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When writing an assignment you should acknowledge any book, article or information source used in the preparation of your work. This is called citing references.
Typology: Exercises
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A practical guide for Access Students
1. Introduction
When writing an assignment you should acknowledge any book, article or information source used in the preparation of your work. This is called citing references and allows the reader to identify and locate the original material.
You are strongly advised to follow the system of referencing preferred by your Access course, and get into good academic habits at an early stage. There are many different methods of citing references. The two most common ones are Harvard and MHRA. Wherever you go when you finish college, it is important that you follow that institution’s referencing guidelines as there may be slight differences or modifications.
2. Why reference?
Referencing of written work is required when you draw upon evidence from other people and organisations. It is a means of clearly indicating which assertions are your own and which originate from other writers. Using other people’s work is required in order to support, justify or explain what you are writing. It provides evidence that you have read widely and adds weight to your argument.
In addition, referencing enables the reader of your work to:
Example 1: Pritchard, A.P., Editor (1989) Cancer nursing : a revolution in care : proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Cancer Nursing, London, 4th-9th September, 1988, Basingstoke, Macmillan.
Example 2: University of Southampton (1999) Working With Enquiry Based and Problem Based Learning. Wessex Conference Centre, Sparsholt College, Winchester. 14th – 16th April 1999, Privately Published.
5.5 Conference Paper Format: Surname, Initials. (of paper) (Year) Title of Paper. in, Surname, Initials., Editor/s (of Conference Proceedings if applicable) (Date) Title of conference: subtitle (including location and date of conference), Place of Publication, Publisher, pp first & last pages.
Example: Davies, L. (1999) Designing an EBL Curriculum for a Post-registration Midwifery Degree Programme. in, University of Southampton (1999) Working With Enquiry Based and Problem Based Learning. Wessex Conference Centre, Sparsholt College, Winchester. 14th
- 16th April 1999, Privately Published. p. 23.
5.6 Thesis Format: Surname, Initials. (Year) Title of Thesis, Type of thesis, Degree-awarding body.
Example: Bath, L. (1998) An exploratory investigation into the relationship between physical activity and seizure frequency in 18-30 year olds with epilepsy and learning disabilities living in a residential home, MSc Thesis, University of Southampton.
5.7 Newspaper Article Format: Surname, Initials. (Year) Title of Article, Title of Newspaper (Issue number in Brackets) Day & Date of Issue, pp first & last pages of article.
Example: Highfield, R. (2000) Human genome: the future, The Daily Telegraph. (45110) Tuesday 27th June, p5.
5.8 Dictionary/Encyclopaedia Format: Editor/s, Initials., Editor (Year) Title, Edition (if more than one), Place of Publication, Publisher.
Example: Waite, M., Editor (1994) The Little Oxford Dictionary, 7th Edition, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
5.9 Electronic Sources of Information Format: Surname(s), Initials. (Year of page publication or edition) Title of Page, Edition (if indicated), Place of Publication, Publisher of page. [Online] full date page was viewed, URL (the Internet page address) ( Note NO period after URL )
Example of a Personal Page:- Norris, J. (2002) Welcome to QualPage: resources for qualitative researchers, Canada, Faculty of Nursing University of Alberta. [Online] 27 June 2002, http://www.ualberta.ca/~jrnorris/ual.html
Example of a page of an organisation:- Public Affairs Office (2000) SotONLINE, Southampton, University of Southampton. [Online] 22 February 2000, http://www.soton.ac.uk/~today/
5.10 Listing page numbers To identify single or multiple pages in a reference “in text” or in the “Reference List” refer to the general rules and examples below.
5.11 The Reference List References are ordered in alphabetical order by author. If you refer to more than one piece of work by the same author which was published in the same year then they are distinguished by adding the lower case letters a, b, c etc. after the "Year".
Example:- References Department of Health (1999a) Saving Lives; Our Healthier Nation, London, The Stationery Office.
Department of Health (1999b) Continuing professional development: quality in the new NHS, London, The Stationery Office.
5.12 Referencing in the text – Harvard system Whenever you have read something that supports or refutes discussion, or provides information that you wish to make clear you must indicate the author from whom that idea or fact originated. This is needed both in the text and in a reference list at the end of the work. To reference in the text you require the surname or organisation name and the year date. If making a direct quotation you also need the page number. It is always preferable when writing to use your own words and to avoid direct quotations for all but the most important definitions or statements.
There are a number of ways you may refer to other people’s work within a text; however you do it, the sentence must be grammatically sound. The year date is always in brackets but the surname may be in or outside of the brackets, the only important thing to remember is that it should make sense.
Examples of referencing in the text Davis and O’Connor (1999) discuss the various definitions of rehabilitation and their implications for nursing practice.
Or:
Different definitions of rehabilitation are explored in the light of current nursing practice and their implications for nursing are discussed (Davis and O’Connor 1999).
5.13 Referencing a source with 3 or more authors Use “et al” after first author. For example:
Alcock et al (1998) discuss the various definitions of poverty and their implications for the development of legislation.
Alternatively you may write this in another way:
Different definitions of poverty are explored and their implications for development of legislation are discussed (Alcock et al 1998)).
5.14 Direct quotations Short quotations (up to a line long) are written within the text, enclosed in inverted commas. A page number must accompany the
Peter Neville Tsar Alexander II Liberator or Traditionalist? (Modern History Review: September 1997)
Websites Use the full address on the web bar of the page you are using:-
http://my.brock.ac.uk/Subjects_and_Courses/Sixth_Form/History_Politics_Archaeolo gy/historyA/Unit%204%20Coursework%20%20Russian%20History/Forms/AllItems.a spx
6.2 Referencing
The main difference between MHRA and Harvard comes with the actual referencing used. Instead of a reference list at the end of your work and in the text referencing MHRA operates a footnote system of referencing. This is an example of how to insert a reference as a footnote.
First of all in Microsoft Word go to References and in the second area of the toolbar there is a large AB with the words ‘insert footnotes’ under it. (On older systems it is under insert and then footnotes will show as one option when you bring up the drop down menu.)
Whichever system you are using, click on the appropriate bit. This will put a small number where you have the cursor when you click^1 as here. Then you put the appropriate information in the footnote at the bottom of the page so that you are showing where you got the idea/reference/quote from.
When you reach the next reference you do the same thing again and the system will autonumber for you^2 like this. It is more usual to footnote at the end of a sentence rather than in the middle but either is acceptable.^3
If you have two consecutive references from the same book or article you can save yourself some work the second time around by using the term ‘Ibid’^4. It means ‘the same as above’.
You are advised to make a note of the book details before you start reading and to make notes with page numbers in the margins so you can successfully reference without spending hours looking for the correct page number or book details especially if you have returned the book to the library!
7. Useful links
Guides to referencing (LASER is not responsible for the content of these links)
http://www.learnwithus.southampton.ac.uk/academicSkills/pdfs/acknowledging_knowledge. pdf http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm
http://www.kent.ac.uk/ai/MHRAStyleGuide2009.pdf
(^1) Put the details of the book or article you are referencing here and add the page number(s) at the
end e.g. p5 or pp5-7 or pp5,7 2 Auto number following on (^3) A.N.Other footnote p (^4) Ibid p