Bibliography and references

Why must I compile a bibliography?

To acknowledge use of other people's work. Even if you refer to, or cite another researcher's work only in order to disagree with it, you have made use of their intellectual property and you must acknowledge it.
To help readers of your own work follow how your argument was assembled and what your influences are - to help them form their own opinions on your work.
If you use someone else's work without acknowledgement you risk facing charges of plagiarism. This is an offence which the University takes very seriously.

Choosing a citation style

There are different styles of reference prescribed by various organisations. The examples below are in the MLA style but there are several other well-known styles e.g. Harvard style, Vancouver style!. More information about the various styles are set out in the style manuals which are shelved in the Reference Section at R 029.6: these cover things like how quotations should be set out within your text as well as how your footnotes and bibliography should look.

If your department specifies a style for bibliographies in work submitted for assessment, you should always prefer this style this may be set out in your course handbook!. Otherwise, once you have settled on a style, apply it consistently throughout the work. Make sure that you are using an up-to-date version of the style.

Common to all styles of citation are the use of footnotes and a bibliography.

Footnotes give additional information on points raised in the text. Consecutive numbers within the text refer readers to the individual footnotes. The footnotes can be at the bottom of each page, or all together at the end of the text depending on the style you are using!. Where your footnotes identify another publication you have consulted for this work, they usually indicate the precise place to which you refer in this publication e.g. the page from which you are quoting, the chapter you are summarising!.

The bibliography is normally at the very end of the text, and lists all the works you have quoted or used. In most styles they are listed in alphabetical order by author. Unlike most footnotes, bibliography entries refer to, or cite, the book or article as a whole, not particular bits within it. EVERY work you cite in footnotes should be in the bibliography, but the bibliography can also include works which are not in the footnotes i.e. works you have looked at but not quoted directly in the text.

Referencing within the text

When do I create a footnote?

Every time you quote directly from someone's work:

make clear it is a quotation put it in quotation marks!
make a footnote in your essay
list it in your bibliography

Evey time you refer indirectly to someone's work e.g. summarise their argument, or paraphrase what they say!:

make clear what you are saying comes from another source e.g. “I cannot agree with Lapping's claim that ....”!
footnote it
list it in your bibliography

How do I set out a citation within my text?

You may be using several different types of published and unpublished source. Your style may call for a different way of setting things out but the information to be included will be the same.

The following examples show references within the text of an essay, and the footnotes associated with them appear as examples below. These use the MLA style.

e.g. Austen describes Mrs Bennet as “a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper” 1! and contrasts her with....

e.g. ... and the “empty-headed” Maria Lucas 2! is no comfort to her either.

e.g. Austen's description of Pemberley 3! is based on no particular house...

e.g. Barrow 4! gives a rather different account of the tactics at Bannockburn, but his overall interpretation of events is the same as...

Footnotes

Footnotes to books, anthologies, journal articles, web pages and other non-print resources, unpublished material

Footnotes to a book

1. Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice London: Penguin, 1985 p53

2. Sellar, W.C. and Yeatman, R. J. 1066 and all that London: Mandarin, 1991 Ch 2

All styles of footnotes to books include:

authors / editors - all of them. Some styles recommend surname first, others don't. For organisations, put the name in full e.g. Central Statistical Agency, not CSA!.
title in full - underlined or in bold
place of publication as given on title page - if there are several, use only the one relevant to the country this edition was published in!
publisher NOT the printer!
year of THE EDITION YOU USED
if this edition is not the first, then the number of this edition e.g. 3rd edn 1987!
page number s! or chapter referred to

Footnotes to a section in an anthology, collected papers etc.

3. O'Donovan, Kath. “Management issues” in CD-ROM in libraries: management issues ed. Terry Hanson and Joan Day. London: Bowker Saur, 1994: 23-37 p 33!

All styles of footnotes to anthologies or collections include:

author s! of the paper
title of the paper - in quotation marks, to distinguish it from the book title
in, then details of the book, as for a book citation
first and last pages of the chapter you are citing
page s! you are citing

Footnotes to a periodical article

4. Harris, Steve and Hyland, Terry “Basic skills and learning support in further education” Journal of Further and Higher Education, 19 1995!: 42-48 p44-45!

All styles of footnotes to anthologies or collections include:

author s! of the article
article title - in quotation marks
periodical title some styles permit the use of abbreviations but it' usually better to give the full title for the sake of clarity!
volume number and year most styles do not ask for the part number!
first and last pages of the article
page or pages you are citing

If referring to a magazine-type periodicals with no volume number, give the date of the issue:

5. Toynbee, Polly “Our unhealthy obsession with medical drama” Radio Times 12th October 1995: 21

Footnotes to a web page

Information from the Internet is a particular problem because web sites change so often. Your reference should contain AT LEAST the title of the page, the URL, the name of the person or institution who produced it, and the date you retrieved the information. An undated reference may call your accuracy into doubt if someone follows it up and find the original no longer exists. For example:

7. Wyatt, Rick Ellison Webderland: the Harlan Ellison Homepage http://www.menagerie.net/ellison/ellihome.html 1st October 1996

Footnotes to other non-print resources

There is little agreement on how to reference information from sources like film, multimedia, computer bulletin boards or broadcasts. But materials in this form are the intellectual property of their originators in the same way that printed information is, and uses of them should be referenced. If your department or chosen style offers no guidance on this, consult your supervisor.

Footnotes to unpublished sources

If you are quoting something someone has told you, or put in a letter to you, about their ideas or research especially if it is not yet published!, you should footnote it. A reference of this sort would appear in the text as, for example:

... but preliminary results from research by Beryl Morris at South Bank University indicate that violence in libraries is on the increase 8!. This suggests...

and in the footnote as:

8. Personal communication, 12th August 1995.

or whatever format your style prescribes!. Personal communications are not usually included in the bibliography, but the person should get a mention in your acknowledgements.

If you footnote the same book or article more than once, you don't have to give full details in subsequent footnotes. The most common form for subsequent footnotes is:

2. Austen, Jane op. cit., p 188

6. Harris and Hyland, op. cit., p 41

author's name s!
op. cit. some styles omit this!
page number s! you're citing this time

If you use more than one book or article by the same author or authors you may need to put a bit more detail in subsequent footnotes to make yourself clear. Title of book or year of article is usually enough. Again, check the details of your particular style.

2. Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice,p 188

6. Harris and Hyland 1995!, p41

What should be included in my bibliography?

As a rule, the same details as a first footnote EXCEPT for the footnote number and any reference to a specific page/section of the work. A bibliography made up of the examples given above would look like this:

Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice London: Penguin, 1985

Harris, Steve and Hyland, Terry “Basic skills and learning support in further education”, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 19 1995!: 42-48

O'Donovan, Kath “Management issues” in CD-ROM in libraries: management issues ed. Terry Hanson and Joan Day. London: Bowker Saur, 1994. 23-37

Sellar, W. C. and Yeatman, R. J. 1066 and all that London: Mandarin, 1991

Toynbee, Polly “Our unhealthy obsession with medical drama” Radio Times 12th October 1995: 21

Wyatt, Rick Ellison Webderland: the Harlan Ellison Homepage www.menagerie.net/ellison/ellihome.html 1st October 1996

If you are citing more than one article/paper from a volume/collection, you must give a complete citation for each article/paper, and NOT just one entry for that volume.

You should footnote a work each time you cite it, but it should only appear in the bibliography once.

Other people' diagrams, pictures and tables; and other people' questionnaires and interview schedules

These are usually copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the author and/or publisher. Check with your supervisor about any material of this kind you want to reproduce in your text.

Putting together your references - some hints

DO IT AS YOU GO ALONG - keep a list of the works you look at as you look at them, perhaps on index cards or in a computer package such as EndNote. See the guide to using EndNote with Library resources.
If you write down a potentially useful quotation, write down the reference along with it.
If you photocopy something to read later, make sure that all the information you will need for your reference is on the photocopy -if it isn't, write it on NOW.
NEVER rely on memory to supply missing information. CHECK EVERYTHING.
NEVER leave referencing until the last minute. If the work you're referring to is not your own personal copy you may not get it again to check.
Make sure your footnote numbers are consecutive, have no gaps, and tally with the footnotes themselves.
Make sure every source and/or person you cite is footnoted clearly.
Make sure every source you footnote is in the bibliography.
Make sure you are using the required style.
Make sure you are using your style consistently.

AND ALLOW PLENTY OF TIME FOR FINAL CHECKING, BY YOU AND BY YOUR SUPERVISOR.