Some people are very good at creating bibliographies, they have a system in their minds that they use every time without even thinking about it. However, most of us struggle with this task and find there are many mistakes that can be made, some small but others more significant. This resource will provide you with guidance on how to avoid these common pitfalls when undertaking literature reviews or other academic writing tasks which require referencing.
1 . The reference list consists of all the texts you’ve cited/referenced in your work (not necessarily only what you’ve used). There’s usually not an upper limit for the number of references that should appear in any given list; however, a good practice is to keep the list to no more than ~30 or so references.
2 . Incorrectly formatted references! As previously stated, there is no set ‘format’ for literature reviews. However, most academic articles will have a similar format and follow some of the guidelines below:
- Journal articles – author’s surname followed by initials (no full stops) e.g. H Smith (not Smith, H.). Where there are multiple authors give all their names together in the same order as they appear in the journal article with a comma between each one e.g. Smith, J., Jones, P., Williams, K., & Robinson, S.. Where there are three or fewer authors only use the first author’s name followed by ‘et al’ which means ‘and others’. Do not include ‘et al’ where there are four or more authors.
- Books – author’s surname followed by initials (no full stops) e.g. H Smith (not Smith, H.). If there is no author then use the title in italics e.g. The study guide. Where there are multiple works by the same author list them in chronological order with the earliest date first; if they were published simultaneously give publication year instead of chronology e.g Crouch & Mazey (2009) or Crouch & Mazey, 2009. Only when two sources have identical titles should you give both so that your reader knows they are different.
- Chapter in an edited book – author’s surname followed by initials (no full stops) e.g. H Smith (not Smith, H.). If there is no author then use the title in italics e.g. The study guide. Followed by ‘in’ and name of editor/s with surname first, comma, initials (if known), comma, ‘ed.’ which means edited by e.g. Crouch & Mazey in Williams ed., 2009. Provide page numbers after the chapter title if relevant to direct your reader to a specific section of the chapter rather than the whole book or article; for this purpose, most books have a number at the end of their text in addition to their page numbers.
- Government publications – author’s surname followed by initials (no full stops) e.g. H Smith (not Smith, H.). Where there are multiple authors give all their names together in the same order as they appear in the government report with a comma between each one e.g. Smith, J., Jones, P., Williams, K., & Robinson, S. Report numbering identifies the year of publication and department of origin e.g Department for Transport (2008). The rest of this citation remains unchanged from its original form – do not include ‘et al’ where there are four or more authors; unless it is exclusively about one country than provide location after publisher e.g. Department for Transport, UK.
- Websites – after the date the website was created, insert a comma followed by ‘online’ then site name in italics e.g. 12 May 2011 online www.googlewebsite.com. The author’s surname should follow but not be included within brackets as this is understood to be the person who last modified the content on that day; if there is no author/editor provide the title of the page instead i.e What are Google Adwords? . If possible also include a date accessed following which should ideally appear as month/day/year or simply as month/year. It must always include a forward slash between these two numbers and never a full stop (which would indicate the end of the date).
- Video – if it is just a recording of an item with no images or other visual aids then the author’s surname should follow but not be included within brackets as this is understood to be the person who last modified the content on that day; if there is no author/editor provide the title of the page instead i.e ‘Ministry Of Defence’. If possible also include a date accessed following which should ideally appear as month/day/year or simply as month/year. It must always include a forward slash between these two numbers and never a full stop (which would indicate the end of the date).
- Podcast – if it has no known authors give either its name or a description in italics; if it is just a recording of an item with no images or other visual aids then author’s surname should follow but not be included within brackets as this is understood to be the person who last modified the content on that day; if there is no author/editor provide the title of the page instead i.e ‘Ministry Of Defence’. If possible also include a date accessed following which should ideally appear as month/day/year or simply as month/year. It must always include a forward slash between these two numbers and never a full stop (which would indicate the end of the date).
- Images – for books, journals, newspapers etc. take note of where you found this image so you can credit the source (e.g. via a footnote) and include page numbers if relevant e.g ‘Smith, J., 2007; Chapter 2’ – these can be found at the bottom of the image itself occurring in two sets.
With our guidance on how to avoid common pitfalls during academic writing tasks which require referencing, your writing is sure to be a success.
