References and citations explained
Learning outcomes
• You will know why correct referencing is essential
• You will know what citations are and when and how
to cite in the text
• You will be able to reference some key sources of
information including books, journal articles and
websites
• You will have a good understanding of how to set out
bibliographies
• You will know how to use the guides to answer your
own referencing questions
Why is correct referencing
important?
Academic reasons Practical reasons
It is a requirement of your Allows others to easily find your sources
department/school –give as much information as you can
Puts your current work into Helps you re-trace your reading in the
context future
Provides supporting evidence for facts, Poor information sources and poor
opinions, data, approaches taken referencing loses marks
Gives your work academic credibility
Shows the breadth of your reading
Avoid plagiarism!
What are references and citations?
Appears in the text of your research paper, wherever you
Citation use a quote or incorporate an idea you have picked up
from another source
Appears at the end of your research paper, or sometimes
Reference
at the bottom of each page, and gives full details of the
source of your information
Reference list A list at the end of a research paper giving full details of
sources cited within the research
Bibliography a list of all the sources you used to generate your ideas
about the topic including those cited in your assignment as
well as those you did not cite.
Citation required No citation
required
You are quoting directly from another source
Mention a fact that is commonly known
Present the results of your own survey or experiment
You are writing about another researcher’s theory or idea
using your own words, as a paraphrase or a summary
You use an image from the web
You are using facts and figures from another writer to support
your idea
You use a diagram from a book
You include some statistics that your lecturer has given you in
a lecture
REFERENCING STYLES
APA in-text citations
• In-text citations are brief references in the
running text that direct readers to the
reference entry at the end of the paper. You
include them every time you quote or
paraphrase someone else’s ideas or words
to avoid plagiarism.
• An APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last
name and the year of publication (also known as
the author-date system). If you’re citing a specific
part of a source, you should also include a locator
such as a page number or timestamp. For
example: (Smith, 2020, p. 170).
• Parenthetical vs. narrative citation
• The in-text citation can take two forms:
parenthetical and narrative.
• Parenthetical citation: According to
new research … (Smith, 2020).
• Narrative citation: Smith (2020) notes
that …
Multiple authors and corporate authors
• The in-text citation changes slightly when a source
has multiple authors or an organization as an
author. Pay attention to punctuation and the use of
the ampersand (&) symbol.
Missing information
• When the author, publication date or locator is
unknown, take the steps outlined below.
APA REFERENCING
Apply these formatting guidelines to the APA
reference page:
• Double spacing (within and between
references)
• Hanging indent of ½ inch
• Legible font (e.g. Times New Roman 12 or
Arial 11)
• Page number in the top right header