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The Library

Referencing styles

This information gives you an overview of referencing styles commonly used at the University of Warwick, including for each:

  • a description of the style
  • a Library quick guide to formatting references
  • useful resources for further guidance

The drop-down boxes below can help you find out which style your department is likely to use. Links to departmental guidance are also provided where available (last updated September 2017).

For more in-depth guidance, see our Plagiarism and Referencing tutorials on Moodle.

Please note: you should always check with your department or course tutors to ensure you are using their preferred style.

Arts & Humanities

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Social Sciences

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Science & Medicine

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Subject Referencing style

Chemistry

RSC or ACS

Engineering

Harvard or numerical style

Life Sciences

Vancouver or Harvard

Medicine

Harvard or Vancouver

Physics

APS

Psychology

APA

WMG

Harvard

APA

APA is an author-date style commonly used in the Social Sciences. The reference list will be alphabetical by author surname.

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APS

APS is a numbered referencing style commonly used in Physics.

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Chicago

Chicago gives two options: 1) Notes and Bibliography (most common in the arts and humanities); 2) Author-Date (most common in the sciences and social sciences).

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Harvard

Harvard is a commonly used author-date style. There are lots of different Harvard styles, so please make sure that you are using a version that your department recognises. The differences between the different styles relates to which parts of the reference are put into capitals, brackets, bold and italics. The order in which you cite the different parts of the reference remains the same.

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Harvard (Warwick WMS) Quick Guide

Harvard (Warwick WMS) Quick Guide (PDF Document) (non-accessible PDF for download)

Reference type

Reference in your bibliography

Citation in your text

Notes

Book

Aveyard, H. (2019) Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. 4th edn. London: Open University Press.

Only include the edition if it is not the 1st edition. Put the edition information after the title in the format: 4th edn. If there is more than one place of publication, cite the 1st.

Aveyard (2019) argues that…

Lifelong learning is a key component of an effective learning society (Aveyard, 2019).

“Quotation” (Aveyard, 2019:78).

Journal article

(two authors)

Altbach, P. G. & Knight, J. (2007) The internationalization of higher education: motivations and realities. Journal of studies in international education, 11 (3-4): 290-305.

You can reference both print articles and their electronic equivalents this way.

If the article only exists in an electronic format, volume, issue and /or page numbers may not be available. You will also need to add in the URL or DOI and the date accessed.

Altbach & Knight (2007) note that…

The internationalization of higher education is very important (Altbach & Knight, 2007).

“Quotation” (Altbach & Knight, 2007:292).
Page

Journal article: (three or more authors)

Sidebotham, P., Fraser, J., Covington, T., Freemantle, J., Petrou, S., Pulikottil-Jacob, R., Cutler, T. & Ellis, C.(2014) Understanding why children die in high-income countries. The Lancet, 384 (9946): 915-927.

Use an “&” before the last author. Use a comma between the other authors.

Sidebotham et al. (2014), argue that…

It is important that we understand the reasons why children die in high income countries (Sidebotham et al., 2014)

Electronic article

Stansfield, C., Dickson, K. & Bangpan, M.(2016) Exploring issues in the conduct of website searching and other online sources for systematic reviews:how can we be systematic? Systematic Reviews 5 (1): 191. Available from:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-0160371-910.1186/s13643-016-0371-9 (Accessed 9th May 2018).

Use an “&” before the last author. Use a comma between the other authors.

If the article only exists in an electronic format, volume, issue and /or page numbers may not be available. You will also need to add in the URL or DOI and the date accessed.

Stansfield et al. (2016) argue that… It is important that searches are systematic (Stansfield et al., 2016)

Edited book

Dale, R. & Robertson, S. L. ed. (2009) Globalisation and europeanisation in education. Oxford: Symposium Books.

Indicate that the book is edited.

Dale & Robertson (2009) indicated that…

We are witnessing an increasing Europeanisation of the education system (Dale & Robertson, 2009).

“Quotation” (Dale & Robertson, 2009:45).

Electronic book

Zajda, J. I. (2005) International handbook on globalisation, education and policy research global pedagogies and policies. [online] Dordrecht: Springer. Available from: http://0dx.doi.org.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/1 0.1007/1-4020-2960-8 (Accessed 30 September 2014).

Indicate that this is an e-book by using [online].

Include the URL and access date.

Zajda (2005) argues that…

Developing global research pedagogies will become increasingly important (Zajda, 2005).

Zajda (2005:44) concludes, “Quotation”

Book chapter

Twigg, C. (2005) Overseas students in higher education. In: Cullingford, C. & Gunn, S. eds. Globalisation, education and culture shock. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing: 86-106.

Give the chapter details followed by the book details. The page numbers of the chapter go at the end.

Twigg (2005) argues that…

Overseas students are vital to the success of higher education (Twigg, 2005).

Twigg (2005:92) concludes, “Quotation”

Report or Guidelines: (personal author)

Varghese, N. V. (2008) Globalization of higher education and cross-border student mobility. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

If there is a report number, add this to the end of the reference.

Varghese (2008) reports that…

Encouraging cross-border student mobility is essential (Varghese, 2008).

It is essential that, “Quotation” (Varghese, 2008:5).

Report or Guidelines: (corporate author and online)

World Health Organization. (2016) WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handl e/10665/250796/9789241549912-eng.pdf?sequence=1 (Accessed 06 January 2021). Geneva: World Health Organization.

You may find that a report does not have individual authors but is written by an organisation. The organization name is often also the publisher.

The World Health Organization (2016) reports that…

Encouraging cross-border student mobility is essential (World Health Organization, 2016).

It is essential that, “Quotation” (World Health Organization, 2016:5).

Web page

Coughlan, S. (2014) Iran's students to have US online courses. [online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business27637817 (Accessed 09 September 2014).

If there is no author, use Anon.

Remember, it may be a corporate author.

If there are no page numbers, indicate the paragraph.

Coughlan (2014) is concerned that…

Iranian students can now access some US online courses (Coughlan, 2014).

Coughlan (2014: Paragraph 3) states, “Quotation”.

General notes

If you are unsure about the accuracy of any part of the reference or information is missing but you can make an “educated guess”, i.e., the year of publication or the publisher, you can put square brackets [ ] around the information to indicate that you are not 100% certain about this information.

There are lots of different Harvard styles, so please make sure that you are using a version that your department recognises. The differences between the different styles relates to which parts of the reference are put into capitals, brackets, bold and italics. The order in which you cite the different parts of the reference remains the same.

Harvard (Warwick Economics) Quick Guide

Harvard (Warwick Economics) Quick Guide (PDF Document) (non-accessible PDF for download)

Reference type

How to reference

How to cite

Book

Piketty, T. and Goldhammer, A. (2014) Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

If the authors’ names are included in the body of text:
… Piketty and Goldhammer (2014)…

If citation is included at the end of a sentence:
… (Piketty and Goldhammer, 2014).

If citing a direct quotation or specific table/figure:
… Piketty and Goldhammer (2014, p. 18).

or
… (Piketty and Goldhammer, 2014, p. 18)

Notes:

  • For more examples see Pears and Shields (2019, pp. 29-33)
  • Only include the edition if it is not the 1st edition. Put the edition information after the title in the format: “… . 4th edn.”
  • When citing an e-book (published online) you may need to include additional information: DOI or ‘Available at: URL (Accessed: date)’. For more information on how to reference an e-book see Pearl and Shields (2019, p. 31)

Edited book chapter


 

Fortin, N., Lemieux, T., and Firpo, S. (2011)  'Decomposition methods in economics', in Card, D. and Krueger, A.B. (eds.) Handbook of Labor Economics. Vol. 4A. Amsterdam: North Holland, pp. 1-102.

If the authors’ names are included in the body of text:

… Fortin et al. (2011)…

If citation is included at the end of a sentence:

… (Fortin et al., 2011).

Notes:

  • For more examples see Pears and Shields (2019, pp. 33-34)

  • Use single quotation marks around the title of the chapter, but italicize the book title

  • When citing a text that has three or more authors you can use ‘et al.’ to shorten the citation.2 However, your bibliography (reference list) should include the names of all authors. Many articles have multiple authors and the full list of authors is often needed to order the papers in correct (ascending) alphabetical order in the bibliography.3

  • When citing a book chapter, you cite the authors of the chapter and not the editors

Journal articles 

 

Card, D. and Krueger, A.B. (1994) 'Minimum wages and employment: A case study of the fast food industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania', American Economic Review, 84(4), pp. 772-793.

If the authors’ names are included in the body of text:

… Card and Krueger (1994)…

If citation is included at the end of a sentence:

… (Card and Krueger, 1994).

If you cite more than one article in a sentence, separate them using a semi-colon:

… (Card and Krueger, 1994; Fortin et al., 2011).

Notes:

  • For more examples see Pears and Shields (2019, pp. 39-40)
  • See Pears and Shields (2019, p.45) for examples on how to cite conference papers published in journals
  • The title of the article is not italicized, only the title of the journal. As with edited book chapters, the article’s title is placed inside single quotations.
  • Do not use ‘&’ in place of ‘and’
  • Journal articles are published in-print, in-print and online, or online-only (i.e. e-journals). For journals published online, it is common to include the following information: either a DOI or ‘Available at: URL (Accessed: date)’ (see examples in Pears and Shields, 2019, pp. 39-41). This is not necessary if there is an in-print version of the journal, but should technically be included for online-only e-journals
  • As it can be difficult to know whether a journal article has been published in-print, you will not be penalized for failing to include a DOI or URL
  • In general, DOI is preferred to URL. You will also not be penalized for including DOI or URL where it is not required
  • This format can be used for peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed journal articles

Working papers 

 

Card, D. and Krueger, A.B. (1993) Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, NBER Working Paper Series No. 4509.

If the authors’ names are included in the body of text:

… Card and Krueger (1993)…

If citation is included at the end of a sentence:

… (Card and Krueger, 1993).

Notes:

  • For more examples see Pears and Shields (2019, pp. 51-52)
  • This format is used widely for unpublished papers: working papers, discussion papers, and briefing papers. See Pears and Shields (2019, pp.44-46) for examples on how to cite conference proceedings or papers from conference proceedings
  • The title of the paper is italicized
  • Most working papers are distributed by a research organization, which will have a series title. For example, the NBER Working Paper series and the IZA Discussion Paper series. In this instance, the paper will be given a number (or date), which should be included in the bibliography
  • You may choose to include a DOI or URL if the working paper has not been distributed by a research organization

Published reports


 

Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2022) Public Sector Employment, UK: June 2022. ONS website, statistical bulletin

One can include the URL

Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2022) Public Sector Employment, UK: June 2022. ONS website, statistical bulletin. Available at: Public sector employment, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

If the organization’s name is included in the body of text:

… ONS (2022)…

If citation is included at the end of a sentence:

… (ONS, 2022).

 

Notes:

  • The title of the report is italicized

  • You may introduce an acronym for the name of the organization that can then be used in the citations. It is better to use acronyms when the publishing organization is well known by that acronym. In Economics, readers will be familiar with the IMF as an acronym for the International Monetary Fund, but not WB as an acronym for the World Bank. The UN, OECD, ONS, and HMRC are other examples of commonly referenced acronyms

  • See Pears and Shields (2019, p. 52) for examples on how to cite company reports

1 Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide. 11th rev. edn. London: Red Globe Press

2 Pears and Shields (2019) use et al. only when there are four or more authors. We suggest using et al. when there are three or more authors
3 Pears and Shields (2019) includes examples with et al. in the reference list. The discussion on page 29 notes that the inclusion of et al. in the reference list depends on the preference of the institution. At Warwick, we would prefer you to include all authors names in the reference list

Harvard (Warwick Philosophy) Quick Guide

Good referencing protects you from plagiarism.

Reference type

Reference in your bibliography

Citation in your text

Notes

Book

Surname, First Name (year of publication) Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher.

e.g., Annas, Julia (1981) An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[‘quotation’ or your own words] (Annas 1981: 50)

Annas (1981: 50) argues that [‘quotation’ or your own words]

You can reference both print books and their electronic equivalents this way, but note that the normal expectation is that you give a page reference to the page where the relevant text appears in the printed book. You can usually find out about this from the pdf version of the text, or the publisher will insert the page numbers in the electronic text.

Journal article

Surname, First Name (year of publication) ‘Title of Article.’ Title of Journalvolume number (issue number): page range.

e.g., Chappell, Sophie-Grace (1993) ‘The Virtues of Thrasymachus.’ Phronesis 38 (1): 1–17.

[‘quotation’ or your own words] (Chappell 1993: 12)

Chappell (1993: 12) concludes that [‘quotation’ or your own words]

You can reference both print articles and their electronic equivalents this way. Typically, you can find out about page numbers from the pdf version of the text. If the article only exists in an electronic format, volume, issue and /or page numbers may not be available. In that case, follow the advice under ‘Web page’ below.

Book chapter

Author Surname, Author First Name (year of publication) ‘Title of Chapter.’ In: Editor Name ed. Title of edited book. Place of publication: Publisher.

e.g., Barney, Rachel (2006) ‘Socrates’ Refutation of Thrasymachus.’ In: G. Santas ed. Blackwell Guide to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Blackwell.

[‘quotation’ or your own words] (Barney 2006: 45)

Barney (2006: 45) objects that [‘quotation’ or your own words]

Give the chapter details followed by the book details. The page numbers of the chapter go at the end.

Edited collection

Surname, First Name ed. (year of publication) Title of Edited Collection. Place of publication: Publisher.

e.g., Fine, Gail ed. (1999) Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul. >Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[your own words] (Fine 1999)

Fine (1999) contains a number of contributions to recent debates about x.

If you are quoting from or drawing on a chapter from an edited book, use the directions under ‘Book chapter’ above, as it should always be clear to your reader who the particular author of the piece you are discussing is. Use the advice in this row only when trying to direct your reader to a resource containing a number of relevant papers.

Web page

Author Surname, Author Name (year of publication) ‘Title of Article’ Title of Publication. [online] Available from: web address (date accessed)

e.g., Burnyeat, M. F. (1997) ‘Culture and Society in Plato’s Republic.’Tanner Lectures on Human Values. [online] Available from: https://tavaana.org/sites/default/files/Burnyeat99.pdf (Accessed 05 January 2021).

[‘quotation’ or your own words] (Burnyeat 1997: 217)

Burnyeat (1997: 217) claims that [‘quotation’ or your own words]

If there are no page numbers, indicate the section or paragraph.

Some websites have their own guidance for how to cite their articles, e.g., the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.

Example bibliography

Annas, Julia (1981) An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Barney, Rachel (2006) ‘Socrates’ Refutation of Thrasymachus.’ In: G. Santas ed. Blackwell Guide to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Blackwell.

Burnyeat, M. F. (1997) ‘Culture and Society in Plato’s Republic.’ Tanner Lectures on Human Values. [online] Available from: https://tavaana.org/sites/default/files/Burnyeat99.pdf (Accessed 05 January 2021).

Chappell, Sophie-Grace (1993) ‘The Virtues of Thrasymachus.’ Phronesis38 (1): 1–17.

Fine, Gail ed. (1999) Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Note: The bibliography is presented in ascending alphabetical order by author surname. The bibliography is not included in the wordcount. Everything else is included in the wordcount, including citations (whether they are in-text, footnotes, or endnotes).

Useful resources

MHRA

MHRA is a footnote style commonly used in the Humanities. Superscript numbers are placed in the body of the text, and corresponding notes are placed at the end of each page to cite the resources used.

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MLA

MLA is an author-date style commonly used in literature or language studies. In-text citations consist of the author surname in brackets.

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Oscola

Oscola stands for Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities. It is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials.

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Useful resources

RSC/ACS

RSC and ACS are referencing styles commonly used in Chemistry.

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Vancouver

Vancouver is a numbered referencing style. There are variations of the Vancouver style, for example the numbers may be in superscript or brackets and repeated references may be given a new number or use the number previously allocated to the source.

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