How is citation format

There are many other citation styles used in specific academic journals. To explore additional styles, check out the Other Citation Styles page.

The citation style you choose will largely be dictated by the discipline in which you're writing, and for most assignments your instructor will assign a style to you. However, as you progress through your academic career, you may find more flexibility in choosing a style that works for you.

It's always best to check with your instructor and colleagues as to what style is appropriate. If you have flexibility, use the guide below to help you decide. MLA style uses parenthetical in-text citations and a "Works Cited" list at the end of a paper to link sources. APA style uses parenthetical in-text citations and a "References" list at the end of the paper to link sources.

Chicago author-date utilizes parenthetical in-text citations and a references or works cited list at the end, similar to the APA style. Style manuals and guides dictate more than just in-text citation and reference list formatting. They also have rules for how to structure your paper and, in some cases, the cover sheet for your paper.

Don't worry, each citation style has its own manual to help you figure out exactly how it all works. To find more information on specific citation styles and their corresponding style guide, check out the pages linked in the table.

Skip to primary content. Skip to sidebar content. Toggle navigation. E-Journals Alphabetical list of electronic journal titles held at UW. Evaluating Information Learn how to choose the best and most reliable information that meets your research needs.

Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works like religious texts can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source. If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference and may omit the page numbers.

APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work. If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change.

When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs. If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization even though the reference list uses sentence case : "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry.

According to Jones , "students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" p. Jones found "students often had difficulty using APA style" p.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style. Jones found a variety of causes for student dissatisfaction with prevailing citation practices paras. A meta-analysis of available literature Jones, revealed inconsistency across large-scale studies of student learning Table 3.

Reference list: Quran 26 Translated by M. Abdel Haleem. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In-text citation: Quran Reference list: Torah. Devarim 4: 2. In-text citation: Devarim 4: 2. Reference list: Financial Times The London luxury property market was slowed down by the pandemic, but it is likely to bounce back soon. In-text citation: Financial Times, Reference list: Financial Times 'Housing markets shrug off pandemic.

Reference list: Harvard Business Review [ HarvardBiz] In this large-scale study of military performance measures, negative words — like selfish, passive, and scattered — were much more frequently applied to women. In-text citation: Harvard Business Review, It is strongly recommended that you use published sources such as books and journal articles in your assignments instead of materials posted by academics on Blackboard.

Always check with the academic who has set the assignment whether you are allowed to include citations for their materials in your work. Reference list: Hartl, F. CH4AN1: Advanced analytical techniques for the molecular sciences. University of Reading. Reference list: Bull, S. Print standard:.

London: British Standards Institution. In-text citation: British Standards Institution, Online standard. Reference list: Lalani, B. Reading University: U. In-text citation: Lalani, If you need to refer to a specific point in a video, use the format minutes:seconds in your in-text citation to note the time code e.

TEDx Talks, , In-text citation: TEDx Talks, It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Citing references Guidance on citing references for students at the University of Reading. Book The top 5: 2. Journal article The top five: 3. Chapter in an edited collection The top five: 4. Website The top five: 5. Avoiding unintentional plagiarism Using Turnitin to develop your referencing Managing your references Getting help Example not here?

Try this guide! Use this book to find guidance on publication types not listed here. Available in print and online. Citation examples This page lists the details you will need to include when writing citations for various types of source material. For each example: Reference list refers to the way it would be cited in your reference list or bibliography when using Harvard style.

In-text citation refers to the way that a work would be cited either in the body of the text or in footnotes when using Harvard style. Find out which citation style your Department uses We've compiled a list of referencing styles in use around the University. Please consult your course handbook for definitive guidance on which style to use.

Styles of referencing Overview of different referencing styles in use at the University. If the source you want to cite is not listed here consult the following book:. Contact your Academic Liaison Librarian. Make an appointment with a Study Adviser. The top five: 1. In-text citation: Nasta and Stein, E-book: Where an e-book looks like a printed book usually PDFs with publication information and page numbers - cite it in the same way as a printed book above.

The top 5: 2. Journal article Elements to include Print journals or print journals now online Online only journals Versions in repositories The information you include in the reference will depend on whether the journal is published in print but uploaded for electronic access , only published online, or is a version found in an institutional repository. Elements to include: Authors Year of publication in round brackets Article title in single quotation marks Journal title in italics, capitalise the first letter of each word except linking words Volume number Issue number if present, in round brackets Page numbers or reference number Include the page numbers of the whole article when writing your full citation, not just the pages you have referred to DOI or web link for online-only articles See the examples in the other tabs in this box.

Examples for articles in print copies of journal articles or a print journal accessed online e. A single author: Reference list: Gulddal, J. In-text citation: Abu Salem, Gemail and Nosair, Four or more authors - include them all in the full reference, but for the in-text citation you can just state the first author, followed by et al.

Examples for versions of articles found in repositories Authors will often put versions of their articles into institutional repositories to comply with funding requirements to make the research Open Access. Pre-print example Allen, R. The top five: 3. Example: Reference list: Singh, H. The top five: 4. Website You can find many different types of information on the Internet. Elements to include: Author person or company that created the webpage Year of publication or last update in round brackets.

Further guidance on referencing websites Have a look at this Study Advice video tutorial note that the format of the examples may not match the guidance given above :. Referencing websites video Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic. Referencing websites transcript Read along while watching the video tutorial.

The top five: 5. Secondary referencing A secondary reference is used when you are referring to a source which you have not read yourself, but have seen quoted or read about in another source. Find books using the Enterprise catalogue Just type in the first author's surname and a few words from the title. Find journal articles using Summon Just type in the first author's surname and first part of the article title. Examples If the author quotes another source: F rance , quoted in Weingart et al.

If the author summarises another source In-text citation: According to France , cited in Weingart et al. Archival material Elements to include: Author, initials. Year in round brackets Title of document.

Date if avaialble Collection name Document number. In-text citation: Beckett, Artworks Cite the item you have seen - if you have seen an artwork in a book or catalogue, reference that book or catalogue use our Images examples.

If you have seen the painting or exhibition, cite that as follows; Exhibitions Title of exhibition in italics Year in round brackets [Exhibition] Location. Sculpture, Mixed-media, Video installation, Oil on canvas, etc in square brackets Institute or collection it belongs to. For examples of how to reference different artworks, photographs and more see the Cite them right e-book, Harvard referencing chapter under "Visual and artistic sources";.

Conference papers Elements to include:. In-text citation: Fatherhood , For examples of how to cite Films in different formats, please see the examples in the Cite them right e-book in the Harvard Referencing chapter, under "Audiovisual material";.

See our section on YouTube videos:. Citing YouTube videos. Images Images that you have seen in books, articles or on websites should be cited in the same way you would cite the source of the image. Elements to include: Author Year of publication Page number and illustration number from source, if available. The image on the left shows how you would do this; You do not need to include it in the bibliography. Referencing guidance for Law students.

Students studying other subjects If you are not studying Law, but need to refer to legal or Parliamentary documents, the examples in this box give acceptable citation formats for commonly used materials in the Harvard style.

In-text citation: Mr Gove introduced the Agriculture Bill In-text citation: Department of Social Security, Law reports cases before Include the following elements: Name of case in single quotation marks Publication year in round brackets Title of law report in italics Volume number Page numbers Reference list: 'Bibby Cheshire v.

In-text citation: 'Bibby Cheshire v. Golden Wonder Ltd', Law reports cases from From cases have been given a neutral citation. Include the following elements: Name of the parties involved in the case in single quotation marks Publication year in round brackets Court and case number Name of database or website in italics DOI or Available at: URL Accessed: date Reference list: 'Rees v.

Publication year in round brackets Title in italics including the Session dates if appropriate.