The use of a bibliography and referencing is essential to meet the academic requirements of studying. There are many forms of referencing; one of the most popular methods is the Harvard Referencing System.

The following are reasons why you must reference your work:

  • As a form of courtesy to the originator of the material you use;
  • To provide evidence of the depth and extent of your reading and research;
  • To enable the reader to find and read in more detail,a source of information to which you refer to in your work;
  • To allow your tutor to check what you claim is true; or to understand why you have made a particular mistake, and teach you to avoid it in future;
  • To enable you to find the source of information should you need to use it again;
  • To avoid plagiarism.

Why must I use a cited reference within my work?

You MUST use a citation whenever you:

  • Use a direct quotation from a source of information;
  • Paraphrase (put into you own words), someone else’sideas; This is an alternative to using a direct quotation;
  • Use statistics or other pieces of specific information, taken from a source you have read.

The Golden Rules of Referencing

  • Be consistent.
  • If the source of information does not fit into your style of chosen referencing system – and some do not – include enough information for the reader to find and check that source.
  • Gather all the details you need for your references whilst you have the source of information in your possession. If you do not do this, you cannot legitimately use them in your essay. If you do so, without referencing, you might be accused of plagiarism.
  • In the case of books, take the details you need for your reference from the title page and the back of the title page, NOT from the cover of the book.
  • Start to create a store of references, use small index cards for this, so you can sort your references into the order in your guide, usually in alphabetical order.

Examples of in text citations

When referring to ideas contained in someone else’s work:

Smith (2013) argues that the changing perceptions of middle managers are impacting upon their subordinates’ ability to perform effectively.

When quoting directly from someone’s work using quotation marks:

As Smith has observed: “Of pivotal importance to the success of this local government management agenda is the acceptance by the non-elite actors within each authority of the implications of its implementation.” (2013, p.86)

When quoting from a source with two authors, (name them both):

Smith and Jones (2012) observed a number of issues relating to Irish local government managers.

When quoting from a source with three or more authors: 

Smith et al (2010) argue that the developments in community governance in Abu Dhabi were innovative.

Where you refer to two books written by the same author:

Indicate the different texts by using alphabet numbers, Smith (2000a) and Smith (2000b).

Where you shorten a quotation

Omission marks are used (…).quotations must still make sense in its shortened version. It might be necessary to add an extra word or two into the quotation to ensure it reads correctly. These extra words should be contained within square brackets [ ].

Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of all reference material written about a given area. In some cases, bibliographies are books in themselves. Therefore, a bibliography is defined as a list of sources used to complete your assignment, whether or not you referred to them in your assignment.

References

A list of references should appear at the end of your work containing details of ALL the information sources that you refer to or cite in the text. Ensure that every piece of written work submitted for marking has a list of references that contains details of all sources mentioned in your work.

The list of references needs in alphabetical order by the author’s surname. It should be single line spacing, with hanging indents to distinguish each separate reference or with and additional space between each reference.

Examples of referencing

Books

  • The Author of the book: Surname first, forename and/or initial, as they appear on the book;
  • Year of publication: placed in brackets;
  • Title of the book;
  • Each Principle Word of the Title Must Have a Capital Letter;
  • Enter the name of the publisher: do not include initials, or ‘& Co’, ‘Ltd’;
  • Place a full stop at the end of the reference;
  • Occasionally, a book may have extra details that have to be mentioned in the reference;
  • Volume number (vol.) comes after the title; edition (edn) comes after the year of publication.

Example

Handy, Charles, (1991), The Age of Unreason. 2nd edn. London, Arrow Books.

Journals, Periodicals and Magazines

  • Author of the article: surname and initials or forename
  • Year of publication: (in rounded brackets)
  • Title of the article: enclosed in single quotation marks ‘text’.
  • Title of journal or periodical
  • Volume number: in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.), Do not proceed with ‘vol’.
  • Page numbers: first and last page numbers of the whole article cited

Example

Keble, J., (1989), ‘Management development through action learning’, Journal of Management Development, 8, no.2: 77-80
The above a just two examples of referencing, however the most important point to note when referencing is adopt a consistent approach.

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