- If the book is a new edition or a revised edition this information needs
to be included (this is usually placed after the title of the book) eg. a
second revised edition would be recorded as 2nd rev. ed.
- If there are multiple authors make sure you put all of them into the reference.
They should be recorded in the order that they appear in the text (in other
words you don't take it upon yourself to alphabetise their names).
- When you're recording the place of publication don't write the country.
It is usual practice to only record the city or town. However, if it's a
small town, for example, Upper Saddle River, you would also need to record
the state where this town is located ie. NJ. This informs the reader that
this town is in New Jersey, a fact that they probably would not otherwise
be familiar with.
- Don't number your entries in a reference list.
- Recording the date that you accessed an internet site is only necessary
for the reference list. You don't include this information in your reference
in the body of the assignment.
- When it comes to alphabetising internet sites that can get tricky. One
way to do this is to alphabetise any internet sites that contain information
about author's/organisations/titles as you would normally ie. integrate them
with all your other sources. When you only have the URL then it's probably
best to just put these references at the end of the list as alphabetising
is tricky and largely pointless.
- Some sources you use may not been published. If that is the case then
you can explain this as:
Smith, P (1981) The catchment areas of the Lockyer Valley (unpublished
manuscript).
At first, the plethora of referencing styles may be very confusing but with
practise you will get the hang of it. Just make sure you use a style that's
suitable for your needs and those of your discipline. Be consistent and spend
some time editing and proofreading your work.
Your learning guides will provide information about the specific referencing
style required by your lecturer. This information may also be available in
Style Guides put out by your school. If in doubt do get in contact with your
lecturer or tutor and ask for clarification.
For more information on documenting well see the Using
and integrating sources and Avoiding plagiarism.
Useful
links in this kit
Using and integrating sources
Avoiding plagiarism
