Referencing Guide
Everything you use in your work needs to be referenced. The basic information you need is an author (or creator), date of publication and title – if you can’t find this information, you should question if the source is reliable! If you are referencing an online source, you should also include a URL and the date you accessed it.
Within your work, you can use brief references – called ‘in text citations’. These are shorter than the complete reference (which you still need to include at the end in a reference list, or bibliography).
In text citations:
(Author surname, author initial, date)
EXAMPLE: (Smith, T. 2018)
Harvard is the style commonly used for references. Follow the guides below, including the punctuation – the brackets/square brackets, commas and full stops. Replace the bits in red with the information from your source; keep the bits in black as they are (e.g. Available at: ). Note, the Title is italicised in some cases. Only include the edition number – edn. – if it is not the first edition.
You can reference anything! If what you are referencing is not listed here, there are further examples available in library books or online.
Referencing a Book:
Author Surname, Author initial. (Year Published). Title, edn. Place published: publisher.
Referencing an eBook:
Author Surname, Author initial. (Year Published). Title, edn. [ebook] Place published: publisher, pp Pages used. Available at: URL [Accessed: date accessed].
EXAMPLE: Taylor, J. (2013). Early Childhood Studies : A Multidisciplinary and
Holistic Introduction [ebook]. Hodder Education, pp33-46. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com [Accessed: 03/05/2017].
Referencing a Newspaper Article:
Note the differences for the title (in single quotation marks, not italicised) and only include the edition if there is one (e.g. Scottish edn. or evening edn.):
Author surname, Author initial. (Year of publication). ‘Title of article’ (edn), day month, p. page number.
Online Newspaper Article :
Author surname, Author initial. (Year of publication). Title, day month [Online]. Available at: URL (Accessed: date accessed).
Referencing an Online Journal Article:
Author surname, Author initial. (Year published). Article Title. Journal title, [online] Volume(issue), pp Pages used. Available at: URL [Accessed: date accessed].
Referencing a Blog:
Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title. [Blog] Publication Title. Available at: URL [Accessed Date Accessed].
Referencing a Website:
Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title. [Online] Available at: URL [Accessed Date Accessed].
Referencing an Episode of a TV programme:
‘Title of episode’ (year of transmission). Title of programme, Series and episode numbers. Name of channel, day and month of transmission.
Referencing a Film:
Title (Year of distribution) Directed by director’s name [Film]. Place of distribution: distribution company.
Referencing an Interview:
Name of person interviewed surname, Name of person interviewed initial. (Year of interview) ‘Title of interview (if any)’. Interview with name of interviewer for title of publication or broadcast, day and month of interview.
Referencing a Photograph:
Photographer surname. Photographer initial (Year) Title of photograph [Photograph]. Place of publication: publisher (if available)
Referencing Photographs from the Internet:
Photographer surname. Photographer initial (Year) Title of photograph [Online]. Available at: URL (Accessed: date accessed).
Referencing Photographs from an Online Collection:
Photographer surname. Photographer initial (Year) Title of photograph. Title of online collection [Online]. Available at: URL (Accessed: date accessed).
If the item you are referencing is not listed above, you can look it up in Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2010). Cite them right: the essential referencing guide, 8th edn. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (available in the library at shelf 808.027) or online or ask the library for help.
If you are using an eBook or other eResource from the Library’s collection, look for icons like the ones below which will create a reference for you – all you need to do is copy and paste!:
There are also sites like Cite This For Me that help you to generate references.
Need more help?
We have written a number of useful guides for copyright and referencing as well as using the library, searching for books, eBooks, and News articles. The college also maintains an FAQ to help you. If you need further help with referencing please contact the library either via the library desk or by emailing thelibrary@dumgal.ac.uk .
