent and appropriate system. The Harvard system is also known as author/date, and will be described here in more detail.

• 1 Inside the Text
• 2 At the End
• 3 Problem Cases
• 4 Plagiarism
• 5 Citations and Quotations
• 6 When to Put the References

Inside the Text [ edit | edit source ]

Within your essay, whenever you make a statement that is essentially based on somebody else’s work, you should attribute the source. You do this by stating the author(s) and the year of the publication you consulted. Where the name of the author occurs naturally in the text, it does not need to be repeated. The references are usually included at the end of a sentence, or where inappropriate in a place where the text flow is not interrupted too much, such as in front of a comma. This may be necessary, for example, if only the first half of your sentence is based on someone else’s work.

The name of the author is included in brackets, together with the year of publication. Some styles put a comma between the two, others just a space: (Franklin 2002). Where there are two authors, both names are included: (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). Some styles prefer the word and , others prefer the ampersand (& symbol). Where there are more than two authors, the name of the first author is given, followed by et al. (which literally means and others ): (Almeder et al. , 2001). Some styles put et al. into italics, others don’t.

If you have two or more references for the same argument, you should separate the references with a semicolon (; symbol): (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Steinberg, 1999). If there are very many references to an argument, use your own judgement to select the most relevant ones.

What should you reference? Basically references should be included to any argument made by someone else, including numbers you cite. However, statements of general nature need not be attributed to anyone. A statement that the sky is blue alone does not require a reference. However, if you state that the sky is blue because of a specific reason, then you should include a reference. If you use the exact words of an author (quotation), you’ll need to give the number of the page where you copy from. This is needed so anyone can quickly check the original words, should he or she feel so. See the separate section on quotes.

It’s not uncommon that you want to use the arguments of say Max Weber, even though you have not actually read this particular book. Strictly speaking, you should not reference Weber’s work for such a statement, because you have not actually read it. Can you really be sure this is what Weber said or meant? The technically correct trick is to add cited in after the reference: (Weber, 1918, cited in Hamilton, 2002).

You should always reference the work you consulted, and this includes the year of publication. Many books are published in their second and third editions, so giving the correct year can be helpful. Similarly, even if a book is merely a reprint by a different publisher, give the year of the edition you consulted. The page numbers may differ. If it’s just a second print of the exact same book, use the original date. Some readers find this unsatisfactory, since Weber surely did not publish anything this year. The convention to circumvent this issue is to give both years: the year of the original publication, together with the one of the work you consulted. Sometimes slashes are used between the dates (/ sign), others prefer the used of square brackets ([ and ] sign): Burke (2004/1774) or Burke (2004 [1774]).

Another small issue occurs where an author published more than one book or article in a single year, and you want to cite more than one of them. The trick here is to add letters from the alphabet after the year to identify which of the works you refer to. Use the letter a for the first of your references, the letter b for the second and so on: (McManus, 1994a) and (McManus, 1994b) are two different works.

To sum it up, inside the text, you give the family name of the author, followed by the year of the publication. Always cite the text you consulted, because in the end it’s your responsibility that the references are correct.

At the End [ edit | edit source ]

At the end of your essay you should include a list of references. Such a list of references provides more details than just the name of the author and the year of publication. It’s this list that allows identifying the work cited. Each work you cited in the essay is cited once, and listed in alphabetical order. Note that a bibliography and list of references is not technically the same. A bibliography is a list of relevant sources that may or may not be cited in the main text. References are the sources you cited, even if they are rather trivial. Use the heading references for your references.

For books, you put the family name of the author(s) and their initials, followed by the year of publication in brackets, the title in italics, the place of publication, and finally the name of the publisher. If there are editors, give their names instead of the authors’. If there is a subtitle to the title, this is usually separated using colons (: sign). Where there are more than four authors, it’s common to use et al. after the first three, but some styles insist on citing all authors. Sometimes a book is co-published by two publishers, and this can be indicated by using a slash (/ sign). Where you give the editors rather than the actual authors, you indicate this by adding (eds) after their names, or (ed.) if there is only one. The title is capitalized. For example:

Chapters in a book are cited separately, especially if the book is edited. You give the family name of the author and his or her initial, the year, the name of the chapter in single speech marks (‘ and ’ sign; not capitalized), followed by the word in , and the name and year of the editor(s). If you cite only one chapter, you can give the whole reference at the end; otherwise it’s enough to give the name and year of the editor. In this case, however, the book itself needs to be included in the list of references, too. For example:

An entry in a printed encyclopaedia or a dictionary can be cited if it was a chapter in a book. The editors are often given on the front of the reference book. For example:

Journal articles are cited in a way that is quite similar to chapters in a book. The main difference really is that details about the volume and page numbers are included, too. The reference starts with the name and initial of the author, the year in brackets, the title of the article in single speech marks (not capitalized), followed by the name of the journal in italics (capitalized), and further details. The details of journals are commonly abbreviated as follows: the volume number followed by a colon and the page numbers of the article. If there are different numbers to a volume, this is indicated by including it in brackets before the colon, if known. Online journals may not have page numbers. For example:

Pages on the internet should be cited where used. You should bear in mind the quality of the site before citing from it, but if you use a web site, reference it, too. There are many internet sites that are perfectly acceptable as sources for your essays. The reference includes the name of the author and initial, the year in brackets, the title of the document in italics, the word online in square brackets, the place of publication, the publisher, the words available from : followed by the URL, and the date when the document was accessed in brackets. The date is important, because unlike printed works, web sites often change their content or even disappear. Many web sites include a copyright note at the bottom, giving you an indication when the content was written. For example:

Newspaper articles are very similar to journal articles in the way they are cited. The key difference is that rather than the volume, the date is given. The reference therefore includes the name and initial of the author, the year of publication in brackets, the title in single speech marks, the name of the newspaper in italics (capitalized), the date, and finally the page where the article was found. For one page it’s customary to use the abbreviation p. , for articles running over two or more pages, the abbreviation pp. is common. For example:

Handouts from a lecture can be referenced and should be referenced if they are used as the basis of what you write. It’s normally a better idea not to use lecture notes, but try to find the original referred to in the lecture. Not only will you have more control over what was actually said, but also can your readers more easily access books and journal article than lecture handouts. The reference to a lecture handout includes the name and initial of the lecturer, the year in bracket, the title of the handout in single speech marks, the words lecture notes distributed in followed by the name of the course in italics, the word at and the name of your institution, the place, and date of the lecture. For example:

Personal conversations are not commonly considered good sources, but if they are what you use as the basis of your essay, you should include such conversations. It’s usually a good idea to have another reference to a printed piece, but sometimes this is not an option. In terms of giving the reference, personal conversations are very easy: the name of the person you spoke to, the year in brackets, the words conversation with the author and the date of the conversation. For example:

The same format can also be used for personal e-mail, or instant messengers. Once again, bear in mind the credibility of your sources. With e-mail messages it’s customary to include the e-mail address of the sender in brackets after the name, but it’s essential that you obtain consent from the author. The subject line of the e-mail is often included as the title. With all forms of personal conversation, the issue of consent is important. It’s always a very good idea to check with the author first.

Problem Cases [ edit | edit source ]

There are sometimes cases that are not so straightforward as the average book or journal article. For everything there is a solution in the academic conventions. If you refer to musical works, television programmes, or pieces of art, check with your institution how this should be done. If everything else fails, remember the function of referencing, and provide a reasonable amount of information for others to chase the work. Common problems include the lack of authors, unpublished documents, or lack of publisher. Where there is no author, often there is an organization. Put the name of the organization. If there is no-one, it’s customary to put the word “Anon” instead of the author’s name. For example:

Sometimes the year of a document is not known. Where you have a rough idea, you can put a c before the date, such as in (c.1999). Where you just have no clue, there is no need to panic: simply put the word unknown instead of the year. Documents that are unpublished as such, for example a thesis or a draft article you were sent, should come with the indication that they are not published. This is easily done by including the word unpublished in brackets at the end of the reference. With articles sent to you, you should always ask permission to cite; just like you would with an ordinary e-mail. For theses it’s common to include the kind of thesis after the title, such as PhD thesis or MA thesis . Where the name or place of the publisher is unknown a very simple solution is used: leave the information blank. This is particularly an issue with internet sites. Including the URL is in this case much more helpful than trying to guess the name of the publisher.

Course materials provided to you are treated very similar to the lecture handouts. Give the name of the author, the year in brackets, the course code if there is one, the course title in italics (capitalized), the kind of material and its title in single speech marks, place of publication, and publisher. For example:

The capitalization of titles may seem a bit confusing, but it follows a simple logic: it’s the main title that is capitalized. In the case of a book, the main title is that of the book. In the case of journal articles, on the other hand, the main title is thought to be that of the journal itself. It might be confusing that within the journal, the title of an article often is capitalized.

Capitalization is not very hard to achieve. Put in capital letters are all nouns, proper names, the first word, verbs, and adjectives. This is in fact almost everything. Not put in capital letters are words like and , in , or , or with . Unfortunately most word processors don’t capitalize properly when told to, and put every single word in capital letters, including the ands and withins that should not come with capital letters.

Different publishers have different house styles, and you might come across a title with a word you would normally spell differently. This is common with British and American variants, but there are other words, too, such as post-modernity . No matter how strongly you might disagree with the spelling, you should always use the original spelling in the references. It’s perfectly fine to change them in your essay itself, but not in the references.

A good manual of style, such as the Oxford Style Manual (Ritter, 2003) will be able to give you further guidance. Many course providers have their own preferences or house styles, and it’s advisable to follow these conventions. Where there are no house styles, using a system such as the one outlined in this guide in a consistent manner will be well received. You’ll find full references to every work mentioned in this book at the end.

Plagiarism [ edit | edit source ]

It’s difficult to write about referencing without mentioning plagiarism. Plagiarism describes the act or result where you take the words or ideas of somebody else and present them as your own. Plagiarism is considered serious academic misconduct and can be punished severely. Most importantly, however, your reputation is on the line.

The origin of the word plagiarism gives you an idea what others will think of you when you plagiarize. The word goes back to the Latin plagiārius , a thief and kidnapper—in particular a child snatcher and somebody abducting slaves. The modern use in academia brands you a literary thief (OED, 2005).

There are a number of reasons why plagiarism occurs. The worst case is deliberate plagiarism (for whatever reason). Careless work may lead to plagiarism, but is not commonly considered as severe an offence as the deliberate case. Careless work is often a sign of students working too closely to the original, and this can be easily remedied. Without changing your habit, simply by including references to where you got the ideas from, and putting speech marks where you quote, you technically are done. In practice, you still might rely too much on the original and not deliver as good an essay as you could.

Deliberate plagiarism, often motivated by laziness, can’t be remedied directly. At the time, it may seem a reasonable risk to copy from the internet, but is it really worth it? Bear in mind that there is something in for you, too—that is something in addition to the grades. The more you write, the easier it gets.

If you work too closely to the original, there is a simple solution: don’t write the essay with the books in front of you. By so doing, there is very little danger that you copy word by word. In a way, you force yourself to make the material your own: and that is a good thing—it makes a better argument, your essay will be more original, and not least, you’ll also get better grades. Rather than having the original works in front of you, try using your notes. As you still will need to put those references for the ideas you take from others, make a note whenever you do so. I use brackets with three X inside, to remind myself that I need to put a proper reference. Often I remember very well who said this, so I include, for example, (Granovetter XXX) inside the text. When checking the essay, it’s hard not to notice the triple X; and there is always the search facility in the word processor. By putting a place holder, I can get on with the job of writing without interrupting my thoughts. Equally important, I leave some traces indicating to myself that there is some more work to be done: finding the proper reference, for example.

If you think plagiarism is hard to detect by your marker, think again. There are a great number of signs that give plagiarized work away. Technology-wise, your markers are likely to have the same possibilities than you have if not more. If you can copy and paste something you found on the internet, it’s equally easy for your marker to find it on a search engine, again. It would, of course, be possible, to change plagiarized work to the extent that the deed is no longer easy to spot. Usually, however, this is just as much work as writing the essay yourself.

Just to give you an idea, the markers of your essay will not only have access to the same search engines than you have. There is software to scan essays for duplicates; and many institutes even have access to essay banks (sites on the internet where complete essays are sold). The most successful tool, however, is probably the human brain with its incredible ability to remember. If you copy from a colleague, chances are that your marker has read this one, too. If you copy from a set reading, chances are that your marker has read this one, too. Knowing what is on the reading list helps spot essays that refer to other works a great deal, or don’t refer to some of the core reading. Your marker can estimate how many readings you had time to read, or whether you’re likely to have read a great number of papers on the Belgian perspective of whatever issues is set in the question. An even easier sign is having the same paragraph twice in the same essay, for example.

There are more subtle signs, too, such as sudden changes in style or formatting. Many people are unaware of how idiosyncratic one’s writing style is. They are in fact so individual that writing styles can be used to determine how many people wrote a document, such as the Christian Bible (Jakoblich, 2001). Writing style includes the tenses we use, the level of formality, our own choice of words, the kinds of metaphors we put, whether we use American or British English, choices over punctuation, the length of sentences, or the use of specialist terms. Typographic signs include font size, choices of where to break paragraphs, spaces in between lines, and things like proper m- and n-dashes (when copying from electronic articles).

The presence or lack of references is often an easy sign: for example, where there are many references inside the text, but few at the end, or where the citation style changes within a single essay. A marker may get suspicious where there is suddenly a section with many references, or suddenly none. Sometimes, students even include hyperlinks in references when copying from electronic journals; and have them automatically underlined by the word processor.

Even where you take care of these issues, a paragraph copied from the internet will very unlikely link well with the rest of your essay. The style may be inappropriate, or just different. Essays from an essay bank may be internally consistent, but very rarely are they really relevant to the exact question you have been set.

In summary, you can avoid plagiarism easily. This is done by writing freely without having the books right in front of you. Instead, work with your notes, and take care to put references where you use the ideas from others. Don’t use the internet to copy from, no matter how tempting it is. It will hardly ever be worth it.

Citations and Quotations [ edit | edit source ]

There is an important difference between citations and quotations. Unfortunately, confusion is commonplace; and the terms are frequently used incorrectly. Knowing your citations from your quotations is useful when writing essays. It’s essential, in fact, if you want to reference properly.

Citations are about ideas you take from others. Quotations are about the exact words used by others. This is really the whole distinction. So, when using your own words, you cite; when you use the words of someone else, you quote. “Why can’t a man be more like a woman?” (Blankenhorn, 1995, p.117) is a quotation, because I use the exact same words Blankenhorn did. However, when stating that families in the US are increasingly defined by the absence of a father (Blankenhorn, 1995), I only use the idea, not the exact words.

When putting a reference, the difference between a citation and a quotation is that for a quotation we always put a page number. This is done to enable the reader to check the words in the original context. In the list of references at the end of the text, there is no difference.

Short quotations are included in the text, and enclosed by speech marks. Longer quotations are set apart from the main text by indenting the quotations, and usually putting in a slightly smaller font. Longer means about 3 to 4 lines or more. For example:

When quoting someone else, you should take great care to copy the words exactly. Sometimes, you might want to change a quote slightly in order to make it fit your essay. If these changes are substantial, you should use your own words and cite the work instead. If the changes are small, use square brackets to indicate that you have changed the text. For example, you might quote Rawls (1999, p.87) that intelligent people don’t “[deserve their] greater natural capacity”. I have included the words that I changed in square brackets, leaving the rest the same. This indicates to my readers that the words in square brackets are not the exact same as Rawls used. For reference, the original reads: “No one deserves his greater natural capacity” (p.87). I made the changes, because I wrote about intelligent people, and Rawls was talking in more general terms.

Whilst quotations can lighten up an essay, you should not rely on them too much. Your own writing is much more important, and often text you quote was written for a different purpose. The consequence is that the quotations may be relevant in content (what is being said), but in terms of style don’t fit well with what you wrote. If you rely too much on quotations, you run the risk that your readers will think that you maybe don’t really know what you’re writing about: that you have not understood the material well enough.

When to Put the References [ edit | edit source ]

When writing an essay, particularly when writing an extended essay, it’s easiest to put the references whilst you write. This is the case, because you still know where you got the idea from. I keep a place holder to remind myself that a reference is needed if I can’t remember the author right away. Often, I will know at least some of it, and write this down. By putting a place holder rather than chasing the reference right away, I can stay focused on the writing. However, I also indicate that the essay is not completed. Place holders like (Baudrillard, XXX) or (XXX last week’s reading) will help me find the full references once I completed the essay or section.

References are needed whenever you write an academic piece of writing. Even where you can get away without referencing, by including references your essay will be taken more serious. It’s a good habit to put references all the time, so when you really need to—such as in your thesis—you’ll not struggle, or spend days trying to find out how to reference a chapter in a book.

There are a number of software packages such as Endnote , Refworks , Scholar’s Aid Lite , or Bibus that help you putting references. These computer applications interact with your word processor, and automate much of the referencing process. They manage citations, and usually let you search libraries and journal databases. Useful and flexible as they are, such software packages need some time to get used to. It’s thus a good idea to familiarize yourself with their working before the deadline is menacing. For example, make sure you know how to put page numbers for quotations.

Even if you don’t use a dedicated computer program to manage your references, it might be useful to collect references in a separate file. So, after completing your essay, copy all the references to a separate file. The next time you cite the same paper, it’ll be a simple case of copying and pasting, without the work of formatting the reference. Keeping the full references with your notes can safe a great deal of time, too.

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• Referencing

A Quick Guide to Referencing | Cite Your Sources Correctly

Referencing means acknowledging the sources you have used in your writing. Including references helps you support your claims and ensures that you avoid plagiarism .

There are many referencing styles, but they usually consist of two things:

• A citation wherever you refer to a source in your text.
• A reference list or bibliography at the end listing full details of all your sources.

The most common method of referencing in UK universities is Harvard style , which uses author-date citations in the text. Our free Harvard Reference Generator automatically creates accurate references in this style.

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Table of contents

Referencing styles, citing your sources with in-text citations, creating your reference list or bibliography, harvard referencing examples, frequently asked questions about referencing.

Each referencing style has different rules for presenting source information. For in-text citations, some use footnotes or endnotes , while others include the author’s surname and date of publication in brackets in the text.

The reference list or bibliography is presented differently in each style, with different rules for things like capitalisation, italics, and quotation marks in references.

Your university will usually tell you which referencing style to use; they may even have their own unique style. Always follow your university’s guidelines, and ask your tutor if you are unsure. The most common styles are summarised below.

Harvard referencing, the most commonly used style at UK universities, uses author–date in-text citations corresponding to an alphabetical bibliography or reference list at the end.

Harvard Referencing Guide

Vancouver referencing, used in biomedicine and other sciences, uses reference numbers in the text corresponding to a numbered reference list at the end.

Vancouver Referencing Guide

APA referencing, used in the social and behavioural sciences, uses author–date in-text citations corresponding to an alphabetical reference list at the end.

APA Referencing Guide APA Reference Generator

MHRA referencing, used in the humanities, uses footnotes in the text with source information, in addition to an alphabetised bibliography at the end.

MHRA Referencing Guide

OSCOLA referencing, used in law, uses footnotes in the text with source information, and an alphabetical bibliography at the end in longer texts.

OSCOLA Referencing Guide

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In-text citations should be used whenever you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source (e.g. a book, article, image, website, or video).

Quoting and paraphrasing

Quoting is when you directly copy some text from a source and enclose it in quotation marks to indicate that it is not your own writing.

Paraphrasing is when you rephrase the original source into your own words. In this case, you don’t use quotation marks, but you still need to include a citation.

In most referencing styles, page numbers are included when you’re quoting or paraphrasing a particular passage. If you are referring to the text as a whole, no page number is needed.

In-text citations

In-text citations are quick references to your sources. In Harvard referencing, you use the author’s surname and the date of publication in brackets.

Up to three authors are included in a Harvard in-text citation. If the source has more than three authors, include the first author followed by ‘ et al. ‘

The point of these citations is to direct your reader to the alphabetised reference list, where you give full information about each source. For example, to find the source cited above, the reader would look under ‘J’ in your reference list to find the title and publication details of the source.

Placement of in-text citations

In-text citations should be placed directly after the quotation or information they refer to, usually before a comma or full stop. If a sentence is supported by multiple sources, you can combine them in one set of brackets, separated by a semicolon.

If you mention the author’s name in the text already, you don’t include it in the citation, and you can place the citation immediately after the name.

• Another researcher warns that the results of this method are ‘inconsistent’ (Singh, 2018, p. 13) .
• Previous research has frequently illustrated the pitfalls of this method (Singh, 2018; Jones, 2016) .
• Singh (2018, p. 13) warns that the results of this method are ‘inconsistent’.

The terms ‘bibliography’ and ‘reference list’ are sometimes used interchangeably. Both refer to a list that contains full information on all the sources cited in your text. Sometimes ‘bibliography’ is used to mean a more extensive list, also containing sources that you consulted but did not cite in the text.

A reference list or bibliography is usually mandatory, since in-text citations typically don’t provide full source information. For styles that already include full source information in footnotes (e.g. OSCOLA and Chicago Style ), the bibliography is optional, although your university may still require you to include one.

Format of the reference list

Reference lists are usually alphabetised by authors’ last names. Each entry in the list appears on a new line, and a hanging indent is applied if an entry extends onto multiple lines.

Different source information is included for different source types. Each style provides detailed guidelines for exactly what information should be included and how it should be presented.

Below are some examples of reference list entries for common source types in Harvard style.

• Chapter of a book
• Journal article

Your university should tell you which referencing style to follow. If you’re unsure, check with a supervisor. Commonly used styles include:

• Harvard referencing , the most commonly used style in UK universities.
• MHRA , used in humanities subjects.
• APA , used in the social sciences.
• Vancouver , used in biomedicine.
• OSCOLA , used in law.

Your university may have its own referencing style guide.

If you are allowed to choose which style to follow, we recommend Harvard referencing, as it is a straightforward and widely used style.

References should be included in your text whenever you use words, ideas, or information from a source. A source can be anything from a book or journal article to a website or YouTube video.

If you don’t acknowledge your sources, you can get in trouble for plagiarism .

To avoid plagiarism , always include a reference when you use words, ideas or information from a source. This shows that you are not trying to pass the work of others off as your own.

You must also properly quote or paraphrase the source. If you’re not sure whether you’ve done this correctly, you can use the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker to find and correct any mistakes.

Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

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For information on how to reference this website for non-academic purposes, see the SkillsYouNeed referencing guide .

Citing and referencing information can be daunting for students who do not understand the principles.

There are numerous ways to reference. Different institutions, departments or lecturers may require different styles so check with your teacher, lecturer or instructor if you are unsure.

Bad referencing is a common way for students to lose marks in assignments so it is worth taking the time and effort to learn how to reference correctly.

Why Do We Cite and Reference?

When writing any academic essay, paper, report or assignment, you need to highlight your use of other author's ideas and words so that you:

• Give the original author credit for their own ideas and work
• Validate your arguments
• Enable the reader to follow up on the original work if they wish to
• Enable the reader to see how dated the information might be
• Prove to your tutors/lecturers that you have read around the subject
• Avoid plagiarism

Referencing Styles

There are many different styles of referencing, including Harvard, APA (from the American Psychological Association), Chicago and Vancouver. The Harvard referencing system is of the most popular styles and the remainder of this article deals with this system. However, your university may prefer the use of a different system so check with your lecturer or in your course information as to which referencing style to use.

What is Plagiarism?

• Presenting another's ideas as if they are your own – either directly or indirectly
• Copying or pasting text and images without saying where they came from
• Not showing when a quote is a quote
• Summarising information without showing the original source
• Changing a few words in a section of text without acknowledging the original author

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence.  You are likely to be awarded 0% for an assignment which has evidence of plagiarism. If you continue to plagiarise then you may be excluded from your course.

Most universities will want a signed declaration with submitted work to say that you have not plagiarised. 

Universities use anti-plagiarism software to quickly find plagiarised work. This software usually draws on huge databases of web sources, books, journals and all previously submitted student work to compare your work to so you will be found out.

Therefore, if you plagiarise, you are likely to be caught so don't take the risk and reference properly.

Be Organised

When writing an essay, report, dissertation or other piece of academic work, the key to referencing is organisation. As you go along, keep notes of the books and journal articles you have read and the websites you have visited as part of your research process.

There are various tools to help here. Your university may be able to provide you with some specialist software (Endnote – www.endnote.com ) or you can simply keep a list in a document or try Zotero ( www.zotero.org ) a free plugin for the Firefox browser.

What Needs to be Recorded?

Record as much information as possible in references to make finding the original work simple.

Include the author/s name/s where possible. You should write the surname (last name) first followed by any initials.  If there are more than three authors then you can cite the first author and use the abbreviation 'et al', meaning 'and all'.

For one, two or three authors: Jones A, Davies B, Jenkins C

For more than three authors Jones A et al.

For some sources, especially websites, the name of the author may not be known. In such cases either use the organisation name or the title of the document or webpage.

Example:  SkillsYouNeed or What Are Interpersonal Skills.

Date of Publication

You should include the year of publication or a more specific date if appropriate, for journal or newspaper articles/stories. For webpages look for the when the page was last updated. Include dates in brackets (2020) after author information. If no date can be established, then put (no date).

Title of Piece

Include the title of the piece; this could be the name of the book, the title of a journal article or webpage. Titles are usually written in italics . For books you should also include the edition (if not the first) to make finding information easier. Often when books are republished information remains broadly the same but may be reordered, therefore page numbers may change between editions.

Publisher Information

Usually only relevant for books, but for these you should include the publisher name and place of publication.

Page Numbers

If you are referencing a particular part of a book, then you should include the page number/s you have used in your work. Use p. 123 to indicate page 123 or pp. 123-125 to indicate multiple pages.

URL and Date Accessed

For webpages you need to include the full URL of the page (http://www... etc.) and the date you last accessed the page. The web is not static and webpages can be changed/updated/removed at any time, so it is therefore important to record when you found the information you are referencing.

Once you have recorded the information, you have everything you need in order to reference correctly. Your work should be both referenced in the text and include a reference list or bibliography at the end. The in text reference is an abbreviated version of the full reference in your reference list.

Direct Quotes

If you are directly quoting in your text you should enclose the quote in quotation marks, and include author information:

"Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place to another." SkillsYouNeed (2019)

For longer direct quotations it may be neater to indent the quotation in its own paragraph.

Your reference list should then include the full version of the reference:

SkillsYouNeed (2022) What is Communication? [online] available at www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/what-is-communication.html (Accessed October 14 2022)

For a book you would use, in your text:

“Long before the twelfth century rhetoricians had collected quotations, particularly from classical authors, into anthologies called florilegia…” (Clanchy, M.T, 1993)

The reference list would then include the full reference:

Clanchy, M.T. (1993) From Memory to Written Record England 1066 – 1307 Oxford, Blackwell, p. 115

The same rules also apply when you are referencing indirectly and you have not included a direct quote. If you have used the ideas of another source, reference both in your text at the relevant point and in your reference list or bibliography at the end of your document.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide for Students

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Our eBooks are ideal for students at all stages of education, school, college and university. They are full of easy-to-follow practical information that will help you to learn more effectively and get better grades.

Additional Information

When quoting you may sometimes want to leave out some words , in which case use … (three dots).

"Communication is … transferring information from one place to another"

If you need to add words to a quote for clarity, then square brackets are used:

“Communication is simply the act [in communication skills] of transferring information from one place to another.”

You can use [sic] to note an original error and/or foreign spelling , SkillsYouNeed is a UK site and therefore uses UK spellings:

"The color [sic] of the water..."

Continue to: Common Mistakes in Writing Sources of Information

See Also: Note-Taking for Reading What is Theory? | Writing an Essay | Punctuation

• Schools & departments

Referencing and citations

Advice and resources to support you with referencing and citations, and avoiding plagiarism.

At university you are expected to read and research, and then use the ideas, information, data and a range of other sources in your own academic work and assignments. However, it is important to make absolutely clear where each idea or piece of information comes from by referencing it (giving your sources) in your own work.

What is referencing? (PDF)

What is referencing? (Word rtf)

When done properly, reference adds credibility and strength to your arguments, as well as demonstrating the effort that you have put into research and reading. There is more information on using your reading and developing your argument in the Reading at university and Academic writing pages.

Reading at university

Academic Writing

Different subjects and disciplines use different referencing styles (or systems). You may even find that different assignments on a course use different styles, depending on the format of the assignment. The different styles, e.g. Harvard, Chicago, OSCOLA, look very different. But when and why you need to reference does not change. There is further information on Different styles in the Go further section of this page.

You need to make sure you know how you are being expected to do this and you should refer to your course, assignment, or programme information provided by your School about what style you are expected to use. If you are unsure, you need to ask someone who teaches you.

Citations vs references

In your work, you need to explicitly indicate and acknowledge when you have used or referred to someone else’s idea or data etc. However, if you were to include the full reference (or bibliographic details) of your evidence, it would disrupt the flow of your argument.

Instead, it is academic convention to give an abbreviated version of the reference details at the point it is being discussed. This is known as a citation or in-text citing. The citation should make an explicit link between the point being presented or discussed, and the evidence you are using.

A reference is the full bibliographic or publication details of a citation. Whilst the in-text citation tells your audience that there is evidence to support your point, the reference gives them all the information they would need to find that evidence and review it themselves. You may cite the same source several times in your argument, however it only needs one reference as it is the same source each time.

Typically, the references of all your citations are collated at the end of a piece of work. Depending on your discipline and the style you are using this may be called a reference list (or works cited ), or a bibliography . Everything you’ve cited in your work must be included in the references or bibliography. However, in some subjects, a bibliography may also include other sources which you have consulted but have not cited in your work. You need to check the information provided by your course or School about what is required.

Tips for accurate referencing (PDF)

Tips for accurate referencing (Word rtf)

Most word processing software has a citation or referencing function so you do not necessarily have to format them all yourself. However you will still need to check that the software has done it properly and in the style that is required. You should be able to find instructions on how to do this for your software in the Help section or by searching online.

It is your responsibility to ensure the accuracy and adequacy of your citations and references. You need to make sure that your citations unambiguously link to the correct reference. You also need to make sure that you have citations everywhere they are needed. If you forget or miss a citation, then the impression you are giving is that the work is your own, when it is in fact someone else’s.

This is called plagiarism and is a form of academic misconduct. Typically plagiarism is due to unintentional, inadequate referencing, but it can also be deliberate.

What is plagiarism? (PDF)

What is plagiarism? (Word rtf)

You should also read the University of Edinburgh’s official guidance and policy on plagiarism:

Academic Services – Plagiarism

The Good academic practice page has additional information and guidance on what’s expected, academic misconduct and support.

Good academic practice

Different styles

The way a reference is abbreviated into a citation, and the format of the bibliographic details at the end of your work differ, depending which style (or system) you are using. Styles generally fall into two categories and relate to what the in-text citation looks like:

• Author-date e.g. APA, Harvard,
• Numeric e.g. Chicago notes and bibliography (NB) format, OSCOLA and Vancouver.

Some styles also include footnotes, which have a distinct purpose and format depending on the style. Be sure to check course or assignment information on if and how to use footnotes.

Information Services provide access to Cite Them Right online, which offers guidance and examples of how to cite and reference different sources (e.g. journal articles, books, web pages) in different styles. If you are not on the University network, you may need to login in via your institution for full access.

Cite Them Right

Reference managers

Once you are accustomed to referencing (including when you need to do it and what it needs to look like), you could start to use a reference manager. Reference management software can automatically format citations and build a reference list or bibliography for you. They can also allow you to store, annotate and groups references in your own personal database. The Academic Support Librarians have put together a Referencing and reference management subject guide with information on the different tools and training available.

Referencing and reference management

IOE Writing Centre

Referencing FAQs

As Hyland (1999) describes, referencing is central to academic writing.

"Reference to previous work is virtually mandatory in academic articles [...] as a strategy for supporting current claims" (Hyland, 1999, p. 362).

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is the purpose of referencing? When do I need a reference? What if I use paraphrasing? Are there other reasons to reference? What about my own ideas? How much referencing do I need? What if I use an author who is mentioned by another author? What if I can't find a reference for the exact point I want to make? How do I do it correctly?

What is the purpose of referencing?

The simplest way to think of referencing is to imagine that your reader might want to find out more about a piece of information, or check the facts for themselves. Your reference shows them  where to look .

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When do I need a reference?

It is important to provide correct references for  any information  which you give in your essay.  Information could include ideas, facts, phrases, or anything else.

This means that you need to  include references for all information , even if it is from something which you do not consider 'academic', such as an unregulated website.  (Technically, it is probably best to avoid these sources of information anyway).

What if I use paraphrasing?

You need to provide a reference  whether or not  you are using the exact words.  Even if you change the words, someone might want to find out more about the information you are referring to.

If you use the same words as the original, you need to use quotation marks around this section, followed by the reference.  If you do not use the same words, you do not need the quotation marks, you only need the reference itself.  Make sure you include a list of references at the end of your essay. See the referencing guidelines for how to do all of this.

Further reading: Beginner's Guide to Paraphrasing

Are there other reasons to reference?

Referencing makes your point  more convincing .  Your reference shows that this information has been published somewhere, and you did not just make it up.  If it is an opinion, your reference shows that other people writing in this area also share your opinion, which makes the opinion  more interesting  for your academic reader.

What about my own ideas?

Sometimes you might want to think of your opinion as unique. It might be a coincidence that someone else thought of the same idea as you. Even if it is a coincidence, and you thought of the opinion by yourself, putting a reference to someone who also thought this way makes your opinion seem  more valid  to the academic community, as it is not simply one person's idea. Sometimes, it might be the case that you are the first person to have thought of an idea.  If that is the case, you need to show how your idea is different from another person's idea.   In all of these situations, you still need references!

Further reading: Beginner's Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism

How much referencing do I need?

It is a good idea to have a reference for every claim you make, if possible. Do not worry about using referencing too often. As a general rule, it is better to use the references too often than not enough. This does not refer to the number of different authors/texts, but the frequency of citing those authors. It should be high-frequency overall.

You may have been given some advice not to use too many references. This advice means you don't need to have a long list of authors that you didn't read properly. Instead, it is better to use fewer texts, but read them in more detail.

You may follow the examples on this site, or you may use a slightly different format. The most important aspect is to be consistent and use the same format for all your references.

What if I use an author who is mentioned by another author?

In this situation, you need to use 'cited in'. It is often useful to describe the secondary quotation a little more, and show how it fits in with the first author. Here is an example. The writer had read Gray et al (2011) but wanted to mention another reference they used.

Example: Secondary citation

To further support their argument , Gray et al (2011:866) summarise a number of other studies which reported positive evaluations of coaching by coachees , including statistics such as "participants estimated return on investment of 5.7 times the initial cost" (McGovern et al, 2001, cited in Gray et al, 2011:866). Studies such as these appear to indicate that coaching can be worthwhile for the individual and the organisation.

Source: Anonymous UCL Institute of Education student (2013)

In this example, only Gray et al (2011) will appear in the reference list at the end of the assignment, as this is the only one that the student has read as a primary source.

What if I can't find a reference for the exact point I want to make?

You can often say that something is similar to an author's point, or connected to an author's point. You can even say that something contradicts an author's point. Using a reference doesn't only mean showing exactly where the information came from. It can also mean showing how information is connected to something that is published. It could also mean showing how an author's statement may be applied in a different context.

Here is an example of something similar to this:

Example: Using a reference to show connections

As some of Bion's (1961) work has shown , groups can be particularly resistant to learning, preferring (if we can speak of a group as having a "preference") to preserve itself. As learning often means movement and change, it can be resisted by a group. Whether or not an 'organisation' can be considered equivalent to a 'group' in this context is outside the scope of this discussion, but insights such as those from Bion's work have been applied very usefully to analyses of the way that organisations may function in particularly conservative ways (see, for example, Armstrong, 2005). It can be useful to remember this when working with various staff members within an organisation.

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How do I do it correctly?

Please refer to the links in the left hand menu for guidance.

Further reading: Reference Effectively and Avoid Plagiarism

IOE Writing Centre Online

Self-access resources from the Academic Writing Centre at the UCL Institute of Education.

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Information for Staff

Academic Writing Centre

Academic Writing Centre, UCL Institute of Education Room 602, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL [email protected] Twitter:   @AWC_IOE Skype:   awc.ioe

Understanding How, When and Why to Reference

Learn how to acknowledge your sources of information

It is important that you acknowledge your sources of information in your academic writing. This allows you to clearly show how the ideas of others have influenced your own work. You should provide a citation (and matching reference) in your essay every time you use words, ideas or information from other sources.  If you would like to learn how, when and why to reference by watching a video, you can do so on Capstone Editing's YouTube channel .

Why reference?

Not referencing correctly can be perceived as plagiarism. It is expected and required at the university level that all your assignments will contain references. Otherwise, you are saying that the essay is made up entirely of your own original ideas, and that you have not engaged critically in any way with the literature. A passing grade requires that you use a minimum number of references (check your assignment marking criteria or ask your lecturer), and a good grade requires many more references than this. The purpose of referencing is to demonstrate the depth and breadth of your research, to show that you have read and engaged with the ideas of experts in your field. It also allows you to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words or ideas. For your reader, referencing allows them to trace the sources of information you have used and to verify the validity of your work. For this reason, your referencing must be accurate and provide all necessary details to allow your reader to locate the source. It is therefore a good idea to keep careful records of all the sources you accessed when researching your assignment. This way, you do not have to hunt for these details after you have finished writing.  

How to incorporate the ideas of others into your essay

It can be difficult for new academic writers to know how to incorporate others’ work into their own writing. By learning how to use quotations effectively, and how to summarise and paraphrase the words and ideas of others, you can better avoid unintentional plagiarism. 

A quotation is a word-for-word reproduction of someone else’s words, either spoken or written. When quoting from another source, you must: 

• Exception: For long quotations (e.g. over 40 words in APA or over 30 words in Harvard), indent the quotation instead of using quotation marks. The quotation should be introduced by a colon and followed by a citation. 
• Use quotation marks even if only borrowing a single phrase or word from another source. 
• Exception: If the source does not have numbered pages (e.g. a website, an interview), no page number is needed. However, if there is some other way of pointing to the specific location from which the quotation was taken (e.g. paragraph number, clause number, line in transcript), include that in the citation. 

Quotations should be logically integrated into your text. One way to do this is to lead into the quotation or paraphrase by using the author’s name (e.g. ‘According to Lines,’) followed by the quotation from Lines or a summary of Lines’s ideas. 

Quotations must fit grammatically into your text. It is allowable to modify quotations slightly to ensure a good fit. However, it is essential that these changes are clearly marked using square brackets ([ ]). It is also possible to omit words from a quotation, shown using an ellipsis (…). Note that if you omit words, you must be sure that the original meaning of the quotation is retained. You should never omit words to change the meaning of a quotation. 

The below examples show ways to integrate the original quotation ‘Most of the time, they don’t, and I mean really don’t, behave well’, showing changes to 1) the verb and 2) a pronoun. Notice the use of the square brackets to show your modifications to the quotation, and the ellipsis to show omitted words. 

• The teacher reported that the children were not ‘behav[ing] well’.
• According to the teacher, ‘Most of the time, [the children] don’t … behave well’. 

Finally, you should avoid using quotations that have not been adequately introduced. If a quotation is inserted without appropriate integration into your text, this can negatively affect the logical and grammatical flow of your work, and lower the quality of your writing. Not introducing quotations or incorporating them into your own sentences usually also means you are relying too heavily on the words of others, and your grades can suffer as a result.

Summarising and paraphrasing

Another option for integrating others’ ideas into your own assignments is by summarising and paraphrasing. Summarising means giving an overview of the main ideas in condensed form. Paraphrasing means putting an idea (usually in detail) into your own words.  

To summarise or paraphrase well, you need to read carefully and understand the ideas in the source. Then, you can think about what those ideas mean in the context of your assignment and write them in your own words, integrating them well into your own writing. If you take sentences completely from the original source and just change a few words, this is not paraphrasing, and may be considered plagiarism. 

For some students, the temptation to use a source’s original wording is high. To avoid this, after reading and understanding the author’s ideas, write just the keywords on a separate piece of paper. See if you can change some of the keywords to other words, while keeping the original meaning. Then, think about whether you can reorganise the order of the keywords, to write sentences that keep the original meaning, but that are quite different to the original. Using your keywords, and without referring to the original source, write your new sentences. It takes a while at first, but the process becomes automatic with practice. 

The importance of writing in your own words

Putting others’ work into your own words will not only ensure the material is effectively integrated into your writing, it also demonstrates to your reader (e.g. your lecturer) that you have understood, absorbed and interpreted the information. This is a key purpose of essay writing at university and will help you to get a better grade. In addition, the better you get at putting complex ideas into your own words, the more developed your writing style will become. 

Acknowledge every source

Remember that the need to reference is not limited to academic sources like books and journal articles. You need to reference ALL words, ideas or information taken from ANY source. 

These sources might include: 

• books and journal articles
• newspapers and magazines
• pamphlets or brochures
• films, documentaries, television programs or advertisements
• computer programs
• diagrams, illustrations, charts or pictures
• letters or emails
• personal interviews
• lecturers or tutors. (This is not always necessary, but check with your lecturer or tutor about his or her preferences before you draw on his or her ideas.)

Note that if the source you are citing is retrievable (i.e. can be located by another person using the information you provide in the reference list), you must provide a reference for the source. However, if the source is only available to you (e.g. a personal interview or email, or a private Facebook post), you should cite all necessary details in the text, but should not provide a reference in the reference list. ONLY irretrievable sources are not included in the reference list, and even these are still cited in the text. 

The only times you would not reference are:

• when referring to your own observations (e.g. a report on a field trip) or experiment results
• when writing about your own experiences (e.g. a reflective journal)
• when writing your own thoughts, comments or conclusions in an assignment
• when evaluating or offering your own analysis (e.g. parts of a critical review)
• when using ‘common knowledge’ (facts that can be found in numerous places and are likely to be known by a lot of people) or folklore
• when using generally accepted facts or information (this will vary in different disciplines of study. If in doubt, ask your tutor).

If you are concerned that you may not have referenced correctly, you should ask your tutor, lecturer or Academic Learning Advisor for their advice before submitting your assignment. Capstone Editing can also edit your work to correct your referencing and provide advice about how to reference correctly in the future.   

Other guides you may be interested in

Essay writing: everything you need to know and nothing you don&rsquo;t&mdash;part 1: how to begin.

This guide will explain everything you need to know about how to organise, research and write an argumentative essay.

Essay Writing Part 2: How to Organise Your Research

Organising your research effectively is a crucial and often overlooked step to successful essay writing.

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Rockhampton

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Essay and dissertation writing skills

Planning your essay

Writing your introduction

Structuring your essay

• Writing essays in science subjects
• Brief video guides to support essay planning and writing
• Writing extended essays and dissertations
• Planning your dissertation writing time

Structuring your dissertation

• Top tips for writing longer pieces of work

Advice on planning and writing essays and dissertations

University essays differ from school essays in that they are less concerned with what you know and more concerned with how you construct an argument to answer the question. This means that the starting point for writing a strong essay is to first unpick the question and to then use this to plan your essay before you start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

A really good starting point for you are these short, downloadable Tips for Successful Essay Writing and Answering the Question resources. Both resources will help you to plan your essay, as well as giving you guidance on how to distinguish between different sorts of essay questions. 

You may find it helpful to watch this seven-minute video on six tips for essay writing which outlines how to interpret essay questions, as well as giving advice on planning and structuring your writing:

Different disciplines will have different expectations for essay structure and you should always refer to your Faculty or Department student handbook or course Canvas site for more specific guidance.

However, broadly speaking, all essays share the following features:

Essays need an introduction to establish and focus the parameters of the discussion that will follow. You may find it helpful to divide the introduction into areas to demonstrate your breadth and engagement with the essay question. You might define specific terms in the introduction to show your engagement with the essay question; for example, ‘This is a large topic which has been variously discussed by many scientists and commentators. The principle tension is between the views of X and Y who define the main issues as…’ Breadth might be demonstrated by showing the range of viewpoints from which the essay question could be considered; for example, ‘A variety of factors including economic, social and political, influence A and B. This essay will focus on the social and economic aspects, with particular emphasis on…..’

Watch this two-minute video to learn more about how to plan and structure an introduction:

The main body of the essay should elaborate on the issues raised in the introduction and develop an argument(s) that answers the question. It should consist of a number of self-contained paragraphs each of which makes a specific point and provides some form of evidence to support the argument being made. Remember that a clear argument requires that each paragraph explicitly relates back to the essay question or the developing argument.

• Conclusion: An essay should end with a conclusion that reiterates the argument in light of the evidence you have provided; you shouldn’t use the conclusion to introduce new information.
• References: You need to include references to the materials you’ve used to write your essay. These might be in the form of footnotes, in-text citations, or a bibliography at the end. Different systems exist for citing references and different disciplines will use various approaches to citation. Ask your tutor which method(s) you should be using for your essay and also consult your Department or Faculty webpages for specific guidance in your discipline. 

Essay writing in science subjects

If you are writing an essay for a science subject you may need to consider additional areas, such as how to present data or diagrams. This five-minute video gives you some advice on how to approach your reading list, planning which information to include in your answer and how to write for your scientific audience – the video is available here:

A PDF providing further guidance on writing science essays for tutorials is available to download.

Short videos to support your essay writing skills

There are many other resources at Oxford that can help support your essay writing skills and if you are short on time, the Oxford Study Skills Centre has produced a number of short (2-minute) videos covering different aspects of essay writing, including:

• Approaching different types of essay questions  
• Structuring your essay  
• Writing an introduction  
• Making use of evidence in your essay writing  
• Writing your conclusion

Extended essays and dissertations

Longer pieces of writing like extended essays and dissertations may seem like quite a challenge from your regular essay writing. The important point is to start with a plan and to focus on what the question is asking. A PDF providing further guidance on planning Humanities and Social Science dissertations is available to download.

Planning your time effectively

Try not to leave the writing until close to your deadline, instead start as soon as you have some ideas to put down onto paper. Your early drafts may never end up in the final work, but the work of committing your ideas to paper helps to formulate not only your ideas, but the method of structuring your writing to read well and conclude firmly.

Although many students and tutors will say that the introduction is often written last, it is a good idea to begin to think about what will go into it early on. For example, the first draft of your introduction should set out your argument, the information you have, and your methods, and it should give a structure to the chapters and sections you will write. Your introduction will probably change as time goes on but it will stand as a guide to your entire extended essay or dissertation and it will help you to keep focused.

The structure of  extended essays or dissertations will vary depending on the question and discipline, but may include some or all of the following:

• The background information to - and context for - your research. This often takes the form of a literature review.
• Explanation of the focus of your work.
• Explanation of the value of this work to scholarship on the topic.
• List of the aims and objectives of the work and also the issues which will not be covered because they are outside its scope.

The main body of your extended essay or dissertation will probably include your methodology, the results of research, and your argument(s) based on your findings.

The conclusion is to summarise the value your research has added to the topic, and any further lines of research you would undertake given more time or resources. 

Tips on writing longer pieces of work

Approaching each chapter of a dissertation as a shorter essay can make the task of writing a dissertation seem less overwhelming. Each chapter will have an introduction, a main body where the argument is developed and substantiated with evidence, and a conclusion to tie things together. Unlike in a regular essay, chapter conclusions may also introduce the chapter that will follow, indicating how the chapters are connected to one another and how the argument will develop through your dissertation.

For further guidance, watch this two-minute video on writing longer pieces of work . 

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Referencing

In academic work, when you refer to an idea or information provided by someone else you should always reference the publication in which it appears. This page tells you when, why and how to do so.

4 reasons to reference

Referencing is an essential part of academic writing for several reasons. Here are four of the most important:

• It shows that you have consulted and are familiar with the relevant research
• It ensures you have given due credit to the creators of ideas and information
• It enables your readers to consult the works you have referenced
• It helps you avoid plagiarism

Referencing styles

There are many different  referencing styles , such as Harvard, APA, MHRA and OSCOLA.

It is important to ensure that you are following the appropriate style for your subject. C heck your course or module handbook, or speak to your tutor, if you are unclear as to which style you should be using.

Once you know which style you should be using, the most important thing is to cite sources accurately and consistently .

When to reference

You should reference any source of information you draw on in your work. Here are two good rules to follow: 

• If the information comes from outside your own head , then cite the source.
• If in doubt , provide a citation.

Following these rules will ensure that someone reading your work will be able to clearly distinguish between information and ideas that are your own, and information or ideas that you have encountered elsewhere.

General and common knowledge

There are two exceptions to the above guidance: general and common knowledge .

In a piece of academic work it's likely that you'll include examples of one or both of these. In neither case, however, would you have to provide a citation. Click below to find out more.

General knowledge

General knowledge consists of information that is found in many sources, and is likely to be remembered by most members of the public.

Examples include easily observable information or widely reported facts, such as: "The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's five oceans".

Common knowledge

Common knowledge consists of information that is very likely to be already known by anybody studying or working in a particular field .

Common knowledge is therefore always discipline-specific, and you can probably think of many examples from your subject.

How to reference

There are three principle ways of working sources in to a piece of writing: summarising, paraphrasing and quoting .

Summarising

This is a short restatement of someone else's ideas, using your own language and reflecting the source accurately.

• To simplify
• To eliminate unnecessary detail
• To make a minor point
• To convey an overall meaning
• Read the source several times
• Write an outline in your own words
• Rearrange the outline to suit your needs
• Write the summary (without looking at the original)
• Check the paraphrased version against the original
• Add a citation

An example:

Some economists have argued that the core purpose of  production is consumer satisfaction ( e.g.  Keynes 1936).

Paraphrasing

This is a restatement of someone else's ideas in a length and depth that is similar to the original source. As with summarising, it will be written in your own language and reflect the source accurately.

• To rearrange for emphasis
• To simplify the language
• To clarify meaning
• To fit in with your own style
• To keep the same length
• Rearrange the outline to alter emphasis
• Write the paraphrase (without looking at the original)

An example:  

John Maynard Keynes claimed that while there is a variable length of time between the production of a commodity and its purchase by a consumer, the ultimate  purpose of all production  is the consumer's satisfaction  (1936: 46).

This is a word-for-word use of a source's ideas or information. Direct quoting is far more commonly used in the arts, humanities and social sciences than in the natural sciences.

• To use effective language that cannot be improved
• To directly support a case you're making
• To distance yourself from a controversial statement
• Copy out the text verbatim
• Enclose it in double quotation marks
• Make the quote a standalone, indented paragraph if it is more than three lines long
• Insert an ellipsis surrounded by square brackets  – […]  – if omitting any words
• Use square brackets to insert any necessary changes to punctuation or spelling

According to John Maynard Keynes, "[a] ll  production is  for the purpose of ultimately satisfying a consumer. Time usually elapses, however  – and sometimes much time  – between the incurring of costs by the producer [...] and the purchase of the output by the ultimate consumer"  (1936: 46).

The mechanics

1. footnotes, endnotes and in-text citations.

Depending on the referencing style you use, you will either cite sources in footnotes, in endnotes or in the body of the text itself. Harvard, for example, uses in-text citations, whereas MHRA uses footnotes and Vancouver uses endnotes.

Make sure that you know which referencing style you are meant to use, and follow it accurately and consistently.

2. Different kinds of sources

Over the course of your degree you will likely cite various types of sources. This includes not only books and journal articles, but perhaps also webpages, reports, laws or even AI-generated content.

Different types of sources are cited differently depending on the referencing style you use. For detailed guidance consult  Cite Them Right  or contact your Subject Librarian .

3. Bibliographies and reference lists

Your written work should not only include citations when you refer to another person's work, but also a bibliography and/or reference list.

A  bibliography  provides the bibliographic information for all of the sources you consulted while carrying out an assignment, including any that you did not cite. A bibliography is ordered alphabetically by author's surname, and appears at the end of your assignment.

A reference list provides the bibliographic information only for the sources cited in your work, and appears at the end of your document (but before the bibliography, if you have both). It is usually ordered alphabetically by author's surname, except in the Vancouver referencing style when the reference list is ordered numerically according to the sources you have cited.

Many referencing styles, such as Harvard, MHRA and OSCOLA will require a bibliography but not a reference list. Others, such as Vancouver, require both.

Cite Them Right  is an excellent source of help with creating bibliographies and reference lists. Alternatively, contact your  Subject Librarian .

4. Reference management software

Many students and staff use reference management software to keep track of their sources and save time when writing.

The most commonly-used referencing software packages are EndNote , Mendeley and Zotero . Regardless of which one you use, it will allow you to store and organise sources, as well as quickly insert citations into a piece of writing and automatically generate a reference list or bibliography.

Cite Them Right

Cite Them Right contains advice on citing many different types of sources, including books, journal articles, and AI such as ChatGPT.

Referencing tutorial

This tutorial from Cite Them Right teaches you how to cite the sources you use, and tests your knowledge of referencing.

Referencing tools

EndNote is the University of Bristol's recommended reference management software.

Mendeley  and Zotero are alternative reference management software packages.

Subject Librarians

For further help with referencing please contact your subject librarian, who you can find listed by subject here.

Example essay extract with citations and references list: Home

Example essay extract with citations and references list.

Below is an example essay, complete with citations and references.

Please remember this is a fictional essay purely designed to demonstrate how and when to reference. 

Embedding experiences and voices in research can “challenge [the] studied ignorance” around race (Arday and Mirza, 2018, p.v) and the academy’s role as gatekeeper of what is considered “relevant knowledge” (Lillis, 2003). Academic conventions around skills such as writing can be excluding, forming “constructions of difference […] that deepen misrecognitions and inequalities” (Burke, 2018, p.366). Lillis (2003) and Arday et al. (2021) both use narrative to listen to the ways in which black students’ experiences are ignored and the marginalising effect of a refusal to validate multiple ways of knowing.

References:

Arday, J., Belluigi, D. Z. and Thomas, D. (2021) Attempting to break the chain: reimaging inclusive pedagogy and decolonising the curriculum within the academy.  Educational Philosophy and Theory .  53 (3), pp.298-313.

Arday, J. and Mirza, H. S. (eds.) (2018) Dismantling race in higher education:  racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy . London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Burke, P. J. (2018) Trans/forming pedagogical spaces: race, belonging and recognition in higher education. In: Arday, J. and Mirza, H. S. (eds.) Dismantling race in higher education: racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy . London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.365-382.

Lillis, T. (2003) Student writing as ‘academic literacies’: drawing on Bakhtin to move from critique to design. Language and Education. 17 (5), pp.192-207.

• Last Updated: Sep 22, 2023 12:51 PM
• URL: https://libguides.northampton.ac.uk/harvard/exampleessay

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Referencing and academic integrity

Antony introduces this section referencing and academic integrity.

Antony : In this section, we'll look at referencing and academic integrity. It's really important at university that you acknowledge all of the research that you use and find in your assignment. It shows your tutor all of the hard work that you've done. On these pages you'll find guidance on the different referencing styles that you'll need to use and some of the tools that can help to make this process easier. Over the academic year, we also hold workshops on referencing and academic integrity so please keep an eye out for these. Remember, we are here to help you.

This section covers nine different referencing styles:

Apa | chicago | harvard | mhra | mla | numerical | oscola | rsc | vancouver.

While we want everyone at Sussex to be independent thinkers, there are some academic conventions that we need you to follow! These are the features of referencing and citation, and also the rules of academic integrity. Many students worry about referencing and how to get it right, as well as making sure that they are not unintentionally cheating. This section on Skills Hub is here to help you follow the guidance correctly, and you can come back again and again whenever you have another assessment to write.

What do you want to learn about?

It will be helpful for you to work through this page on  Referencing and academic integrity in its entirety. However, if you want to know what is a priority for you, consider the questions below:

• Could you explain to other students why you should reference your work?  If  not , look at the  Why do I need to reference  section to see why you should.
• Do you know the different ways that you can use another thinker’s ideas in your writing? If not , read How do I reference quotes and ideas ? for various methods.
• Do you know what information you need to include in a reference? If not , take a look at  What information should I include in a reference ?
• Are you up-to-date with the rules for your school’s preferred referencing style? If not , keep checking the Referencing Styles section as changes are occasionally made. Why not bookmark the page you need so you can easily come back to it.
• Do you know what plagiarism is, why it is wrong and how to avoid it? If not , visit the Plagiarism section to learn more. It’s important! 
• Can you name other forms of academic misconduct, or cheating? If not , check the information on Collusion, Exam misconduct, Personation and Fabrication of results . Make sure you know what these forms of misconduct are and how to avoid them.

Why do I need to reference?

Your assignments should result from your own hard work and they need to show academic integrity. That said, your work is not limited to just your views and opinions. Instead, it should be developed by thinking about ideas put forward by others.

Be honest about anyone else's ideas that you have used or mentioned in your work and acknowledge these sources clearly. This practice is referred to as citing or referencing and it is crucial to maintaining academic integrity.

Whenever you directly copy the words of another author (quoting) or put their ideas into your own words (paraphrasing) you must acknowledge that you have done so.

This practice helps to:

• substantiate the knowledge and theories that you present in your work
• show that you have researched your material, and that the ideas you present have been considered in light of documented material on the subject
• demonstrate that you have read a range of sources
• allow your readers to identify and retrieve your sources for their own use
• avoid plagiarism .

Carlee and Saira talk about referencing and academic integrity

Carlee: So in my high school assignments I had to do referencing as well. So that was something that, if I recall correctly, it was probably drilled into us like how to write and cite academic sources and you have to cite academic sources, otherwise you're going to get in a heap of trouble. And I don't like getting in trouble, so I was like, okay, cite my references. And I think when I went to university, I learned that they cite very differently. So I think at the time I was citing in high school and MLA format and once I got into uni, especially because I'm a psychology student and I was at the time as well, we cite in APA, which is the American Psychological Association formatting and referencing. So I've been very lucky that I've used APA since the beginning of my university experience. I have many friends who have to know a bunch of different ones, whether that's APA or Harvard or something else that engineering students use, I think, that they have to be able to navigate all of these different ones. But for APA, for me, it was just kind of keeping up to date once APA seven came out, the seventh version, and how referencing changed a little bit.

Saira: Yeah, I'd say in general with exams for me I haven't really had to experience anything that I've had to panic about because when we first came to university we had a seminar on it. So one of my seminar tutors actually explained everything to us. And also when it comes to referencing, that's something I guess people could accidentally put something in. And then their similarity score's really high, but they don't realise that could just be solved by referencing. So we had a good session on that to help everybody understand it. But I would say one thing, that for me, I've experienced as well is that if it does come to, for example, coursework, where, you know, the question's released early, everyone has to submit their own work, even though you want to help each other, I'd say stick to helping each other understand the content because when it comes to writing your own essay, you want it to be original and unique because if everyone's is the same, you're not really going to get a good grade. So if you have something special, you do want to make sure, okay, this is my idea. I want it in there and I don't really want everybody to just copy me because it's not really going to look that great then. So that's the way I think about it anyway.

How do I reference quotes and ideas?

If you are using someone else's words, the words must be indented or in quotation marks. These actions show that you are not claiming the work is your own. You must also provide a reference to show where the words came from, to help the reader find the source. See Direct quotes for more information.

If you are using your own words to describe someone else's ideas, you still need to give a reference to their work. See Paraphrased ideas for more information.

A direct quote is where you have used the exact words (or graphs, or other information) from someone else's work. Direct quotes can be very useful for supporting an argument or establishing a point of view. Whenever you use a direct quote, you must indent the quote or put it in quotation marks.

Direct quotes should be in quotation marks ("") if they are relatively short. Longer quotes should be put in a separate paragraph, and indented. In this example from a student's essay, look at how the two quotes are presented differently:

The most common explanation for the Rwandan genocide interprets the violence as a state project, whereby elites were able to manipulate and bully the population into carrying out their programme of mass slaughter (Fletcher 2007, p.28).

Straus agrees with this, saying that scholars have presented the Rwandan genocide as “a state-organised, planned extermination campaign” (Straus 2004, p.86).

Bibliography

Fletcher, L. (2007) 'Turning interahamwe: individual and community choices in the Rwandan genocide'. Journal of Genocide Research , (9)1, pp. 25-48.

Straus, S. (2004) 'How many perpetrators were there in the Rwandan genocide? An estimate'. Journal of Genocidal Research, (6)1, pp. 85-98.

In this example, the longer quote has been put in a separate, indented paragraph. The shorter quote has been put in inverted commas. In both cases, it is clear where the student has quoted someone else's work.

Next to the direct quote, you must include a citation to show where the quote came from. In addition, you must include a full reference to the original work. You can see the student's references at the bottom of the example above.

You may wish to write another person's idea in your own words. This can be helpful for making a point in a short amount of space. It also shows that you have understood the idea fully and can make use of it as part of your argument.

When you are paraphrasing someone else's idea, you still need to make it clear where you found the idea, and include an accurate reference. Look at the example below, which is a paraphrased version of the direct quotes we looked at before.

Because the text has been completely re-written, there is no need to indent the text or put it in quotation marks. However, citations and references have still been provided. This shows the student is not claiming to have come up with the idea themselves.

Common knowledge

You do not need to quote information which is common knowledge e.g. Everest is the highest mountain in the world. It can seem hard to judge which information is common knowledge. If you are unsure, it may be best to provide a reference. You could try checking in an encyclopaedia in the library (not Wikipedia); information which is common knowledge will usually not be referenced in the library's encyclopaedia.

Go to the  English Language for Academic Study  Canvas site for more information about academic English, referencing and paraphrasing, and combining sources.

What information should I include in a reference?

The ideas you reference may come from books, journal articles, newspaper reports, web pages, videos, lecture notes, module teaching materials or any other source. You need to include certain details about these sources in your work so that your reader can find the original material easily.

There are several different referencing styles used at Sussex. Although most of them require you to include the same information, they ask you to present that information in different ways. Whichever referencing style you use, when making notes you should record the page numbers for each idea or quote. You should also note down the following information for each text:

Put the surname first and then any initials and any title (for example, Sir or Lord, but not academic or other titles).

Asian Naming Convention

In Western naming culture, generally a person's surname is listed as the last name, for example, John Smith. However, in Asian culture, a person's surname is generally listed first, in other words, Smith John. This applies to Chinese, Malay, and Indian naming conventions. Therefore the author Cheng Tun-jen's surname is Cheng, and his first name is Tun-jen.

This usually appears on the fly-leaf of a book. Make sure that you have the latest date since previous editions of a work may differ substantially. If you are referring to more than one work by the same author in the same year, you should differentiate them by small-case letters (i.e.2002a, 2002b etc.) There is no need to include the edition number.

Make sure that you copy this out accurately. If the text cited is merely a chapter in a book edited by someone else, you must include the full details of the main volume.

For books, this will include the place of publication and the name of the publishers. You will find this information on the fly-leaf.

For periodicals, you should include the name of the periodical, the volume, issue or part number and the page references.

For websites, you should note the web URL/address and the date you accessed the site.

For films and video, you should note the name of the director.

What is the difference between a reference and a citation?

A citation is a 'link' in the text, whether a number or author and date, that connects the data/information/ideas being discussed with the more detailed information in the reference list or bibliography.

The reference list or bibliography provides the full details of the source cited. It enables the reader to further investigate ideas or validate the writer's comments.

The citation points the reader in the right direction, but it does not include much information. In the numeric system, citations are just numbers like this (1) or this ¹.

A reference should include full details of the source. Every citation should have a relevant reference later in the text.

What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?

Any sources you cite within your text should also be included in the reference list or bibliography at the end of your work.

Check with your tutor whether they would like you to submit a reference list, which only includes texts you have cited, or a bibliography, which includes all the relevant books you have read.

You can download this list as a  Word document or  PDF to print out or to save for future use. (Important: The PDF will open in this window so remember to click on the browsers back button to return to the Skills Hub).

Referencing styles

There are several different referencing styles used in academic study. Although most styles require you to include the same information, depending on the style you have to present that information in different ways.

Schools and departments at Sussex  use different referencing systems . If you are unsure which referencing style you are required to use it is best to speak with your School office or consult your module handbook.

Find guidance for the most commonly used reference styles at Sussex below. Click on the individual styles to learn more.

Saira, Sara and Reuben talk about academic integrity and Zotero

Saira: Form my understanding, to put it simply, academic integrity is essentially knowing that any work you submit is your own and that you're doing everything honestly and making sure that pieces that you submit are original.

Sara: Since we do fill out like a lot of consent forms about academic integrity, I think it's producing your own work and not plagiarising or not doing it with other people.Of course, it's important to get ideas from other people. It's important to talk to them, but to make sure you're not taking their ideas or not, everyone is just writing the same thing. I think it's important to not only the work but to yourself to have that kind of integrity, to not steal anyone else's work, and to make sure what you're producing is a piece of what you wrote and what you think.

Reuben: A tutor in my Foundation Year recommended using a program called Zotero as it's the most accurate one for getting references and for saving quotes. So if you are reading on a laptop or something, as you go through, you save the quotes and you highlight them all the way through. And then you can also press a button and it will help you do all your references for you and help you with the bibliography. I think there's an add-on package you can get, which means it saves all the annotations for you. I think it might be incorporated now into Zotero and you can just press a button and it saves all of your quotes that you've highlighted and then you can go back and when you click on the quotes, it takes you to exactly where they are within the text. But for anyone with dyslexia or anyone really, it is brilliant, it's literally saved my life. And I'm getting, from someone who really struggles to read and write. I'm getting really good grades now, and I think that is my main tool that I've used.

Reference Management Tools

Reference management software and web-based tools allow you to:

• collect, store, organise and format references
• create bibliographies and in-text citations
• cite as you write in Word and other word-processing software
• annotate, store and share PDFs.

These tools are particularly useful when writing a dissertation or long assignment in which you cite the work of others.

As always, we recommend you pay attention to academic integrity and ensure you avoid plagiarism (see below).

The Library at Sussex provides detailed guides for the most popular tools:

• EndNote (including EndNote Basic )
• Zotero (including Juris-M and Zotero Bib )

You can also refer to a regularly updated Wikipedia guide to reference management software .

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity means not cheating. It is what good academic practice is based on. Just as you expect the experts and academics that you learn from to be honest in their work, the same is expected of you.

What is Academic Misconduct?

The full definitions of the various types of academic misconduct are published in the  Examination and Assessment Regulations  and there is more information on the  Student Hub .

Sometimes students commit academic misconduct without fully understanding why they have done something wrong. To protect yourself from committing academic misconduct, you should understand what it is and learn some of the common mistakes students make.

Avoiding Academic Misconduct – Three ground rules:

• remember that all the work you submit has to be your own. If you refer to another person's work, you must acknowledge it properly
• if you are unsure whether what you are doing is correct, ask for help. Your tutor or Academic Advisor can help you with academic enquiries. Student Mentors, English Language for Academic Study (ELAS) and Royal Literary Fund (RLF) Writers in Residence also offer free assistance
• if you are suffering from difficult personal circumstances, don't keep it to yourself. You can receive confidential help from the  Student Centre if you have been affected by mental or physical illness, or problems such as bereavement.

Academic Integrity Values

The University of Sussex has a set of Academic Integrity Values which all students are expected to follow. These values are:

Carlee and Amelia talk about their understanding of academic integrity

Carlee: I think academic integrity to me means that I know with confidence the work that I'm submitting and the work that I'm producing is a reflection of my ability and is a reflection of me. And so I think if I were to use something or improperly cite a source or just completely copy/paste something from another source and turn that in, if I were to get marked off on that, not because I plagiarised or because I copy pasted over, but because it was wrong, I'd be like, Oh, well, that wasn't my work. So it doesn't really matter, you know? And I think sometimes you can kind of rationalise it in that way, but this is sounding kind of negative. But it's more so to me knowing that when I'm writing something, these are my thoughts and this is my effort that I'm turning in and I'm trying to show to my tutors.That's a reflection of my knowledge and my understanding. And so, I mean, academic integrity does come in a lot of different ways. It is making sure that you are citing material. If you've paraphrased from someone and just saying, Hey, this wasn't my original thought, this was theirs, but this is what I think about their thought.

Amelia: Like, everyone hates citing and like, it's like you write your essay and then you cite usually, and then you're like ugh, and it takes like 3 hours to usually get everything in correctly and do it correctly.And then and I feel like we're only kind of taught it as like, just don't plagiarise and this is why you have to do it. But then in my foundation year, the way we looked at it and it is so annoying but was like, look at how these researchers found their information and the idea of collectively using information together is a nicer way to look at it. And any academic research you read has a million citations in it. It's never absent. You can't do your work alone. And it's important like knowledge only gets increased off of other knowledge.

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's work as if it were your own. The university uses software packages to detect plagiarism.

Plagiarism can happen accidentally if you have not referenced your work properly. If you have used a quote or idea from another source without referencing, it could look like you are trying to pretend you came up with the work yourself. Make sure you understand how to reference your work properly!

How to avoid plagiarism

Use these 10 tips below to help you to avoid plagiarism.

Leave plenty of time!

Put assignment deadlines in your diary at the start of every term, and make sure you begin work well in advance. If you need to rush your written work at the last minute, it can be more tempting to copy out whole passages from texts, or make mistakes with correct referencing.

Reference while making notes

When you are researching your topic, take down full details of your sources as you go along. If you're quoting verbatim (using a direct quote, word for word) or using diagrams, make a note of the page numbers too.

Reference as you go

When you're writing your assignment, include the references as you go along. Remember to check your School's preferred referencing style.

Check your references at the end

If you have used direct quotes, make sure you have used quotation marks. Make sure any long quotes are indented and have a citation. Double-check your references and bibliography.

Use your own words

This helps you to engage more with the material. Don't worry that another author can 'say it better' than you: your tutors are interested in your ideas and opinions, and do not expect a perfect writing style.

Also, make sure you clearly distinguish your ideas from those of other writers. See Australian National University: Style and authorial voice

Don’t reuse material

Unless specifically allowed in module or course documentation, the use of the same material in more than one assessment exercise will be subject to penalties. If there is substantial overlap or repetition in the subject matter of your assessments within a single module or across other modules, your mark will be adjusted so that you do not receive credit for using the same material twice.

Use Turnitin

Try using the Turnitin Draft Check site , which will appear in your list of Canvas modules. You can check your draft assignments for any text matches.

Avoid essay-writing services

It is illegal in the UK to use and/or provide contract cheating services.

Many companies claim to offer ‘custom-made' essays online, often advertising their services through Facebook and other social media. They may claim to be legitimate, safe, and even approved by universities. However, these companies run a very effective illegal scam. Often the essays they sell are stolen from other resources and are very easily identified by tutors and examiners. There have been cases of students being blackmailed by companies asking for more money and threatening to report them to their university.

Remember that your work at Sussex has to be your own , and examiners will be able to tell the difference.

Proofread carefully

Allocate time to proofread your work and check for accurate referencing. You can ask someone to proofread your work, to check grammar and spelling mistakes, but this cannot be a student on the same module taking the same assessment. (Read our  proof-reading guidance  for the rules on proofreading at Sussex). You should never accept help from anyone in creating new content for your work. As a general rule, the person helping you should not change the meaning of what you have written.

Get help for free

The University offers plenty of free Academic Skills Workshops and Support  services to help you with your writing - including essay-writing workshops, student mentors, RLF Writers in Residence, English Language for Academic Study and Academic Advisors. If you need help with your writing, see one of them, or see your tutor. If someone offers to help you for money, you should ask yourself whether they really have your interests at heart.

Student stories

Read the three student stories below and think about how they could have avoided plagiarism:

pexels image by andrea-piacquadio and is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Salila did lots of reading for her essay and took plenty of notes. However, she did not write down all the reference details and did not show where she had copied quotes directly. When she came to write her essay, she was not sure where her notes were from, or which were her own words. Although she tried her best to remember, her tutor has spotted that in some cases she has quoted word for word without using quotation marks, and that in some instances her referencing is very unclear. Her tutor has asked to speak to her about plagiarism.

Salila did not intend to 'steal' other people's ideas, but she has still committed plagiarism by presenting someone else's work as her own. She should have been much more careful when taking notes. Whenever note-making, you should write down the source for each note you take, and you should make it clear where you are quoting directly from the text.

pexels image by laura-tancredi and is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Thomas had two essays and a presentation due in the same week. Having completed the first essay and presentation, he was left with one day to do the second essay. He started work on it in the morning, but by 2pm he began to panic. He searched on the internet and found a website where he could download essays. He used an essay with a similar topic and made a few changes to try and make it look like his own work. His tutor noticed it was suspicious, and he has been told his work is under investigation for plagiarism.

Thomas' poor time management left him in a very difficult situation. But rather than try to seek help, or hand in his work late, he was dishonest. By doing so, he may have put his degree at risk. It would have been better to have submitted no work at all (and receive a 0% mark) than try to cheat (and receive a worse punishment).

pexels image by christina-morillo and is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Denise took notes from different sources on the internet by copying and pasting. When it came to writing her essay, she took ideas from all the sources she had read. Finding it hard to put the ideas into her own words she often copied word for word but did not use quotation marks.

Denise has committed plagiarism because she has presented other people's words as her own. If you quote word for word from a text, then you must show this by using quotation marks, and providing a full reference. If you "copy and paste" text from a source to use in an essay, make sure you make it clear to yourself that the text is not your own e.g., ensure copied sections are kept in a separate document, kept in a different font, or highlighted, or placed in quotation marks. Remember don't copy unless it is a usable quote. You might find it helps your learning to write your notes by hand because it will encourage you to use your own words, and this will also give you more opportunity to understand the information.

AJ had an exam on Monday afternoon and an essay due on Tuesday morning. AJ focussed their attention on preparing for the exam and did not leave enough time to do the reading and preparation to complete the essay. AJ had seen a poster at the bus-stop for a company, that for a fee, would write the essay for them. In desperation AJ made contact with the company and spoke to a friendly person who reassured them that they could help. AJ shared their personal details, the details of the essay and made a payment to the company. The essay was written by the external company and emailed to AJ who submitted it as their own work.

The company that produced the essay for AJ is what is known as an ‘Essay Mill’. These are commercial organisation or individuals that make money out of encouraging students to cheat. These Essay Mills have been declared illegal by the UK Government and it is a criminal offence for them to provide contract cheating services to students or to advertise a service offering a cheating service. Because they are illegal, AJ should not have responded to the advert or engaged the services of the ‘Essay Mill’ and whilst using the service is not a criminal offense, this is deemed as major misconduct and could have put his whole degree at risk. By engaging with an Essay Mill, AJ also potentially put himself at risk of being blackmailed by the illegal company. There are reports throughout the sector of these companies contacting the University where their ‘customer’ is registered and tipping them off that a student has used their services and committed misconduct. Reports suggest that this is often when students have been asked to pay more money to the company or they got into dispute about the service provided. This can cause immense distress and anxiety to a student trying to manage a very unpleasant situation, who them may feel unable to seek help because they are worried about getting into more trouble with the University. What else could AJ have done: There would have been better outcomes if AJ submitted work late, submitted unfinished work or submitted no work at all. For example, if AJ had submitted a few days late (up to seven days) only 10 percentage points would have been taken off the final mark, and this would likely be a much less stressful and a better outcome than being involved in a misconduct case. If AJ handed in an unfinished essay and this was marked as a fail or borderline, he would be offered a resit, capped at a pass. If it was given a low mark but all AJs other work had high marks, and this meant their work was borderline at the end of their degree, this could be compensated or condoned . This would mean there wouldn’t be an impact on an overall degree classification, whereas a misconduct penalty can impact on degree classification. If AJ had not submitted at all he would have received a mark of 0%. When it got to the end of semester exam board (which is the process for formally confirming marks) if AJ’s other marks were complete, his marks could have been condoned or compensated, or AJ could be offered a resit, (depending on his other marks). If AJ explained that there were exceptional circumstances that had impacted their ability to manage their time, they would be given another opportunity to hand the essay in, and have their work marked as usual in the resit period. Any of these actions would be likely to lead to better outcomes than using an Essay Mill or risking other kinds of misconduct.

Elena talks about plagiarism and collusion

• Video transcript Elena: Academic integrity involves various different aspects, such as, I don't know, cheating, but that one's quite obvious and easier to avoid. The two most challenging aspects of academic integrity to avoid is plagiarism and collusion. So with plagiarism, many papers which are plagiarised are done by mistake. They are not done intentionally. And that is that can be because of maybe incorrect referencing or mistakes during referencing or just you're working on this project and it's really late at night and you read something on a website or an article and then you try to rephrase it.But because you're so tired, you just use the same exact words that the article used. So most of the time it's not done on purpose. But for this reason it's very important to raise the awareness to students for students, and maybe also provide them with information and with guidance of how to prevent this and how to not make them fall into the trap, fall into the pithole. So yeah, I think that's very important. And I think that the Sussex Skills Hub also has a very, very good section on plagiarism and how to prevent it, on academic integrity. Another one is collusion, which can happen also by mistake. Well, for collusion, if you're working, especially on a lab (report) together with your partner, you obviously will have the same results. You obviously will be discussing the results together, and this can then affect what you write and it can be very similar to what your partner writes, even though you're doing it separately because or you discuss, it's the same dataset, it's the same results, it's your same thinking process. So that can be also challenging. So it's important to make sure, yes, you can help your peers. Yes, it's good to help your peers to develop your teamwork and collaboration skills. But you always must think about the possibility of collusion and maybe don't tell exactly to your peer. If someone asks you for help, don't tell them, Oh, you need to change this or you need to change this. This is not good. This is right. This is wrong. You need to lead them into understanding, Oh, this might be improved or Oh, this is actually really good. Why don't you try and make this section better? Why don't you try using the method you used in this section to improve this section? So I think that's how you can also prevent collusion.

Collusion means working on an assessment with someone else but claiming it as all your own work. Collusion can occur if you and your peers discuss an assessment you are doing in too much detail. The marker will notice something wrong when they come to mark your work, and they notice it is very similar to the work of others.

How to avoid collusion

Use these 4 tips below to help you to avoid collusion.

Know what is expected of you

You should never work directly with other students on your module or anyone else when creating your work. This includes students from other universities. Even if your tutor has encouraged you to talk about your work together with other students, do not assume it is okay to write your work together.

If you are asked to do a joint assignment, this will be made very clear to you by your tutor and in your handbook. The assessment hand-in sheet looks different to a normal one. If you are unsure whether you are expected to work as a group, or what the boundaries are, be cautious and speak to your tutor first.

Avoid discussing questions in detail

Do not discuss an assignment in detail with other students if you are working on the same question. Even if they do not work directly alongside you, they may come to the same conclusion following a conversation they had with you, and this could be classed as collusion.

Be careful with your work

Do not lend your work to course-mates or leave it where they can access it. If you share a laptop or computer, it is your responsibility to make sure your work is protected - use a passcode so that others cannot access it. It is collusion to knowingly allow others to use your work. Even if you trust them, you could get a nasty surprise if it turns out they copied some of your ideas.

Follow proof-reading guidance

It is OK to have someone proofread your work, to check grammar and spelling mistakes, but this cannot be a student on the same module taking the same assessment. (Read our  proof-reading guidance  for the rules on proofreading at Sussex). You should never accept help from anyone in creating new content for your work. As a general rule, the person helping you should not change the meaning of what you have written.

Exam misconduct

Exam misconduct includes any form of cheating in exams, whether you are taking your exams in an examination hall or remotely. Make sure you know what materials you are allowed to take into exams or use when completing your submission remotely. If you are allowed to use texts, this will be made very clear to you. Also, do not take your mobile phone or any other such device into an exam room. 

Remember, just as in normal exam conditions, misconduct in exams taken remotely includes using material provided by someone else and sharing material or helping another student.

Personation

Academic misconduct can occur if you ask someone else to write an assignment for you, sit an examination (in-person or remotely) for you or pay for an essay online. This is known as Personation.  Personation includes using software (unless explicitly permitted in the assessment guidance) to generate text or help you with your assessments. Personation can also occur if you use a proofreader so please follow the  proof-reading guidance .

Fabrication of results

Fabrication of results is the act of making up or altering results for a practical project. It's better to hand in inconclusive results, or even none at all, than to try and make them up.

Breach of research ethics

Breach of research ethics includes failure to gain ethical approval; carrying out research without appropriate permission; breach of confidentiality or improper handling of privileged or private information on individuals gathered during data collection; coercion or bribery of project participants. Students conducting research with human participants, personal data (including that collected from social media and other sources), non-human animal subjects or research that may have a detrimental impact on the environment, must gain ethical approval before carrying out the research, this includes before contacting potential participants and/or advertising the study. Students are responsible for complying with the requirements set out as part of the approval process including consulting with their supervisor, in the submission of formal amendments for subsequent changes in their approved research.

Activity: Referencing

This activity will test your knowledge of correct referencing. There are three examples of student essays followed by 4 questions in each case. You need to decide which referencing features (e.g. citations, indented paragraphs, quotation marks, references) the students should use (there is a text only version below the activity):

Look at the original text below:

A sample of Beethoven, when played to laboratory mice for 15 minutes, had a calming effect. The mice exhibited lower blood pressure and resting heart rate than normal. Meanwhile, a group of mice exposed to music by the pop group Prodigy became highly agitated and exhibited higher blood pressure.

From : Hedgecoe, T. (2007) 'The Effect of Popular and Classical Music on Small Mammals', Journal of Music Studies , 6 (3), pp. 37-48.

Now look at this sample student A has writen.

Hedgecoe studied the effect of loud music on animals, and found that different kinds of music gave different responses. A sample of Beethoven, when played to laboratory mice for 15 minutes, had a calming effect. The mice exhibited lower blood pressure and resting heart rate than normal. Meanwhile, a group of mice exposed to music by the pop group Prodigy became highly agitated and exhibited higher blood pressure.

Now answer the four questions below (there is a text only version below the activity):

Question 1 . Should student A use a Citation in this sample?

Select Yes or No.

Answer: Yes they should. Whenever a source has been used, a citation must be provided in the text.

Question 2 . Should student A use a Indented paragraph in this sample?

Yes they should. The student has directly quoted a large section of text. The correct thing to do in this case is put the text in a separate paragraph, and indent the paragraph. To do this in Word, select a paragraph and press Tab.

Question 3 . Should student A use Quotation marks in this sample?

Select Yes or No. No, they do not need to. The student has quoted a very large section of text, and quotation marks are best used for smaller selections.

Question 4 . Should student A include a Reference in this sample?

Yes they should. Whenever a source has been used, a full reference must be provided in reference list, bibliography and/or footnotes.

This is a properly referenced example of the above activity.

Hedgecoe studied the effect of loud music on animals, and found that different kinds of music gave different responses.

(Hedgecoe 2007, p.37)

Hedgecoe, T. (2007) 'The Effect of Popular and Classical Music on Small Mammals', Journal of Music Studies , 6 (3), pp. 37-48.

Note : Different referencing styles may require you to present your citation and references in a different fashion, but they all require you to include the same information. Find out more in What information should I include in a reference?

Activity: Plagiarism

This activity will test your knowledge of referencing and plagiarism. Read the text below and then read the four example extracts from students' essays and decide if the student has plagiarised or if they have referenced their work correctly (there is a text only version below the activity):

Martell, L (1994), Ecology and Society: An introduction , Ch. 2, pp.64, Cambridge, Polity Press

Extract 1 . However, green capitalists say that this sort of thing can be compatible with solving environmental problems if consumers use the power they have over producers - 'consumer sovereignty' - by refusing to buy products which are not environmentally friendly. This gives capitalists an incentive to concentrate on the production of environmentally friendly products in order to make a profit.

Is this plagiarism, Yes or No?

Answer: This is plagiarism. The text has been directly copied from the original. There are no quotation marks, and no reference.

Extract 2 . However green capitalists claim capitalism can be compatible with solving environmental problems if consumers utilise their influence over producers - 'consumer power' - by only buying products which are environmentally friendly. This gives capitalists a reason to concentrate on the production of environmentally friendly products so that they will make a profit. (Martell 1994, p. 64)

Answer: This is plagiarism. Although a few words have been changed (e.g. 'consumer sovereignty' has been replaced with 'consumer power') the text is still largely the same as the original. There is a reference at the end of the paragraph which shows that the ideas have come from Martell. However, many of the same words have been copied and this needs to be acknowledged with quotation marks.

Extract 3 . Martell explores the possibility that in a capitalist society consumers can influence producers to make environmentally friendly goods by using their purchasing power. If people show that they will spend money on environmentally friendly goods and capitalists see that they can make a profit then this will affect the types of goods that are produced. (Martell 1994, p. 64)

Answer: This is not plagiarism. The words have been changed, so quotation marks are not needed. A reference has been given, and it is made clear that these are ideas which Martell expresses.

Extract 4 . Martell explores the possibility that in a capitalist society consumers can use 'the power they have over producers' (Martell 1994, p.64) to persuade them to produce environmentally friendly goods. However, it can be argued that, in a capitalist society it's not always the consumers who hold the power to determine what is produced.

Answer: This is not plagiarism. A single phrase has been used directly from the text, and this has been clearly shown using quotation marks. A reference has been given after the quotation.

Remember this section covered nine different referencing styles:

• Free Tools for Students
• Harvard Referencing Generator

Free Harvard Referencing Generator

Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!

🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.

It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.

👩‍🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?

Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).

🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:

• It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
• It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.

A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?

Here's how to use our reference generator:

• If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
• Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
• Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
• Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.

MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:

🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?

There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:

• Cite Them Right
• Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
• University of the West of England (UWE)

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.