Citation and Referencing:
In the citation, you acknowledge the source of a specific part of the text in the article or assignment. On
the other hand, in referencing an entire list of sources which have been referred and backs the argument of
the author, is provided at the end of the document or article. It is just a form of credit which the author gives
to the person’s whose ideas has been borrowed in the work.
While writing an article, one must quote or refer to the original source of the information, fact or idea, from
which it has been taken. It not just to supports your own points, but also to prevent plagiarism and denote
that a variety of sources are used to write the piece. And so, the author provides citations, which are
correspondingly mentioned under the head reference, indicating the complete details of the resource.
Definition of Citation
In the citation, the author cites or refer to the source in the text to represent that the information is derived
from an external source and to mention that source, in brief. Basically, it is an abbreviated reference, which
you can find in the main body of the article or assignment, addressing the source of a quote, image, video,
paraphrase, chart, table, etc. Due to this very reason, it is also called as “in-text citation”, which includes a
set of parenthesis.
Citation is like a credit to the author, editor or publisher, for their work and to help the readers in consulting
the same source when they want more information in this regard. While citing the source of information in
the document, you indicate the last name of author and year of publication.
Definition of Reference
Reference can be understood as the list of items which you have read and considered in your piece of work.
While providing references, the author actually tells its readers about what kind of source he/she has used
in the document. Along with that it also helps the readers to identify the difference between the author’s
words, theories and ideas and those of other authors. Further, it helps the reader to refer to the source for
further information in that area, whenever required.
You can find references at the end of the document or article (before bibliography), in alphabetical order,
by the first or main author’s last name. One should always use a genuine, reliable and authentic source of
information, to ensure support, credence and authority, to the information, ideas and arguments stated.
Reference can be given to books, articles from journals, legal documents, webpage, blogs, official report
of government departments and agencies, interview transcripts, conference papers, newspaper articles,
films, television, video, etc.
Key Differences Between Citation and Reference
The difference between citation and reference can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:
1. Meaning: Citation can be understood as a formal abbreviated reference, in the main part of your
text, which clearly and uniquely identifies the author and publication year, from which the details
are derived. On the other hand, a reference list is nothing but a list of resources which you have
used particularly for writing your article or assignment and also while performing the research.
2. Use: With the help of citation, you inform your readers, about the source, from where the
information is extracted. As against, in the case of reference, the reader gets to know about the
complete source of information.
3. Purpose: Citations are mainly used to show the source of the material taken. Conversely,
references are mainly used to support or critique an argument or point.
4. Placement: While reference is found as endnote or at the end of the page, the citation is the
bracketed piece of information, which informs the reader about the source of material.
5. Information: it comes to information, the reference provides more information than citation. A
reference provides all the details of the source, such as author’s name, the title of the book, date of
publication and page number, whereas in citation provides a few details only such as year of
publication and last name of the author.
There are two main systems used in the United Kingdom: the Harvard system (sometimes referred to
as the Author-Date system) and the British Standard (Numeric) system. Descriptions of these systems
are provided below, together with examples of their use.
HARVARD SYSTEM (AUTHOR-DATE):
In text citation:
•
Within the text of an assignment, the Harvard system requires that the author's surname is
mentioned with the date of publication of the item. This applies where a direct quote is
given:
“Organization design is more often than not assumed to be the organization structure.” Stanford
(2014, p7)
•
•
or where the work is referred to: ...assumptions around organisation design have recently been
challenged (Stanford 2014),
to the extent that... When more than one publication by the same author, published in the same
year, is cited, then lower case letters are used to differentiate the items i.e. (2014a), (2014b).
For example: "Organization design is more often than not assumed to be the organization structure."
Stanford (2014a, p7)
•
In cases where more than two authors are responsible for a publication the first author's name is
stated, followed by the term 'et al' (in italics) and the date of publication.
For example: Stanford et al (2014) concluded that...
Whichever referencing system you use, you need to include the page number after the year of
publication if it is a direct quotation.
Referencing: In the referencing, at the end of the assignment, the items are listed alphabetically by
the author's name. If an author has been acknowledged more than once, with different publication
dates, then the items are listed in chronological order with the earliest item being listed first. The
lower case letters used to differentiate publications in the same year are also included in alphabetical
order.
The information required for books and journal articles using the Harvard system is as follows in
the examples below.
Books:
Author's surname and initials (Year of publication) Title (in italics). Edition (if not the first). Place
of publication: Publisher.
› Example: Stanford, N. (2014) Organization design. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Chapters or contributions in a book
Contributor's surname and initials (Year of publication) Book chapter title. ‘In:’ Author/editor of the
publication surname, initials. Title of book. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher,
Page number/s of the contribution. ›
Example: Coffey, B. S. and Anderson, S. E. (2013) Leadership at the edge of the summit. In:
Giannantonio, C. M. and Hurley-Hanson, A. E., eds., Extreme leadership. 3rd ed. Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar, pp. 72-82.
Journal articles
Author's surname and initials (Year of publication) Title of article. Title of journal (in italics), Volume
number (Part number in brackets), Page number/s.
Example: Nunes, P. F. et al, (2013) Converting the nonstop customer into a loyal customer.
Strategy and Leadership, 41 (5), pp. 48-53.
BRITISH STANDARD (NUMERIC) SYSTEM
In text citation
Within the text of a report or essay the citation is assigned a number which runs consecutively. This
applies where a direct quotation is given:
“Organization design is more often than not assumed to be the organization structure.” (1, p7)
or where the work is referred to: ...assumptions around organisation design have recently been
challenged (1), to the extent that...
Bibliography
In your main bibliography, the references should appear sequentially in the order in which they
appeared in the text.
The format of references in the numeric system is largely the same as in the Harvard system.
However, the date should be near the end of the reference, rather than after the author’s name.
As with Harvard referencing, if you are referring to several page numbers, you need to precede the
page numbers with ‘pp.’ rather than ‘p’.