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Referencing and citation

Academic work should be transparent and all the sources you use must be properly acknowledged through referencing.

Each reference consists of two parts – a citation in the running text and an entry in a reference list. Correct referencing lends credibility to your writing, because readers can see which facts or earlier research your texts are based on. Referencing also shows which statements are your own and which are paraphrased from your sources. Good referencing techniques are therefore essential in avoiding plagiarism.

Different referencing systems or styles are used in different disciplines, but the aim of all systems is to help your readers to find the sources you used. Broadly, there are three types of referencing styles: parenthetical systems (e.g. APA, Harvard and MLA), numeric systems (e.g. Vancouver and IEEE), and footnote systems (e.g. Oxford). All these systems use a citation in the running text that provides brief information on the source, while the full details are given in a reference list at the end of the text.

To produce a correct reference in your text, you need to know which referencing system you must use and what type of source you consulted. There are various manuals available for each system that explain how citations and references are to be written. Sometimes there are small differences between different manuals for the same system, so use the one specified in your study guide. You can also ask your teacher or supervisor which manual to use.

Make sure that your referencing is consistent and that it fulfils the expectations in your discipline by consistently following a referencing manual. Please avoid mixing referencing systems in one text.

The referencing systems most commonly used at Örebro University are briefly described below and links are provided to referencing manuals for each system.

The American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style is a parenthetical system, which means that citations are included in brackets in the running text. The parenthetical information comprises the surname of the author and the year the source was published, but you also need to include page numbers when quoting a source. Full details on the sources are given in an alphabetical reference list, sorted by author, under the heading References. Remember that the parenthetical citation should become part of your sentence, so include it before the full stop/period.

The following links are to some useful APA referencing manuals:

  • According to Carson (2018), students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much. High grades at university level correlate with students’ “consistent use of the required referencing system” (Ahmed, 2020, pp. 335–336).
  • Students who read many academic texts “make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little” (Carson, 2018, p. 19). Ahmed (2020) has shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level.

References

Ahmed, M. R. (2020). Consistent referencing and reader confidence. Journal of Scholarly Practices, 54(1), 319–344.

Carson, T. J. (2018). Can readers write? Factors determining writing skills development at university. Writing, 11(3), 7–26

The Harvard referencing style is a parenthetical system, which means that citations are included in brackets in the running text. The parenthetical information comprises the surname of the author and the year the source was published, but you also need to include page numbers when quoting a source. Full details on the sources are given in an alphabetical reference list, sorted by author, under the heading References. Remember that the parenthetical citation should become part of your sentence, so include it before the full stop/period.

Harvard sometimes uses a comma in the parenthetical reference (between the author and the year) and sometimes not. Make sure you know which format your discipline prefers. Also see examples below.

The following links are to some useful Harvard referencing manuals:

  • According to Carson (2018), students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much. High grades at university level correlate with students’ “consistent use of the required referencing system” (Ahmed, 2020, pp. 335–336). [reference with comma between author and year]
  • Ahmed (2020) has shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level. Students who read many academic texts “make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little” (Carson 2018, p. 19). [reference without comma between author and year]

 

References

Ahmed, M. R. 2020. Consistent referencing and reader confidence. Journal of Scholarly Practices, 54(1), pp. 319–344.

Carson, T. J. 2018. Can readers write? Factors determining writing skills development at university. Writing, 11(3), pp. 7–26.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) referencing style is a numeric system, which means that citations are included as source numbers in square brackets [ ] in the running text. The first source mentioned in the text is [1], the second [2], and so on. Each source retains its number throughout the text. Full details on the sources are given in a reference list under the heading References. The sources are listed by number and the source number is always given in square brackets before the rest of the information on that source. Remember that the citation in square brackets must become part of your sentence, so include it before the full stop/period.

The following links are to some useful IEEE referencing manuals:

  • According to [1], students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much. High grades at university level correlate with students’ “consistent use of the required referencing system” [2].
  • Students who read many academic texts “make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little” [1]. It has also been shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level [2].

References

[1] T. J. Carson, “Can readers write? Factors determining writing skills development at university,” Writing, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 7–26, 2018.

[2] M. R. Ahmed, “Consistent referencing and reader confidence,” Journal of Scholarly Practices, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 319–344, 2020.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) referencing style is a parenthetical system, which means that citations are included in brackets in the running text. The parenthetical information comprises the surname of the author and the page number on which the information you quote or paraphrase occurs. Full details on the sources are given in an alphabetical reference list, sorted by author, under the heading Works Cited. Remember that the parenthetical citation should become part of your sentence, so include it before the full stop/period.

The following links are to some useful MLA referencing manuals:

  • According to Trudy Carson (19), students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much. High grades at university level correlate with students’ “consistent use of the required referencing system” (Ahmed 335–36).
  • Students who read many academic texts “make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little” (Carson 19). Marvin Ahmed has shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level (335–36).

Works Cited

Ahmed, Marvin Reginald. “Consistent Referencing and Reader Confidence.” Journal of Scholarly Practices, vol. 54, no. 1, 2020, pp. 319–44.

Carson, Trudy Janet. “Can Readers Write? Factors Determining Writing Skills Development at University.” Writing, vol. 11, no. 3, 2018, pp. 7–26

The Oxford referencing style is a footnote system, which means that citations are included as footnotes in the running text. The footnote marker is usually placed at the end of the sentence, after the full stop/period, or, if needed for clarity, immediately after the quotation or paraphrase. The footnote marker is usually an Arabic number and the footnote text at the bottom of the same page should start with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation (usually a full stop/period).

There are two main variations of the Oxford system in use at Örebro University:

  • Footnotes only: The first time a source is cited, full details are provided in the footnote and subsequently only abbreviated details are given (usually surname, title of the work and page number). No reference list is included.
  • Abbreviated footnotes plus reference list: All sources are cited using the abbreviated footnote form, and full details are provided in an alphabetical list at the end of the text, sorted by author, under the heading Reference List.

Please note that footnotes can also be employed in texts using other referencing styles to provide additional information or explanations. This should not be confused with the footnote referencing system.

The following links are to some useful Oxford referencing manuals:

  • According to Carson, students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much.1 High grades at university level correlate with students’ ‘consistent use of the required referencing system’. 2
  • Students who read many academic texts ‘make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little’.3 Ahmed has shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level.4

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1 T. J. Carson, ‘Can Readers Write? Factors Determining Writing Skills Development at University’, Writing, vol. 11, no. 3, 2018, p. 19.

2 M. R. Ahmed, ‘Consistent Referencing and Reader Confidence’, Journal of Scholarly Practices, vol. 54, no. 1, 2020, pp. 335–36.

3 Carson, ‘Can Readers Write?’, p. 19.

4 Ahmed, ‘Consistent Referencing’, pp. 335–36.

Reference List

Ahmed, M. R., ‘Consistent Referencing and Reader Confidence’, Journal of Scholarly Practices, vol. 54, no. 1, 2020, pp. 319–44.

Carson, T. J., ‘Can Readers Write? Factors Determining Writing Skills Development at University’, Writing, vol. 11, no. 3, 2018, pp. 7–26.

The Vancouver referencing style is a numeric system, which means that citations are included as source numbers in brackets ( ) or square brackets [ ] in the running text. The first source mentioned in the text is [1], the second [2], and so on. Each source retains its number throughout the text. Full details on the sources are given in a reference list under the heading References. The sources are listed by number and the source number is always given before the rest of the information on that source. Remember that the citation in brackets must become part of your sentence, so include it before the full stop/period.

The following links are to some useful Vancouver referencing manuals:

  • Students who read many academic texts tend to be better writers than students who do not read much [1]. High grades at university level correlate with students’ “consistent use of the required referencing system” [2].
  • Students who read many academic texts “make fewer language errors and choose more appropriate vocabulary than students who read little” [1]. It has been shown that consistent use of a referencing system increases reader confidence and correlates with higher achievement at university level [2].

References

1. Carson TJ, Can readers write? Factors determining writing skills development at university. Writing. 2018;11(3):7–26.

2. Ahmed MR, Consistent referencing and reader confidence. JoSP. 2020;54(1):319–344.

Reference management software: Zotero and EndNote