Download Referencing - University of Leeds

Referencing
Why It’s Important
Referencing is important in many ways because it:
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Demonstrates how widely you have researched your subject
Illustrates how you have provided evidence to support your arguments & conclusions
Helps you to avoid plagiarism by giving credit to individuals for their ideas
What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work/ideas as your own. To find out
more about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it through online tutorials and activities, follow this
link
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-academic-integrity
Styles of Referencing
There are several different styles of referencing, all of which belong to a different academic
discipline. This is because each discipline uses resources and reports on information in different
ways.
The most common styles are:
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Harvard – is the most commonly used style across most subjects at the University of Leeds.
It is also the most commonly used style at most UK colleges/schools.
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Numeric – is sometimes used by Engineering, ICT and other technology based subjects
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MHRA – is primarily used by Arts and Humanities subjects
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APA – used by subjects like Psychology
While these are the most common styles, there are other types available, some based on
geographical/national standards, e.g. American and/or British Standards.
Even if your subject is listed above, do not assume that is the referencing style you should use. It
is always best to use the referencing style that the school and/or directions recommend. If the style
is not listed, then make sure to ask your supervisor or the teacher managing the project what style
they are expecting you to use.
Types of Referencing
1. Citations
Whenever you use someone else's ideas, either by putting them into your own words
(paraphrasing) or by quoting the author(s) directly, you must show this within the body of your work.
This is known as a citation. The format will vary depending on the referencing style you use.
All of this information and more can be found on the Skills@Library website: http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills
Skills@Library is a free, online source for skills development provided by the University of Leeds
Common examples of citations include:
Within the text
In the Harvard style parenthesis are used within the body of your text to cite the resources you
used. There are three ways this is done:
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When the author/authors’ name(s) is/are mentioned in the sentence then you only need to
quote the year of the publication. For example:
Jones (2011) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent.
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When the author/authors’ name(s) is/are not mentioned then in the parenthesis you put the
author/authors’ name and publication year. For example:
It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent (Jones 2011).
You should also use page numbers in the citation if you are: using a direct quote,
paraphrasing specific ideas or explanations or if you use an image, diagram, table, etc from
a source. This is very important in order to avoid plagiarism in addition to helping the reader
to find the source if they want to find out more about this subject.
For example:
"It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (Jones 1998 p.24).
Footnotes
Some referencing styles (e.g. MHRA) use footnotes, which are located in the footer (bottom) of the
page, in addition to a footnote number at the end of each sentence where you have referenced the
work. For example:
Footnotes are essential in some referencing styles.1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 At the bottom of the page the corresponding number cites the reference
You can download the MHRA Style Guide pdf for free from their website:
http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/index.html
Endnotes
These are sometimes used in academic journals in order to save space and keep the flow of the
article easy to read. These are the same as footnotes, with numbers in the body of the text to
illustrate which resource, but the footnotes are at the very end of the article. These are rarely used
outside of journals and magazines.
2. References
At the end of your project/essay you will need to provide a list of references - full details of the
sources you used when writing your work. Your references may take the form of either a Reference
List or a Bibliography. If you are unsure of which one to use, consult your teacher or supervisor.
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All of this information and more can be found on the Skills@Library website: http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills
Reference List
This is typically a list of all the citations you have appeared in your work. How it is arranged
depends on the referencing style, so please make sure to look this up.
Which styles use reference lists? – Harvard (can also include full bibliography) and Numeric
Bibliography
These list all of the sources you consulted in your research, regardless of whether you cited them in
your work or not. These are usually arranged in alphabetical order by the author(s) name(s). Below
are three examples from the Harvard, Numeric and MHRA styles. Notice the similarities and slight,
yet very important differences.
Harvard Style: Journal article
Family Name, INITIAL(S) (for first author), INITIAL(S) Family Name (for other authors). Year. Title of
article. Journal Title. Volume(issue number), page numbers.
Pajunen, K. 2008. Institutions and inflows of foreign direct investment: a fuzzy-set analysis.
Journal of International Business Studies. 39(4), pp.652-669.
Numeric Style: Journal article
Family Name, INITIAL(S) (for first author), INITIAL(S) Family Name (for other authors). Title of
article. Journal Title, Year, Volume(issue number), page numbers.
Pajunen, K. Institutions and inflows of foreign direct investment: a fuzzy-set analysis. Journal of
International Business Studies, 2008, 39(4), pp. 652-669.
MHRA Style: Journal Article
Author surname, Author first name(s) (for first author), Author first name(s) Author surname (for
other authors), ‘Title of Article’, Title of Journal, Volume (Year of Publication), first and last page
numbers of the article.
Pajunen, K., ‘Institutions and inflows of foreign direct investment: a fuzzy-set analysis’, Journal
of International Business Studies, 39 (2008), 652 and 669.
The Golden Rule of Referencing
Be consistent. Whichever style you use, make sure to be consistent in how you structure your
citations and references.
Where to Find More Information
Our Skills@Library service offers online tutorials, videos, cribsheets as well as links to other
external resources on referencing. You can access these resources for free at:
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-referencing
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All of this information and more can be found on the Skills@Library website: http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills