Referencing Guide
This page provides lots of useful information on how and when to reference in your coursework, including specific examples for different sources of reference material.
What is referencing?
A reference system is a set of rules for recording the details of a source. There are several systems and the one used most widely in the college is the Harvard system. Please check which system to use with your lecturer.
Why reference?
You must give proper acknowledgement to the creators of any sources that you have looked at as part of your work. It shows the reader the breadth of your research.
The reader may want to learn more from the source and will be able to trace it. You will avoid any claims of copying or plagiarism.
Plagiarism is using the work or ideas of someone else and presenting them as your own (for example: copying and pasting text or paraphrasing from sources without acknowledging where they came from or not using quotation marks where they should be used).
Plagiarism is seen as a form of cheating and the college will penalise anyone who is found to have committed it. You may also lose marks if you have not referenced your sources correctly.
Where to reference?
There are two places where you need to reference any sources you have used.
The first is when you mention a source in your text. This is also known as a citation and consists of the surname of the creator of the work and the date of publication, these are placed in brackets.
The second place is your Reference List/ Bibliography at the end of your work. This gives more details about the source including title and publisher.
What do I need to list?
The details required depend on the type of source you are referencing. Key elements will always include the author or creator, the title, and the date it was published. You need to add more details for each different type of source.
Reference List and Bibliography
A Reference List is a list of all the resources you have mentioned and is placed at the end of your work. They should be listed in alphabetical order by their authors or creators. Where a work has no author then the title is used.
A Bibliography differs from a Reference List as it should include all works you have consulted during your research whether or not you have referred to them in your own writing. It is compiled in the same way as a reference list and should also appear at the end of your work.
In-text references
If you mention the author as part of the sentence you only need to put the date in brackets … according to Christie (2019). If the author is not mentioned then both the author and date appear in brackets e.g. (Christie, 2019).
Quotation
This is when you use the exact words from a work. The words quoted should have quotation marks at the beginning and end. These can be single ‘ or double ” please check which form your lecturer requires. You need to identify the author, the year it was published and the page number(s) where it can be found.
Paraphrasing
This is using your own words to describe what someone else has written. When paraphrasing you must be careful not to change the meaning of the original work. You need to identify the author, year of publication and page number(s) of the work you are paraphrasing.
Summarising
This is taking the main points of a work and giving a brief description of them. You must give details of the source you are summarising in your work and mention the author and publication date.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
If you didn't produce AI content but located it online, these references should include all the details listed for the name of the generative AI authoring tool, the year, the title of the work, the medium, where the source was found and when it was accessed, in the following format -
Name of generative AI authoring tool (Year) ‘Title of the work' [Medium]. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Example: Shutterstock AI (2023) Photo of pond with lotus flower [Digital Art]. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-generated/photo-pond-lotus-flower-2252080005 (Accessed: 31 May 2024).
Books
Details required are: Author's surname, Initial(s) (Publication year) Book title (in italics). Edition (if not first). Publisher.
Example: McCormick, J.M. (2023) American foreign policy and process. 7th edn. Cambridge University Press.
E-books
Details required: Author's surname, First Initial(s). (Publication year) Book title in italics. Publisher. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Example: Torrance, J. (2013) Higher human biology with answers for CfE. Hodder. Available at https://r4.vlereader.com/Reader?ean=9781444182149 (Accessed: 21 July 2021).
Journals
References to journal articles should include the title of the article and the details of the journal it appears in.
Author's surname, initial(s)., Year of publication. Title of article. Title of Journal (in italics), Volume number and (part number) Month (if available), page numbers of article.
Example: Woodward, J. (2020) 'Air quality, health and Covid-19', Geography Review, 34(2), November, pp. 20-21.
E-Journals
These references should include all the details listed for journals and the details of the online resource and the date it was read.
AUTHOR'S SURNAME, First Initial(s). (Publication year) 'Article Title', Journal Title, volume number and (part number). Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Example: Lennon, J. and Harris, J. (2020) ‘The North Coast 500: developing tourism in the Northern Scottish Highlands’, Scottish Affairs, 29(2). Available at: https://www-euppublishingcom.nls.idm.oclc.org (Accessed: 21 July 2021).
Newspaper Articles
These are similar to journal entries.
Author's surname, Initial(s). (Year of publication in brackets). 'Title of article in single quotation marks', title of newspaper in italics, day and month of publication, section or page range if available.
Example: Lewis, O. (2021) 'North Coast 500 streets ahead in UK', Daily Record, 17 July, p. 17.
Social Media
Whole Social Media Sites
Author if available, if not use title. (Year the site was last updated in brackets) Title of site in italics . [Media platform] Available at: URL (Date Accessed).
Example: University of Bolton Library (2012) [Facebook]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/boltonuniversitylibrary (Accessed: 23 November 2015).
Social Media posts: X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr, Reddit etc.
Author of post, year posted (in round brackets),Title or description of post (in single quotation marks), [Name of platform], Day/month posted, Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Example: The BMJ. (2015) ‘We must prioritise children today to improve the wellbeing of future generations’. [X] 23 November. Available at: https://twitter.com/bmj_latest (Accessed: 23 November 2015).
Web pages
Information taken from the internet should be listed as follows.
Author's Surname, First Initial(s). (Publication year if known)Title in italics. Place of publication if it can be found - the publisher may be the organisation which hosts the website. This is followed by Available at: and the web address, then the date the information was accessed in round brackets.
Example: Allen, P. (no date) What are greenhouse gases? Available at https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-are-greenhouse-gases (Accessed: 21 July 2021).
If there is no author, reference by web page title: Webpage name in italics (Publication year). Available at: URL (Accessed date).
Example: Palladio's Italian villas (1997-2023) Available at: http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/ (Accessed: 23 August 2025).