When using the words, thoughts, facts or images of others, summarising or paraphrasing you must acknowledge everything that you use.
Why It Is Important
- to support your ideas and arguments
- to show the variety and breadth of your research
- to help the reader trace your source material
- to acknowledge your sources and avoid plagiarism
- to meet the assessment criteria
Standard Referencing Examples
Book
Sanghera, S. (2021) Empireland: how imperialism has shaped modern Britain. London: Viking.
Journal Article
Goes, S. (2021) ‘Plate tectonics and the deep Earth’, Geography Review, 35(2), pp. 22-27.
Webpage
Schraer, R. (2022) Should bad science be censored on social media? Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60036861 (Accessed: 21 January 2022).
Further examples (including non standard forms, interviews and social networking sites) are shown in How to write a bibliography.
Further Information
- How to write a bibliography
- How to write in-text citations
- Example bibliography
To reference correctly you need a Bibliography OR Reference List AND use in-text citations.
Key Terms
- References/Reference List: A list at the end of your work giving full details of the sources you have referred to within your text.
- Bibliography: A list at the end of your work giving full details of the sources you have consulted but not necessarily referred to within your text (e.g. background reading)
- In-text Citation: Information in the body of your work showing the source you are referring to at the point of use.