Referencing Styles
Whenever you include a fact or piece of information in an essay you must also include where and how you
found that piece of information. Even if you 'just know it', it has to come from somewhere. This is because you
are not just being tested on what you know, but rather what you are able to find out and what you think it
means.
Two types of referencing are needed in academic writing:
1. In-text referencing: You need to cite (acknowledge) the direct quotes or paraphrased findings of other
authors within the main body of your assignment. The format for a citation depends on the type of
referencing style used.
2. Reference list: This is placed at the end of your assignment and includes all the references you have cited
in your main text. The format for a referencing list depends on the type of referencing style used. Here is a
short guide to those that are the most commonly used:
APA (American Psychological Association) is an author/date based style (Liang, Zhong & Rosseau., 2014).
“This means emphasis is placed on the author and the date of a piece of work to uniquely identify it” (Liang,
Zhong, Rosseau., 2014, p.5).
e.g. Liang, L., Zhong, Z., Rosseau, R. (2014). Scientists’ referencing (mis)behavior revealed by the
dissemination network of referencing errors. Scientometrics, 101:1973–1986.
Harvard is very similar to APA (Liang, Zhong, Rosseau 2014). Where APA is primarily used in the USA, Harvard
referencing is the most well used referencing style in the UK and Australia, and “is encouraged for use with the
Humanities” (Liang, Zhong, Rosseau 2014).
e.g. Liang, L, Zhong, Z, Rosseau, R 2014. ‘Scientists’ referencing (mis)behavior revealed by the
dissemination network of referencing errors’. Scientometrics, vol. 101, pp 1973–1986.
Vancouver is mainly used in medical and scientific papers1. It makes use of ordered numbers corresponding to
your reference list.
1. Liang L, Zhong Z, Rosseau, R. Scientists’ referencing (mis)behavior revealed by the dissemination
network of referencing errors. Scientometrics, 2014; 101:1973–1986.
For more a detailed guide please see the following:
APA - http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/content.php?pid=219615&sid=2249614
Harvard – http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/content.php?pid=43218&sid=318559
Vancouver - http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/content.php?pid=279406&sid=2301548
Compiled by: Taahira Moola, 2015