Writing a list of references

At the end of all pieces of academic writing, you need a list of materials that you have used or
referred to. This usually has a heading: references but may be bibliography or works cited
depending on the conventions of the system you use.
The object of your writing is for you to say something for yourself using the ideas of the subject,
for you to present ideas you have learned in your own way. The emphasis should be on working
with other peoples ideas, rather than reproducing their words. The ideas and people that you
refer to need to be made explicit by a system of referencing. This consists of a list of materials
that you have used at the end of the piece of writing and references to this list at various points
throughout the essay. The purpose of this is to supply the information needed to allow a user to
find a source.
Therefore, at the end of your assignment you need a list of the materials you have used - a
bibliography or a reference list.
There are many ways of writing a list of references - check with your department for specific
information.

The most common system is called the Harvard system. There is no definitive version of
the Harvard system and most universities have their own. But the one used here - the
American Psychological Association style - is well known and often used (American
Psychological Association, 1983, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2010).

Click here or see Gibaldi (2003) and Modern Languages Association (1998, 2009) for
another way.

Many scientists use a numerical system, often called the Vancouver style or BS 1629.
Click here or see International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1991) for more
information.

A good overview can be found in Pears & Shields (2008).

1. Example
References
Abercrombie, D. (1968). Paralanguage. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 3, 5559.
Barr, P., Clegg, J. & Wallace, C. (1981). Advanced reading skills. London: Longman.
Chomsky, N. (1973). Linguistic theory. In J. W. Oller & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Focus on the
learner (pp. 29-35). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.

Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1983). An introduction to language. London: Holt-Saunders.

Guiora, A. Z., Paluszny, M., Beit-Hallahmi, B., Catford, J. C., Cooley, R. E. & Dull, C. Y.
(1975). Language and person: Studies in language behaviour. Language Learning, 25, 43-61.
GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/usersurveys/survey1997-10/
Kinsella, V. (Ed.). (1978). Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Lipinsky, E. & Bender, R. (1980). Critical voices on the economy. Survey, 25, 38-42.
Oller, J. W. & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (1973). Focus on the learner. Rowley, Massachusetts:
Newbury House.
Longman dictionary of contemporary English. (1978). London: Longman.
Smith, F. (1978). Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stern, H. H. & Weinrib, A. (1978). Foreign languages for younger children: Trends and
assessment. In V. Kinsella (Ed.), Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys (pp. 152-172).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

NOTES
Use heading: References.
Page numbers should be included for all articles in journals and in collections.
Use italics (or underlining in handwriting) for titles of books, periodicals, newspapers etc.
Use alphabetical order. Alphabetise works with no author by the first significant word in the title.
All co-authors should be listed.
Indent second etc. lines
Use (n.d.) if no date is given.
If the author of a document is not given, begin the reference with the title of the document.
^

2. Books
a. One author:
Smith, F. (1978). Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
b. Two authors:

Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1983). An introduction to language. London: Holt-Saunders.

c. More than two authors:
Barr, P., Clegg, J. & Wallace, C. (1981). Advanced reading skills. London: Longman.
d. Edited collections:
Kinsella, V. (Ed.). (1978). Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Oller, J. W. & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (1973). Focus on the learner. Rowley, Massachusetts:
Newbury House.
e. Book, corporate author:
British Council Teaching Information Centre. (1978). Pre-sessional courses for overseas
students. London: British Council.
f. Book, no author, or editor:
Longman dictionary of contemporary English. (1978). London: Longman.
The Times atlas of the world (5th ed.). (1975). New York: New York Times.
g. Book, third edition:
Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1983). An introduction to language (3rd ed.). London: HoltSaunders.
h. Book, revised edition:
Cohen, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences (rev. ed.). New York:
Plenum Press.
i. Non-English book:
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1951). La gense de lide de hasard chez lenfant [The origin of the
idea of danger in the child]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
j. English translation of a book:
Luria, A. R. (1969). The mind of a mnemonist (L. Solotaroff, Trans.). New York: Avon Books.
(Original work published 1965)
k. Books or articles, two or more by the same author in the same year:

Lyons, J. (1981a). Language and linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lyons, J. (1981b). Language, meaning and context. London: Fontana.
^

3. Periodical articles
a. One author:
Abercrombie, D. (1968). Paralanguage. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 3, 5559.
b. Two authors:
Lipinsky, E. & Bender, R. (1980). Critical voices on the economy. Survey, 25, 38-42.
c. More than two authors:
Guiora, A. Z., Paluszny, M., Beit-Hallahmi, B., Catford, J. C., Cooley, R. E. & Dull, C. Y.
(1975). Language and person: Studies in language behaviour. Language Learning, 25, 43-61.
d. Review of a book:
Carmody, T. P. (1982). A new look at medicine from a social perspective [Review of the book
Social contexts of health, illness and patient care, by E. G. Mishler, L. R. Amarasingham, S. D.
Osherson, S. T. Hauser, N. E. Waxler & R. Liem]. Contemporary Psychology, 27, 208-209.
e. Review of a book, no title:
Maley, A. (1994). [Review of the book Critical language awareness, by N. Fairclough]. Applied
Linguistics, 15, 348-350.
f. Magazine article:
Gardner, H. (1981, December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, 70-76.
g. Newspaper article:
James, R. (1991, December 15). Obesity affects economic social status. The Guardian, p. 18
h. Newspaper/Magazine article, no author:
Acid attack scarred girl for life. (1986, October 21). The Guardian, p. 4.
(In the essay use a short form of the title for citation: ("Acid Attack." 1986))

i. Newspaper article, letter to the editor:

Hain, P. (1986, October 21). The police protection that women want [Letter to the editor]. The
Guardian, p. 4.
j. Journal article, in press:
Johns, A. M. (in press) Written argumentation for real audiences. TESOL Quarterly.
^

4. Selections from edited collections

a. One author:
Chomsky, N. (1973). Linguistic theory. In J. W. Oller & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Focus on the
learner (pp. 29-35). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.
b. Two authors:
Stern, H. H. & Weinrib, A. (1978). Foreign languages for younger children: Trends and
assessment. In V. Kinsella (Ed.), Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys (pp. 152-172).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
c. One author, second edition:
Wadeson, H. (2001). An eclectic approach to art therapy. In J. A. Rubin (Ed.), Approaches to art
therapy: Theory and technique (2nd ed., pp. 306-318). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
^

5. CD ROMs etc
a. Newspaper or magazine on CD-ROM:
Gardner, H. (1981, December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today [CD-ROM],
pp. 70-76.
b. Abstract on CD-ROM:
Meyer, A. S. & Bock, K. (1992). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partial
activation? [CD-ROM]. Memory Cognition, 20, 715-726. Abstract from: SilverPlatter File:
PsycLIT Item: 80-16351

c. Article from CD-ROM Encyclopedia:

Crime. (1996). In Microsoft Encarta 1996 Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
Corporation.
d. Dictionary on CD-ROM:
Oxford English dictionary computer file: On compact disc (2nd ed.) [CD-ROM]. (1992). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
^

6. Documents obtained from the Internet

All references begin with the same information that would be provided for a printed source (or as
much of that information as possible). The WWW information is then placed at the end of the
reference in the same way as publishing information is given for books. It is not necessary to
give the date of retrieval unless the document on the Web may change in content - e.g. a wiki move, or be removed from a site altogether.
The object of this is the same as all referencing - to supply the information needed to allow a
user to find a source. If you do not know the author or the date and it does not have a clear title,
think carefully before using it. See Evaluating Sources.
a. An article:
Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A. Schwartz, A. A. (1995). A history of facilitated communication:
Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication.
American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html
b. A newspaper article:
Sleek, S. (1996, January). Psychologists build a culture of peace. The New York Times, pp. 1, 33
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
c. WWW Document:
Li, X. & Crane, N. (1996, May 20). Bibliographic formats for citing electronic information.
Retrieved from http://www.uvm.edu/~xli/reference/estyles.html
d. WWW Document - corporate author:
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (1995, May 15). About the World Wide Web. Retrieved
from http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/
e. WWW Document - corporate author:

American Psychological Association (1996). How to cite information from the world wide web.
Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html
f. WWW Document - no author:
A field guide to sources on, about and on the Internet: Citation formats. (1995, Dec 18).
Retrieved from http://www.cc.emory.edu/WHSCL/citation.formats.html
g. WWW Document - no author, no date:
WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wast.ac.uk/usersurveys/survey2000-10/
h. An abstract:
Rosenthal, R. (1995). State of New Jersey v. Margaret Kelly Michaels: An overview [Abstract].
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 247271. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/journals/ab1.html
i. Wikipedia Document - no author, no date, source material may change over time:
Psychology. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 14, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology
j. Entry in online reference work, no author, editor or date:
Heuristic (n.d.) In Merriam-Webster's online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.mw.com/dictionary/heuristic
^

7. Others
a. Government report:
National Institute of Mental Health. (1982). Television and behaviour: Ten years of scientific
progress and implications for the eighties (DHHS Publication No. ADM82-1195). Washington
DC: US Government Printing Office.
b. Publication with no date given:
Malachi, Z. (Ed.). (n.d.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Literary and Linguistic
Copmputing. Tel Aviv: Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University.
c. Unpublished dissertation or thesis:

Devins, G. M. (1981). Helplessness, depression, and mood in end-stage renal disease.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University, Montreal.
d. Unpublished conference paper:
Howarth, P. (1995, March). Phraseological standards in EAP. Paper presented at the meeting of
the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes, Nottingham.
e. Film or videotape:
Maas, J. B. (Producer), and Gluck, D. H. (Director). (1979). Deeper into hypnosis [Film].
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall