Bibliographies and Referencing
When writing essays, reports and other assignments, it is important to acknowledge the sources of your information: the books, magazine articles and websites you used. Passing off someone else's work as your own, be it ideas, graphics or statistics, is plagiarism and is as serious an offence as cheating in an exam.
You must acknowledge the source or author when using direct quotes (copying word for word) as well as when using someone else's ideas or information and putting them into your own words.
This guide uses the author-date or Harvard (in-text) system of referencing as a way of citing authors and sources used within an assignment. Check with your teacher as to which method you are required to use.
IN-TEXT REFERENCING
This system provides references in the text or body of your work rather than at the bottom or end, as in the footnote system. For more information on the footnote or documentary note system, refer to the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers. 5th ed. 808.02 STY.
Any material paraphrased, summarised or quoted should be referred to with author, publication date and page number(s):
"The first priority for sufferers is to be understood" (Harrison 1992, p12).
Where the author is referred to in the body of the text, there is no need to repeat their name(s):
Harrison (1992, p27) states that "the first priority for sufferers is to be understood".
When referring to more than one source, separate the authors with a semicolon:
(Harrison 1992; Jackson 1990)
Where material is written by two or three authors, they should all be named:
A more recent study (Withers, Nguyen & Hope 1995, p50) disputed this theory...
Where there are more than three authors, the phrase 'et al.' (which means 'and others') should be used:
Pringle et al. (1996, p53) argued that...
If you are summarising or referring to an entire or large part of another's work, the page numbers may be omitted:
Frank (1983) concluded that...
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE LISTS
A bibliography is a list of all the information you used in creating your assignment. Include all sources of information, even if you didn't cite or quote them within the assignment.
A reference list is a list of all the sources you have cited or directly quoted within your assignment. No additional items may be included.
Bibliographies and reference lists should be at the end of the assignment on a separate page and arranged alphabetically by author surname. The format of each reference will differ depending on the source type (e.g. book, article or website).
Microsoft Word 2007 has a very useful bibliography option, which makes creating and organising your bibliography easy.
Choose the References tab, then select Manage Sources in the Citations & Bibliography group, and select New to start entering the details of your source.
The Help function in Word 2007 provides a useful step-by-step guide on how to create a bibliography. You can also ask an LLC librarian to show you.
The following examples are sourced from the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 5th ed.
Book
Author's surname, Author's initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.
Merry, G 1997, Food poisoning prevention, 2nd ed., Macmillan Education Australia, Melbourne.
Chapter in a book
Author's surname, Author's initial(s) Year of publication, 'Chapter title' in Editors (eds), Title, Publisher, Place of publication.
Bryant, SL 1989, 'Growth, development and breeding patterns of the long-nosed potoroo', in G Grigg, P Jarman & I Hume (eds), Kangaroos, wallabies and rat kangaroos...
Journal or magazine
Author's surname, Author's initial(s) Year of publication, 'Title of article', Title of Journal, volume, issue, page numbers.
Marchelier, PM & Hughes, RG 1997 'New problems with foodborne diseases', Medical Journal of Australia, vol.275, pp. 771-75
Newspaper article
(If the article cites no author, provide details like title, date and page numbers in the in-text citation. If you do this there is no need to put an entry in the reference list).
Author's surname, Author's initial(s) Year of publication, 'Title of article', Title of newspaper, date, page number(s).
Towers, K 2000, 'Doctor not at fault: coroner', Australian, 18 January, p.3.
Website
Author (person or organisation responsible for the site) site date (date of site's creation or latest update), name and place of the sponsor of the site, viewed date, ‹ URL (web address) ›.
Department of Finance and Administration 2001, Department of Finance and Administration, Canberra, viewed 7th August 2001, ‹ http://www.finance.gov.au ›.
Video or DVD
Title date of recording, format (video recording, motion picture, television programme), publisher, place of recording.
Grumpy meets the orchestra 1992, video recording, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney.
SEARCH THE CATALOGUE
The Online catalogue is available via the LLC website. To find LLC resources on referencing use these key terms:
- Authorship
- English language - Composition and exercises
Also refer to Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers 808.02 STY
If you need extra help, ask a librarian! You can do this in person, over the phone (9279 2428), or send email to LLC.
