This presentation gives an overview of referencing as an academic skill - what it is, why it's important, when do you reference and how/what do you need to reference? It was followed by a hands-on demo of Zotero. This presentation is suitable for all university students, regardless of subject or level.

1. REFERENCING AND ZOTERO
Kevin Wilson, Subject Librarian for Media and Communications, Computing
and the Institute of Management Studies
March 2014

2. REFERENCING
• What is referencing?
• Why is referencing important?
• When should you reference?
• What and how do you reference?

3. WHAT IS REFERENCING?
Referencing is “the process of acknowledging the sources
you have used in writing your essay, assignment or piece
of work. It allows the reader to access your source
documents as quickly and easily as possible in order to
verify, if necessary, the validity of your arguments and the
evidence on which they are based”.
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013) Cite them right:
the essential referencing guide. 9th edn.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

4. WHY IS REFERENCING IMPORTANT?
Research is about „knowledge building‟ and a „collective
construction of knowledge‟ (Walker, J. and Taylor, T. (2006),
pp. 29-30)
Referencing also:
• enables you to show the extent and depth of your research
• strengthens your arguments when you use good quality resources
• acknowledges the work of others and their influences upon you
• allows the reader to locate, read and check your sources
• helps you avoid plagiarism (see GLEU website for more info)
See Goldsmiths Information Skills Tutorial (G.I.S.T) -
https://learn.gold.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=176669&chapterid=1
20

5. WHEN SHOULD YOU REFERENCE?
You should provide references when you are:
• directly quoting from a text
• paraphrasing someone else‟s work, theories or ideas
• using someone else‟s work when developing your own ideas
• indirectly referring to the text of other works
• using illustrations, tables, diagrams, etc., from other sources
You don‟t need to provide references when you are:
• describing your own experiences and observations
• providing facts that can be defined as common knowledge

6. WHATAND HOW DO YOU REFERENCE?
Any sources of information you use for your research can be
referenced
There are two main components to referencing:
• in-text citations
• reference list or bibliography
Which styles are there?
• author/date – Harvard, APA, MLA
• footnote – Chicago, MHRA, IEEE

7. REFERENCING STYLESAT GOLDSMITHS
Anthropology Harvard IMS APA
Art Harvard Media and
Communications
Any, if
consistent
Cultural Studies Any, if
consistent
Music Chicago
Computing IEEE Politics Harvard
Design Harvard Psychology APA
Education Harvard STaCS Harvard
English MHRA Sociology Harvard
History MLA Theatre and
Performance
Harvard
ICCE Harvard Visual Cultures Any, if
consistent

8. A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES (Harvard)
Printed book
• author/editor
• year of publication (in round brackets)
• title (in italics)
• edition (only include this if not the first edition)
• place of publication: publisher
In-text citation and reference
• The following presentation will use Harvard examples from a
recent guide (Pears and Shields, 2010).
• Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2010) Cite them right: the essential
referencing guide. 9th edn. Basingtstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

9. A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES (Harvard)
Journal article (printed)
• author
• year of publication (in round brackets)
• title of article (in single quotation marks)
• title of journal (in italics, with initial letters capitalised)
• volume number
• part number (round brackets)
• page numbers
In-text citation and reference
• Friedman (2011) reports that…
• Friedman, S. (2011) „The cultural currency of a „good‟ sense of
humour: British comedy and new forms of distinction.‟ The British
Journal of Sociology, 62(2), pp. 347-360.

10. REFERENCES
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2011) How to cite, reference
& avoid plagiarism at university. Harlow: Pearson.
Neville, C. (2010) The complete guide to referencing and
avoiding plagiarism. 2nd edn. Maidenhead: Open University
Press.
Pears, R. and Shields, R. (2013) Cite them right: the
essential referencing guide. 9th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Walker, J. and Taylor, T. (2006) The Columbia guide to
online style. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press.