7 top referencing tips
Perfect your academic referencing style with these straightforward ideas
Harvard, MLA, OSCOLA, Running Notes — there are so many referencing styles out there it can feel like a confusing journey when writing your assignments.
While each style may have different rules and regulations, the way you prepare for and handle referencing can be the same.
Here are our tips to helping you become a pro at mastering the skill of referencing.
- Have a routine
Referencing is a part of university life, whether you like it or not, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with it as soon as the first opportunity comes about. If you find a routine that works best for you when writing your essays, referencing will naturally become part of a regime.
It will make writing your assignments in the future a lot easier, plus you’ll be in a full routine by the time your dissertation arrives.
2. Be consistent
One of the most important things when it comes to referencing is being consistent. This means ensuring that you keep the same rules throughout your whole assignment. For example, if you use a full stop at the end of one reference, use it at the end of all of them.
3. Know when to do it
Fitting referencing into your assignment schedule is step one, but at what stage is just as important. It’s common for people to leave referencing until last, but keeping on top of your referencing throughout your assignment saves you time and prevents you from that last-minute frustration as you struggle to find sources via a Google search.
Also, never leave it until the very end of your assignment or the night before it’s due. Referencing will always take longer if you’re in a panic! It’s like it knows that you are short for time and gets even more complicated.
4. Write notes
From the moment you begin planning your essay, keep a sheet of paper aside to note down sources, authors and quotes whenever you find something that will be useful. Even if you don’t end up using the quote or reference, this list will help you find specific referencing information like publication year, publication location, etc… whenever you’re in sudden need of it. There’s no worse feeling than having a quote but not remembering who it is from!
5. Look at professionals
Look at the way academics reference in their scholarly journal articles and sources you are using. It’s the best time-saving way to learn how to be consistent with referencing because you’re already studying their work in the first place.
6. Use us!
Check out the referencing guides created by the Learning Development and Academic Librarian team on the Skills Hub. They’ve been created specifically for students to use and provide examples of how your referencing should look.
The Learning Development and the Academic Librarian team can help with referencing too. You can attend their drop-ins or book a longer appointment for guidance on how to reference.
7. Double check
It’s standard practice to proofread your essay, but do you always check your referencing? Checking your referencing list, especially after having a break between writing it and proofing to ensure you’re looking at it fresh, can prevent submitting work with missing full stops or italics.
Check out The Ultimate Guide to Essay Writing and our Top Dissertation Tips for more assignment guidance.
