What is a Referencing Style?
Referencing style is a standardised method of acknowledging the sources of information you have consulted. Anything - words, figures, theories, ideas, facts - originated from another source and used in your assignment must be referenced (i.e. acknowledged).
When you write an essay and include someone else's ideas you need to immediately acknowledge this original source. This is called referencing or citing and the detailed description you need to provide is called a reference or citation.
Every discipline and profession has a preferred referencing style. Your lecturer will let you know which referencing style manual to use. Two common styles are:
- APA (American Psychological Association)
- HARVARD
There are several student writing handbooks (Level 8 in the Main Library) to assist you with referencing. Examples are:
- The Little, Brown Handbook - 808.042 FOW
- The Longman Handbook for writers and readers - 808.042 ANS
