What?

Reference any and all materials you have used within your written work that are from a published text, video, or recording.

A referencing style is a set of rules on how to acknowledge the thoughts, ideas and works of others in a particular way. Referencing is a crucial part of successful academic writing, avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity in your assignments and research^[1].

You will need the author’s name (all authors); the year of publication; the chapter or journal article title; the book or journal name; editors names if it is an edited text; in a journal you will need the volume number and issue number; page ranges are needed for book chapters and journal articles; the publisher is needed for a book; if it is an online book, a DOI in needed. See the link in the “HOW?” section below for specific details of how to reference different types of texts.

Why?

Primarily to avoid plagiarism, plus you should also give credit where credit is due. It demonstrates evidence of your research and reading of academic sources for your assessments and adds the weight of expert knowledge to your own arguments/points/claims. It is good academic practice and demonstrates academic integrity. It also allows readers of your work to seek information from your sources or complete further reading.

When?

Whenever you are searching for academic articles or books for your assessment, always take notes of the required referencing information. An in-text citation must be included in your written work each time you use materials (sources) that are not your own. You must also provide an end-of-text reference list that corresponds with all citations used in-text. Only sources cited in-text should appear in the reference list and no other sources you may have examined though not included in the finished assessment.

How?

The University of Queensland provides all relevant style guides. UQ College Academic English uses APA (7th edition). Each edition of a style has variances, so ensure you have asked your lecturers/tutors which specific style and edition you are required to use for your particular courses.

APA 7th style guide – library link

https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/apa7 

What is a reference list?

All works that include the ideas, words and images of other authors need to include citations. The full reference for each brief citation must be listed on a new page at the end of the written work, with the heading – References (centered on the page).

The following information is included in the UQ Library style guide for APA (7th ed.). Visit the style guide and access the full information via the “reference List” tab on the left-hand side of the screen.

• No specific font type or size required. Recommendations include Calibri size 11, Arial size 11, Lucida size 10, Times New Roman size 12, Georgia size 11 or Computer Modern size 10 (LaTeX). NOTE: It should align with the rest of the assignment.
• The reference list is double line-spaced.
• A reference list is arranged alphabetically by author last name.
• Each reference appears on a new line.
• Each item in the reference list is required to have a hanging indent from the second line onward.

Zarate, K., Maggin, D. M., & Passmore, A. (2019). Meta‐analysis of mindfulness training on teacher well‐being. Psychology in the Schools, 56(10), 1700–1715. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22308

• References should not be numbered.
• If a reference has no author, it is cited by title, and included in the alphabetical list using the first significant word of the title (not A, An, or The).
• If you have more than one item with the same author, list the items chronologically, starting with the earliest publication date.
• If there is no date, the abbreviation n.d. may be used. It is extremely rare to not find a publication date; if it is a website, use the date the page was last updated, found at the very bottom of the page or home page.
• Use the full journal name, not the abbreviated name, and type it as it appears in the journal – use appropriate capitalization.
• Web addresses or DOIs can either be live links (blue and underlined) or as normal black text with no underline. If the work containing the reference list is to be made available online, use the live link format.

What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?

• A reference list only includes the sources (books, articles, and web pages, etc.) that are cited in the text of the document (essay, report).
• A bibliography includes all sources consulted, even if they are not cited in the document. This is more frequently used for research and PhD students.

Example Reference List (An extended list is available via the UQ Library style guide)

American Psychological Association. (2020). Journal article references. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association : the official guide to APA style (7th ed.).

McAdoo, T. (2020, March 16). How to create an APA style reference for a canceled conference presentation. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/canceled-conferences

Melbourne University Law Review Association & Melbourne Journal of International Law. (2010). Australian guide to legal citation. (3rd ed.). https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1586203/FinalOnlinePDF-2012Reprint.pdf

Also see Chapter 14 – Integrating Sources and Academic Integrity