This guide gives a brief introduction to citing and referencing. It also highlights useful tools which can help you manage references and save you time when formatting citations and creating bibliographies.
Please also check referencing requirements and guidance made available by your School. If you are not sure which citation style your School requires, check with your supervisor.
Cite them right online is designed to help you reference print, electronic or performance sources accurately. The website has been developed from the book Cite them right: the essential referencing guide by Richard Pears and Graham Shields.
Overviews/guides to the following styles are available:
APA 7th
Harvard
Chicago
IEEE
MHRA
MLA (9th)
OSCOLA
Vancouver
When writing a piece of work, it is essential to give accurate references to all the sources you have used, so that:
The Learning Development Service offers one-to-one support for undergraduates.
Instructions for Authors in the Health Sciences - The Mulford Health Science Library at the University of Toledo has gathered links to author pages for Health Science publications
OSCOLA (the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) has been adopted by the Law School at Queen's for legal referencing
Most journal publishers include an 'instructions to authors' guide on their web pages. These usually include some information on the referencing system they prefer:
There are many different referencing styles to choose from, but two major styles are Harvard (or Author-Date System) and Vancouver (or Numeric System). These styles are outlined below.
Please note: individual Schools/Departments or journal publishers will often use a 'house-style' or variant of one of these systems. It is always advisable to check with your supervisor or editor about their preferred referencing style.
The easiest way to manage references is to use a reference management service that will automatically format citations and bibliographies for you. A number of available services are outlined in the "Reference management" tab of this guide.
In Harvard, the originator's name and year of publication of the cited document are given after each citation:
Predictability has been defined as the knowledge the person has about when and under what circumstances an event will occur (Miller, 1981).
References are arranged at the end of the text in alphabetical order, and also by year and letter, if necessary:
MILLER, S.M. (1981) Predictability and human stress: toward a clarification of evidence and theory. In: L. Berkowitz ed., Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 14, Academic Press, New York, pp.203-255.
For more information on using Harvard, click here (PDF).
In Vancouver, numerals are used in the text (usually in parentheses) to refer to cited documents:
Adhesion to dentin is often promoted by acid pre-treatment [1]. The maintenance of conformation is important for facilitating the penetration of bonding materials [2].
References are listed at the end of the text in numerical order:
For more information on using Vancouver, click here
Citing books and print journal articles is usually straightforward. Citing electronic references can be trickier, but remember: the same basic style rules apply as when citing printed references. Click on the links in the Harvard and Vancouver boxes above for examples of references to electronic sources.
Quite often with electronic sources, basic elements of a reference may be missing (e.g. author, publication date). As guidance, the British Standard Information and documentation - Bibliographic reference - Part 2: Electronic documents or part thereof (BS ISO 690-2:1997) states that:
"Elements are required only if you have no reason to suspect that an article in an electronic version of a journal is different from the document itself or its accompanying material."
So, if you have no reason to suspect that an article in an electronic version of a journal is different from the printed version, then you can simply reference it as you would the printed version.
Need more help with referencing?
The Learning Development Service (LDS) at Queen’s provides academic skills support to undergraduate students both on-course (as part of taught degree programmes) and via individual one-to-one engagement. LDS offers guidance on referencing and other academic skills, including time management, exam preparation, academic writing, academic integrity, and research. You may encounter LDS as part of your taught modules, where they offer Canvas-based learning resources and associated live workshops. You can access these resources at go.qub.ac.uk/LDSskills. Alternatively, you can book a one-to-one academic skills appointment with a member of the LDS team at go.qub.ac.uk/LDSbookings
Your subject librarian may also be able to help with referencing questions. Please contact them directly, or ask at your nearest library enquiry desk.