Referencing: Using Sources
This video is taken from QUT Library's 'Study Smart: information research and literacy skills' tutorial Module 4.1.2 How do I cite and reference? http://studysmart.library.qut.edu.au/...
Transcript:
You've started your research. What details will you need when referencing your assignment?
The answer changes depending on the type of source you are using.
But every type of source will have an author, someone who created it;
a title, a name of some kind;
and a date, usually the year it was created.
Lets look at some examples.
For a book, besides the author, date and title, you also need the place of publication and the publisher to complete the reference.
You can find all these details in the first few pages of the book.
But what if you are using an ebook?
An ebook is much the same as a regular book with two extra details:
the ebook platform, this is the name of the database that hosts the ebook;
and the URL from the web address bar.
Look for these at the top of the screen.
Chapters are also very similar.
Same as a book plus three extra details;
the chapter title, the chapter author and the first and last page of the chapter.
You would usually do this when a book contains chapters written by many different authors.
Most often, this type of book has an editor rather than an author.
A lot of students use electronic articles from journals.
These are sometimes called periodicals.
Periodicals are sources that come out at multiple times in a year.
The frequency can change: newspapers come out daily; popular or industry magazines can come out weekly or monthly;
and journals often come out quarterly or half-yearly.
Students will mainly use journals because they contain specialised and high quality information.
You can normally tell a journal article by the inclusion of a short abstract describing the article, fewer images and a reference list.
To reference a journal article, start with author, date and article title
and record details of the journal's source, the name of the journal and the particular volume your article appeared in.
Remember that journals come out multiple times a year. The volume and issue tell your reader specifically which edition you used.
Most articles also have a DOI. This is an ID number specific to that article.
All the details for referencing can be found in the article footer.
Finally, a bit about referencing and the web. In many assignments, you will also use a few websites.
Lecturers like to see a range of sources used but usually expect to see mainly journal articles and books in a reference list.
When referencing a website, you will need the usual author, date and title plus the URL.
Most of the time, websites suitable for academic use will have a group author rather than an individual author.
This is called a corporate author.
Choose a title that is most specific to the text rather than a title in the webpage banner.
You will usually find the date at the bottom of the page.
One last thing, make sure you record the details of your sources as you use them.
Whether you do this on paper or in a document, it will save you lots of time when it comes to writing your assignment.
You can find all the details for a book in the library catalogue
and all the details for a journal article in the article footer.
The next thing you will need to know is how to format your sources in an assignment.
See cite|write for advice.