Referencing is an aid to 'follow-up study' and a way of preventing plagiarism. The point of it is to enable a reader to access the information being referred to without too much trouble. There are various methods of referencing, including the Footnote system which can now be managed automatically by computer, but the most common seems to be the Harvard system - therefore this is the one I have given in detail. The most important thing to remember is that in any piece you write you must be consistent; that is you must use the same system throughout. Generally, though, the information that you need to give your reader to enable him or her to access the information referred to is the Author, Title, Publisher & Date. With this information it should be possible to follow up on the information being referred to, to check on it or read it up in full. If the page number is also given this is clearly a helpful further aid.

THE HARVARD SYSTEM:

This is the most common system of referencing, and is used in most books, articles and academic documents. It allows the writer to give minimal information in the text (last name and date), and the full information is entered in a list at the end. There seem to be slight variations in detail in different academic disciplines so it's as well to check with tutors, but if you follow these guidelines you won't be far wrong:

IN THE TEXT:

When quoting, or referring to, the work of an author in your text, you put the author's name and the date of publication in brackets just after you've mentioned it. If you have already mentioned the name of the author then you just need to put the date in brackets. Examples: 1. Work has been carried out with parents diagnosed as having a mental illness (Smith, 1998)..... 2. Smith has carried out work with parents diagnosed as having a mental illness (1998)......

If there are two authors, then put both names down, together with the date, as above. If more than two, then name the principle author and add 'et al'. Examples: 1. Work has been carried out with parents diagnosed as having a mental illness (Smith & Jones, 1998)..... 2. Smith et al carried out work with parents diagnosed as having a mental illness (1998).....

If there is more than one work being referred to then the publications should be ordered chronologically. Example: Various research has been done into children who are bereaved (Smith, 1978; Jones, 1998).....

If there is more than one reference in the same year they are ordered in the following categories: single author first, two authors second, multiple authors last. If there are more than one in the same year and in the same category, then they are sub-ordered alphabetically. Example: Various research has been done into children who are bereaved (Greene, 1978; Greene & Smith, 1978; Greene & Timms, 1978; Jones et al, 1978).....

AT THE END OF THE TEXT:

Having given two bits of information in the text itself, you then need to put the full information in a list at the end - this list must be in alphabetical order of authors' last names. It usually comes immediately before the index (if you have one, and if the index does not appear at the beginning in the form of a 'Contents' page). The rules are as follows:

Each reference should contain the following, in this order:
For a book: Author's last name, first name or initial (if known). Title of the work (preferably in italics). Publisher. Date of publication. Page number if known ('p.' for one page, 'pp.' for more than one, for example 'p.18' or 'pp.120-5').
For a journal article: Author's last name, first name or initial (if known). "Title of the article" (preferably in quotes). Title of the journal (preferably in italics). Date of publication. Volume number and page number if known [you can use the short 'vol' if you want, or miss even that out - 'Volume 24, pp.120-5', or 'Vol. 24, pp.120-5', or just '24: 120-5' (with the '24' in bold)].

FURTHER REFINEMENTS:

If there are several references with the same name or principle author then put the single authored works first, then the double ones then the 'et als'.

If there are references that are still identical within these categories then put them in date order.

If there are references that are identical and that even have the same author in the same year, then label them 'a' and'b'. Example:
Richards, Greene & Thomas. "What the Butler Saw". Kingston Press. 1978a. p.123.
Richards, Bell & Smith. "What the Butler Missed". Kingston Press. 1978b. p.456.

REFERENCING ELECTRONIC SOURCES:

There is, so far, no formally agreed convention for referencing information from a website, but it is safe to assume that the usual basic information is necessary - i.e. author, title and date. For the internet this is much more complicated because you can't always find out who the author and date is but if it is not stated you can sometimes get it by looking at the HTML 'source'. Try it with this page: right click anywhere over the page and a small dialogue box will appear - click on the 'View Source'. This will give you the source code for the page (this method applies to the Explorer browser - if you are using Netscape, go to 'VIEW' in the Menu Bar, then 'Page Info'). Near the top of the page you will find 'Meta tags' and one of these should be the author - on mine you'll see "META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT= "RICHARD PITCAIRN". You can also sometimes find the date using this method. These tags are not present in all pages but it's worth a try.

The title is also more complicated - you need the title of the page, and its URL (website address), and the title of the site and its URL - this is the equivalent of the 'publisher'.

Remember that the purpose of referencing is to enable the reader to access the information at a later date. Websites are notorious for their tendency to disappear overnight! It is a good idea to print out any page that you use (they nearly always have the full URL on them at the bottom) and keep them in case you need to justify your reference at a later date.

Much of the text on the Internet was originally published elsewhere, so you may have access to the original source in the library. Citing the primary source is an option - in fact it is preferable. Use articles that have a named author whenever possible since not every source on the Internet is reliable.

The types of resources that are available on-line include information from the following. However the usefulness of some of them for academic work is, I think, limited:

World Wide Web (WWW)
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
HyperText Transfer Protocol (http)
Listservs
Telnet sites
Texts generated during synchronous conferencing
Texts archived and retrieved from Gopher sites
Communications posted by e-mail
Communications from newsgroups

Here are some examples:

Web Site:
Author’s last name, first name (if known). Title of Document. Main title if applicable. Last date updated or revised. URL [protocol and address] (Date accessed).

Usenet News:
Author's last name, first name. author's e-mail address. "Subject Line." Date of publication. Newsgroup. (Date accessed).

FTP:
Author's last name, first name (if known). "Title of Document." (Document date if available). Address of the ftp site with full path (Date accessed).

Telnet:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of Work." Title of complete work if applicable. Document date, URL (Date accessed).

E-mail:
Author's last name, first name. Author's e-mail address. "Subject Line." Date of post. Personal e-mail. (Date read).

Mailing List:
Author's last name, first name (if known). Author's e-mail address. "Subject line." Date of post. Mailing list address (Date accessed).

Gopher:
Author's last name, first name (if known). "Title of Document." Any print publication information (if applicable). Gopher address (Date accessed).

Remember that the rules for citing Internet sources still differ according to your area of study, so always check with your tutor/professor to see if s/he has a set of guidelines for citing Internet sources.

The above guide to electronic sources is taken from Florida State University's website - Arnzen's "Cyber Citations" article, based on Harnack's "Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet,". To see the full page go to their citing page.

Although there is no internationally agreed style there are various 'standard' styles developing - 'MLA' & 'Chicago' for the humanities, 'APA' & 'CBE' for sciences, and others. You can see full guides to these at the Reference Guide to Using Internet Resources: Citation Styles, and the 'CGOS style' at The Columbia University Press page.

Here's something else that may be helpful: The Study Skills Survival Guide from South Bank University, London. All sorts fo really useful advice for studying at all levels. Timing, reading, notes, structure, projects, reports, seminars, presentations, using books, references, etc.

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