Referencing
Sandra Charles (s.charles@dundee.ac.uk)
February 2007
What is referencing?
An important process of acknowledging
another person’s ideas used in
constructing essays or reports
The main purpose of referencing
is to help the reader to locate and
check the source, if required.
Referencing Styles
Applied Computing students use
the Harvard System of Referencing
or APA (American Psychological
Association)
Terms used in referencing
The citation
The reference
The bibliography
Citations using Harvard
Writing can be a playful and creative
activity (Bolton 2005).
Bolton (2005) suggests that writing can be
a creative and playful activity.
A direct quote includes page number(s), e.g.
“Career development starts with an
assessment of where you are and then
determining where you want to be”
(Turner 2007 p.34).
More citations
If you use more than one reference for an idea
in your essay, list these using semi-colons.
For example…
There are many definitions in the literature of
reflection, most however agree that it is an active,
conscious process (Dewey 1933; Boud 1985; Schon
1987; Reid 1993).
Differences between Harvard and APA
citation
1. Harvard: (Handy 1995)
APA: (Handy, 1995)
2. Harvard: (Sherman and Judkins 1995)
APA: (Sherman &Judkins, 1995)
3. Harvard: (Saunders et al. 2003)
APA: (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2003)
What does a Harvard reference
list look like?
How-to-Study.com (n.d.) A strategy for reading textbooks.
How-to-Study.com. http://www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm
(Accessed on 13.10.06).
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2006). The smarter student:
skills and strategies for success at university. Harlow:
Pearson.
Yang, Z. and Liu, Q. (2007) Research and development of
web-based virtual online classroom. Computers & Education,
48(2), pp. 171-184.
Referencing a book
– different conventions
Books by single authors
Books by several authors
Books with editors rather than authors
Books written by organisations rather than people
(‘corporate authors’)
Books with chapters written by different people
Books by one author (Harvard)
The Template
Surname of author, Initial(s). (Date)
Book title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Example
Yate, M. J. (2005) Great answers to
tough interview questions. 6th ed.
London: Kogan Page.
Other references for books
Books by two or three authors
Cantoni, L. and Tardini, S. (2006) Internet. Abingdon:
Routledge.
[citation: (Cantoni and Tardini 2006)]
Books by four or more authors
Turban, E., Rainer, R. K., Potter, R. E. and
Other, A. N.(2005) Introduction to
information technology. Hoboken: Wiley.
[citation: (Turban et al. 2005)]
More book references
Books with editors
Fishwick, P. (ed.) (2006) Aesthetic
computing. London: MIT Press.
Chapters or articles in an edited book
Chapman, G. Taming the computer. In
M. Dery (1994) Flame Wars. Durham,
N.C.: Duke University Press.
Referencing an article
Two main types of reference:
Articles from journals or periodicals
Articles from newspapers
Articles in a journal
Template
Author, Initial(s). (Date) Title of article. Journal title, Volume
number (part number), page numbers.
Example
Kay, R. (2006) Addressing gender differences in computer
ability, attitudes and use: the laptop effect. Journal of
Educational Computing Research, Vol 34(2), 187-211.
Articles in a newspaper
Template
Date. Title of article. Newspaper name, page
number.
Example
8th February 2007. Students rally over cuts at
university. Dundee Courier, 10.
Referencing websites
Template
Author surname, Initial. Title of article.
Available: url date accessed
Example
Sloman, A. Why computing education has failed and
how to fix it.
Available:
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/coga
ff/misc/compedu.html 14/02/07
Useful online resources
Advance at Dundee (for Harvard)
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/
Learn Higher - Referencing
http://www.learnhigher.org.uk/site/index.php
Purdue University (for APA)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/