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A Guide to Citing and Referencing for New

Comer Tertiary Level Students
This guide is divided into two sections. The first explains what citing and referencing are, and tells
you when and how to cite and reference. The second section provides explanations and examples
of the way references should be formatted/laid out. But first we need to ask…

Why referencing and citation are important?

Whenever you produce academic work you will be asked to provide references for your ideas. You
will find this easier to do if you understand why it is seen as so important in British universities.
Referencing is essential to:
 Acknowledge other peoples’ ideas
 Allow the reader of your work to locate the cited references easily, and so evaluate your
interpretation of those ideas
 Avoid plagiarism (i.e. taking other peoples’ thoughts, ideas or writings and using them as
though they are your own)
 Show evidence of the breadth and depth of your reading
 Avoid losing marks!
Taken together, these citations fully disclose your sources. That’s important for academic integrity
in several ways.
First, good citations parcel out credit. Some belongs to you for the orig- inal work you did; you
need to take full responsibility for it. Some belongs to others for their words, ideas, data, drawings,
or other work; you need to acknowledge it, openly and explicitly.
Second, if you relied on others’ work in order to tell your story, explain your topic, or document
your conclusions, you need to say exactly what you used. Take a sample paper about World War
I. No one writing today learned about it firsthand. What we know, we learned by reading books
and articles, by examining original documents and news reports, by listen- ing to oral histories, by
reviewing data compiled by military historians, and perhaps by viewing photographs or movies.
When we write about the war, then, we should say how we acquired our information. The only
exception is “commonly known information,” facts that everyone in the field clearly understands
and that do not require any substantiation.1 There’s no need for a footnote to prove Woodrow
Wilson was actually president of the United States. But if you referred to his speech declaring war,
you would need a proper citation. If you used his words, you’d need quotation marks too.
Third, your readers may want to pursue a particular issue you covered. Citations should lead them
to the right sources, whether those are books, interviews, archival documents, websites, poems, or
paintings. That guidance serves several purposes. Skeptical readers may doubt the basis for your
work or your conclusions. Others may simply want to double-check them or do more research on
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the topic. Your citations should point the way. What citations should not do is prance about
showing off your knowledge without adding to the reader’s. That’s just bragging.
Beyond this question of style (and good manners), there is the basic issue of honesty. Citations
should never mislead your readers. There are lots of ways to mislead or misdirect your readers;
accurate citations avoid them. For example, they should not imply you read books or articles when
you really didn’t. They should not imply you spent days in the archives deciphering original
documents when you actually read them in an edited book or, worse, when you “borrowed” the
citation from a scholar who did study the originals. Of course it’s fine to cite that author or an
edited collection. That’s accurate. It’s fine to burrow into the archives and read the original
yourself. It’s dishonest, though, to write citations that only pretend you did.
Good citations should reveal your sources, not conceal them. They should honestly show the
research you conducted. That means they should give credit where credit is due, disclose the
materials on which you base your work, and guide readers to that material so they can explore it
further. Citations like those accurately reflect your work and that of others. They show the ground
on which you stand.

What is citation?
When preparing a piece of written work, you will inevitably come across other peoples’ ideas,
theories or data, and you will want to mention or refer to these in your own work. And in referring
to these authors, you will also need to create a list of who they are and where their published work
is to be found.
This is placed at the end of your written work so that your readers can identify what is your work
and what is that of other people, and so that they can get hold of those pieces of published work to
read, should they wish to do so.
Making reference to other authors in your own written work is called CITING. The names of the
authors who are cited in your text are gathered together, and supplied as an alphabetical list at the
end of your written work. This is a REFERENCE list.
There is no one-best-way to lay out the reference list, and much of it is a matter of tradition or
preference. Broadly, the process of citing authors (and the associated reference list) can be done
in one of two main styles - the Numeric, where the list of authors is numbered in the order of
mention in the text, or the Alphabetical, where the authors’ names are listed in alphabetical order.
One of the ways in which alphabetical referencing is done has been given the name of the Name
and Date System or the Harvard Referencing System. There are a number of ways in which the
Harvard Referencing System can be presented, and all of these are therefore ‘correct’.
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The difference between the reference list and the bibliography

Within your piece of written work, you will have cited a number of books, journals, newspaper
articles (or whatever), using the author’s name and the date of publication. At the end of the piece,
you provide a list of all those authors, giving full details of what their work is called, and where it
was published. This list is headed References, and provides all the information about the published
works you have mentioned in your text, ALPHABETICALLY by the names of the authors (or
originators). This list can be subdivided by year and letter if necessary. (More about this later.)

Also, during the course of your preparatory reading, you may use material that has been helpful
for reading around the subject, but which you do not make specific reference to in your own work.
It is important to acknowledge this material. Under the heading Bibliography, list all these items,
again alphabetically by author, regardless of whether it is a book or journal, and include this list
separately after the reference list.
The Bibliography indicates to your reader or examiner that you have read more widely than was
strictly necessary to produce the piece of written work, and that you therefore have a better grasp
of the area or the topic than if you had only used the works cited in your text and your reference
list. Everything you cite (i.e. mention) in your piece of written work will be listed once
alphabetically by author and subdivided by year and letter, if necessary, in your References.
Some people mix the list of references from within the text (References) and the references to
wider reading (Bibliography) together in one list, which they then call the Bibliography. This is
not recommended, because it creates difficulties for your examiner, who has to sort out which is
which, in order to be clear about the accuracy of your referencing.
Which Citation Format Should You Use?
With so many formats available, which one should you choose?
The answer is usually straightforward: most fields rely on one format. In English literature, for
instance, most papers and articles use MLA. In chemistry they use ACS. A few fields, such as
engineering, use more than one style, depending on the journal or publisher. Political science also
uses two styles: APA for journals that prefer in-text citations and Chicago for journals that prefer
true footnotes or endnotes.
Cite Right labels each chapter so you can see which fields use which style. If you are still unsure,
you can find the answer in a couple of ways. If you’re a student, simply ask your professor or
teaching assistant. If you’re writing for publication in a journal, review that journal’s recent articles
and its instructions for authors, either in the journal itself or on its website. Even if you don’t plan
on getting published, it’s a good idea to look at the leading journals in your field and follow their
style.
As per the requirement, a simple and precise guide to the four different citation styles (APA, MLA,
IEEE and JBC) have been given below.
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APA Citation Style

APA style, abbreviation for American Psychological Association style, is a widely used format for
writing in the social sciences, education, and other fields. It provides guidelines for formatting
manuscripts, citing sources, and creating references. In APA style, papers are typically structured
with a title page, abstract, main body, and references list. The style emphasizes clarity and
conciseness, with specific rules governing aspects such as font size, spacing, and margins. In-text
citations are used to acknowledge sources within the text, while the references list provides
detailed information about each source cited. Overall, adherence to APA style ensures consistency,
credibility, and proper attribution of ideas in academic and professional writing.

In-Text Citations:
1. Book with Single Author:
- Format: (Author's Last Name, Year)
- Example: (Smith, 2019)

2. Book with Two Authors:

- Format: (Author 1's Last Name & Author 2's Last Name, Year)
- Example: (Johnson & Lee, 2020)

3. Book with Three or More Authors:

- Format: (Author 1's Last Name et al., Year)
- Example: (Brown et al., 2018)

4. Journal Article with Single Author:

- Format: (Author's Last Name, Year)
- Example: (Garcia, 2017)

5. Journal Article with Two Authors:

- Format: (Author 1's Last Name & Author 2's Last Name, Year)
- Example: (Clark & Evans, 2021)
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6. Journal Article with Three or More Authors:

- Format: (Author 1's Last Name et al., Year)
- Example: (Robinson et al., 2016)

References:
1. Books:
- Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Title of the Book. Publisher.
- Example: Smith, J. R. (2019). The Art of Writing. Random House.

2. Journal Articles:
- Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal,
Volume (Issue), Page Range.
- Example: Garcia, A. B. (2017). The Impact of Climate Change. Environmental Science
Journal, 5(2), 112-125.

Quick Tips:
1. Always include the author's last name and the publication year within parentheses when citing
within the text.
2. If you're directly quoting a source, include the page number after the year, separated by a
comma: (Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number).
3. Make sure to list all cited sources in the References section alphabetically by the authors' last
names.
4. Use italics for book titles and journal titles in both in-text citations and the References list.
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Practice Activity 1: In-Text Citations

Read the following sentences and add appropriate in-text citations based on the given guidelines:

1. The study conducted by Dr. Peterson in 2018 showed a significant correlation between
stress levels and academic performance.

2. According to Johnson and Lee (2020), the implementation of mindfulness techniques can
reduce anxiety in students.

3. In a recent article, Brown et al. (2018) discussed the importance of sleep quality for
cognitive function.

4. The research conducted by Garcia (2017) demonstrated the adverse effects of air pollution
on respiratory health.

5. Clark and Evans (2021) found that regular exercise is associated with improved mental
well-being.

6. Robinson et al. (2016) explored the relationship between social media usage and self-
esteem among adolescents.
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Practice Activity 2: References

Match the citations with their corresponding references:

1. Citation: (Smith, 2019)
- Reference:
2. Citation: (Garcia, 2017)
- Reference:
3. Citation: (Robinson et al., 2016)
- Reference:
4. Citation: (Johnson & Lee, 2020)
- Reference:
5. Citation: (Clark & Evans, 2021)
- Reference:

References:
1. Johnson, P. A., & Lee, S. K. (2020). Mindfulness Techniques and Anxiety Reduction in
Students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 15(4), 567-580.
2. Clark, M. E., & Evans, R. L. (2021). The Benefits of Regular Exercise for Mental Well-
being. Health Psychology Review, 12(1), 45-58.
3. Smith, J. R. (2019). The Art of Writing. Random House.
4. Garcia, A. B. (2017). The Impact of Climate Change. Environmental Science Journal, 5(2),
112-125.
5. Robinson, T., et al. (2016). Exploring the Relationship between Social Media Usage and
Self-esteem among Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Psychology, 8(3), 321-335.
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