Referencing

A reference is a citation in the text or in a bibliography. It enables the reader to locate the source and consult the original text. The format of references and bibliographies is governed by different referencing styles. Common styles include Oxford, Harvard and APA.

Why should you provide references?

When writing academic texts, you must engage with current and relevant research. It is therefore important to indicate where your material comes from. You must not use someone else’s ideas or arguments without citing your source.

Which referencing system should you choose?

There are several ways of citing sources and compiling reference lists (bibliographies), depending on the referencing system used. In some courses, your lecturer will recommend that you use a particular system, for example Oxford.

Referencing Styles and Guides

The Harvard system (also called the author-year- or name-year-style) with parentheses in running e.g. - guide by the University of Borås

The Oxford system with footnotes in the text - guide by Umeå University

APA (The American Psychological Association) - reference guide by Karolinska Institutet

The Writing Guide's Tips on Referencing and Citing - skrivguiden.se

Get support from a reference management system

Reference management software makes it easier to collect and organise the sources you intend to use in an essay. There are several such programmes, and the Anna Lindh Library provides support for EndNote and Zotero. These programmes allow you to collect and store references for books, articles and web pages, and then insert citations and reference lists into your documents.

Anna Lindh Library's guides for reference management systems