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Study Skills

How to Cite References

It is usual to add a list of references to a piece of work in order to acknowledge the material you have used and to allow your readers access to it.


Listing the References

List the references alphabetically by author at the end of your work.

The information you need to include is:

Books
Author(s) /Editor(s).
Year.
Title.
Edition (if other than 1st).
Publisher, Place of publication.

For example:

Beardshaw J & Palfreman D (1990)
The Organisation in its Environment 4th ed.
Pitman Publishing, London.

Chapters in Books
Author(s) of chapter.
Title of chapter.
Details of book.
Page numbers of chapter.

For example:

Lewis I & Vulliamy G (1981).
The social context of educational practice:
The case of special education.
In Barton L & Tomlinson S eds.
Special education: Policy, Practices and Social Issues
Harper & Row, London. pp 53-70.

Newspaper and Periodical Articles (journals and magazines)
Author(s).
Year.
Title of article.
Title of newspaper/periodical (in full; do not abbreviate).
Volume number.
Part number or issue date.
Page number(s).

For example:

Dunn S (1986) The role of education.
Oxford Review of Education 12(3), pp233-242.

Mortishead, S (1999) Worst result for Shell in a century.
The Times 12.2.99, 2, p1.

Web sites
Ensure that you include as much information as possible such as:

For example:

Cadbury's Case Study on Fuse
http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/learning_zone/case_study/
Last accessed 07/05/2003


Referencing from the Text

In the text, refer to the list of references by giving the author/editor and the date. The book must be mentioned in your bibliography/ references. This is how it might look:

Lawton (1985) estimates that ... It has been estimated that ... (Lawton 1985).


Quotations

A quotation should be in quotation marks or form a separate indented paragraph.

If you use a quotation you should include a page reference, like this:

(Hargreaves 1982, p74) where 74 is the page number.


Diagrams

If you use diagrams, charts or tables, you should clearly state the source.

For example:

Source: Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 1991.
Source: Social Trends 26, p23.
Source: HM Treasury, 1998, Budget in Brief.


Example Layout

References

Beardshaw J & Palfreman D (1990)
The Organisation in its Environment 4th ed.
Pitman Publishing, London.

Dunn S (1986) The role of education.
Oxford Review of Education 12(3), pp233-242.

Mortishead, S (1999) Worst result for Shell in a century.
The Times 12.2.99, 2, p1.

Moore S (1996)
Sociology Alive 2nd ed.
Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham.

Cadbury's Case Study on Fuse
http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/learning_zone/case_study
Last accessed 07/05/2003

This will enable interested parties to confirm your sources and will also remind you should you ever need to use this information again.

Remember: if you take something from a secondary source you must reference it.