Referencing is an import part of your academic work - it demonstrates the scope of your research, gives credit to the authors you have read and helps you avoid accidental plagiarism.
Below are some key resources to help you with referencing. You can also look at this referencing guidance, or the frequently asked questions about referencing below. If you have a specific question about referencing, you can email me - rosey.crow@bristol.ac.uk
Cite Them Right contains advice on citing many different types of sources, including books, journal articles, webpages and AI such as ChatGPT
Cite Them Right by Many students and staff use reference management software to keep track of their sources and save time when writing. Regardless of which one you use, it will allow you to store and organise sources, as well as quickly insert citations into a piece of writing and automatically generate a reference list or bibliography.
The most commonly-used referencing software packages are EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero. We run regular training on these tools, find upcoming sessions on our Library Events page.
You can find more detailed answers to these questions via Cite Them Right. Make sure that you are following the correct guidance for the style you are using. The examples below use Harvard.
If I’m using a direct quotation, when are single ‘’ quotation marks vs. double”” used?
You can use single or double quotation marks when using a direct quote in your essay - it's up to you. Just make sure that you are consistent in your choice throughout the essay.
I don't want to include the whole paragraph in a quote - I just want to use the beginning and the end.
You can replace text with '…‘ in a quotation if you do not want to include all of the text. This is some guidance for making changes to quotes.
When are page numbers used in the in-text citations – would this just be when a direct quote is used/only for books, or is it for more than that?
You would use page numbers when you are directly quoting or when you are paraphrasing a section of someone's work. This would apply for books, but also for journal articles where a page reference is given.
Which references need an ‘Available at:…, Accessed on:…’ part to them?
You would use ‘Available at:…' as part of the reference when you are talking about an online resource which does not have a DOI or a print equivalent.
If you are using Harvard style referencing, you also need to include the date that you accessed the source: URLs can change - things may be moved to another page, archived or deleted entirely. By stating ‘Available at:…, Accessed on:…’ you are telling anyone trying to track your references that this resources was at this address on this date.
What is a DOI? Where do I find it? What does it look like?
A DOI is a "digital object identifier." The most common place you will come across a DOI is on a journal article. It is like a URL, in that it is an online address but unlike a URL, it will never change. Even if the article is moved to a different part of the website and the URL changes, the DOI will not and can always be relied upon to take you to the digital object that it belongs to. When referencing a journal article that has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference.
You will usually find the DOI near the title of the article or in the "about this article" section. It is a string of numbers and letters. Sometimes it starts https://doi.org/10... Sometimes it will just start with the 10... Often the article will state: DOI: 10...
How do I reference a lecture recording from Blackboard?
Follow the referencing guidance for a Recorded Lecture in a VLE. If you wanted to refer to a specific part, you could include the timestamp in the in-text citation, like this: (Lecturer name, initial. 2021, 02:00)
How do I reference a text which is already referencing someone else?
This is known as “secondary referencing.” Best practice is to find the original source of the information, read it and then cite that – this will allow you to make your own interpretation of the work. This isn’t always possible of practical, so you can use “cited by” or “quoted in.” Make sure you include the author name and publication year for both texts, eg:
Cresswell (2014 cited by Almalki, 2016, p:291) describes qualitative research as...
Only the work you read should be included in your reference list – in this case, Almalki, 2016.
What if I have used more than one resource written by the same author and published in the same year?
Use a letter after the year of publication to differentiate between the sources., eg:
In text:
(Department for Education (DfE), 2022a)
(DfE, 2022b)
Reference list:
Department for Education (2022a) Emergency planning and response for education, childcare and children’s social care settings Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings (Accessed 12/12/22)
Department for Education (2022b) Health protection in children in young people settings, including education Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities (Access 12/12/2022)
I want to re-use an image in my work. How do I reference this?
When re-using an image in your work, you need to include an attribution.
You also need to be sure that you are allowed to use it - images are protected by copyright law. There are exceptions to the law that allows you to use copyright materials for private study or for teaching, but if you plan to publish your work make sure you are doing so in line with copyright restrictions. You may also want to look at this list of sources for open source images.
This online tutorial from Cite Them Right introduces you to the principles behind referencing, and teaches you how to acknowledge the sources you use.
Use EndNote reference management software to collect, store and import references into your work.
This demo walks you through all Mendeley features
In this tutorial Steven Bradburn shows you how to use Zotero. Zotero is a free open-source reference manager.