Doing Research
Writing References
Further information
There are a variety of accepted systems for bibliographies, and you can check these by consulting the Education section of the Library, at K 8.135, where there are collections of books on writing essays and theses, and include style manuals for writing bibliographies. For example:
Achtert, W. S. and Gibaldi, J. (1985) The MLA style manual. New York, Modern Language Association of America
Becker, H. S. (1986) Writing for social scientists: how to start and finish your thesis, book or article Chicago, University of Chicago Press
British Standards Institution (1990) Recommendations for citing and referencing published materials BS 5605: 1990. 2nd ed. London, BSI (note this is shelved with the Quartos)
Council of Biology Editors. Committee on Form and Style. (1994) Scientific style and format: the CBE manual for authors, editors and publishers. 6th ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Modern Humanities Research Association (1996) MHRA style book: notes for authors, editors, and writers of theses. 5th ed. London, Modern Humanities Research Association
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2005) Cite them right: the essential guide to referencing and plagiarism. Revised and expanded ed. Newcastle, Pear Tree Books
Turabian, K. L. (1996) A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations 6th ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press
Referencing electronic sources
The publications above will include details on referencing types of publications and sources not covered in this guide e.g. Newspaper articles, videos, etc. Many of the web sites below cover electronic sources.
Useful Web sites
There are also a number of useful web sites for referencing information; many of them cover both printed and electronic formats. For example the particularly helpful:
Leeds Metropolitan University - A guide to Harvard referencing
Also:
American Psychological Association (APA) Citation Style - from the University of Texas at Austin
Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation Style - from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Leicester - guide to Harvard referencing system
University of Sheffield - guide to the Harvard referencing system
Abbreviations/ terms used
Common abbreviations and terms used in references:
| app. | appendix |
| col. | column (plural, cols.) |
| comp. | compiler (plural, comps.) |
| ed. | edition; edited by; editor (plural, eds.) |
| et al. | et alii : Latin for 'and others' |
| ibid. | ibidem : Latin for 'in the same place'. This word can only be used in the next consecutive reference in a list after an earlier reference to the same work. For example : 1. Leggett, J. The carbon war: global warming and the end of the oil era. 2nd edition. London, Penguin, 2000. 2. ibid. p. 65 3. Ledwith, S. and Manfredi, S. Balancing gender in higher education - a study of the experience of senior women in a 'new' UK university. European Journal of Womens Studies, 7 (1), 2000. pp. 7-33 4. ibid. |
| n.d. | no date (of publication known) |
| n.p. | no place (of publication known) |
| no. | number (plural nos.) In America the symbol # is often used |
| op. cit. | opere citato : Latin for 'in the work cited' For example : 1. Brennan, A.A. Environmental decision making. In: Berry, R. J. ed. Environmental dilemmas: ethics and decisions. London, Chapman & Hall, 1993. pp. 1-19. 2. Leggett, J. The carbon war: global warming and the end of the oil era. 2nd edition. London, Penguin, 2000. pp. 25-27 3. Brennan, A.A. op. cit. p. 45 |
| p. | page (plural pp.) |
| para. | paragraph |
| supp. | supplement (plural, supps.) |
| Trans. | translator ; translated by |
| vol. | volume (plural, vols.) |
