Reference List

University of Huddersfield

Reference list

What is a reference list?

  • It is a list of all your sources you have cited.
  • It is located at the end of your assignment.
  • These need to be listed in alphabetical order by author's family name.
  • If the reference list contains two or more entries by the same author, list them in chronological order, in order of publication date.
  • It should have a title "References".
  • Some departments refer to the reference list as a bibliography. Please seek subject specific advice from your tutor.
  • References need to be consistent in layout and punctuation.
  • Do not use double spacing in the reference list. Use single spacing with a space between each source.
  • Do not indent your reference list.

A number of elements must be present in the reference for an item to be easily identified. This includes author, date, title and source. In other words, Who, When, What, Where.

Sample reference list

Note
  • Use a comma after the author's initial(s) and before an "&" (ampersand), when there are multiple authors. See examples below, e.g. Krisztian and Lundgren.
References

Baynton, D. C. (2013). Disability and the justification of inequality in American history. In L. J. Davis (Ed.) The disability studies reader. (4th ed.) (pp. 17-34). Routledge.

British Standards Institution. (1980). Method for preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests (BS 6008:1980). https://bsol.bsigroup.com

Guerrilla Girls. (1989). Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum? [Screenprint on paper]. Tate, London.

Krisztian, G., & Schlempp-Ülker, N. (2006). Visualizing ideas: From scribbles to storyboards. Thames and Hudson.

Lundgren, R. E., & McMakin, A. H. (2013). Risk communication: A handbook for communicating environmental, safety, and health risks (5th ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470480120

Matheus, C. C., & Quinn, E. (2017, November 30-December 02). Gender based occupational stereotypes: New behaviors, old attitudes. IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Forum USA East, Baltimore, MD, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/WIE.2017.8285610

Ness, P. (2018). The knife of never letting go. Walker Books.

UNICEF. (2022). Prospects for children in 2022: A global outlook. https://uni.cf/3iSFFvh

Nnoromele, S. C. (2010). Representing the African woman: Subjectivity and self in the joys of motherhood. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 43(2), 178-90. http://doi.org/10.1080/00111610209602179

Sefton, T., Tucker, J., & McCartney, C. (2019). All kids count: The impact of the two-child limit after two years. CPAG; Church of England. https://tinyurl.com/yd7rt7wv

Formatting the reference

  • You need to use the author's family name followed by initials, e.g. Kirsty Carver becomes Carver, K. (note the full stop after the abbreviated first name)
  • For organisations or companies, use the full title followed by a full stop, e.g. University of Huddersfield.
  • Use the "&" (ampersand) to join together two or more authors.
  • When your source has multiple authors, refer to the table below:
Number of Authors Example of names at the start of reference
Up to twenty authors list them all and use an ampersand before the final author's name Ramsden, B, J., Jones, J., Smith, K., Sharman, A., Carver, K., Briggs, J., & Wilson, M. (2019).
Twenty one or more authors – include the first 19 authors' names, insert … (3 dots called an ellipsis) no ampersand, and then add the final author's name. Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R.,Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L.,Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A.,… Joseph, D. (1996).
Organisation – write full name not acronym National Health Service. (2019).

Digital object identifier (DOI)

The digital object identifier (DOI) is used when referencing using APA 7th style. It is a unique and permanent number used to identify electronic documents that stay the same even if there is a change of publisher or web address. The DOI begins with a 10 and contains a prefix and a suffix separated by a slash, e.g. 10.1000/xyz123.

The DOI is included in the reference list if an electronic document has one, the format is https://doi.org/ (followed by the unique numbers/ letter combination).

Do not manually insert line breaks into long DOIs or URLs, i.e. keep them on one line where possible.

Missing information

If any of the information is not available, the reference needs to be adapted. See the table below for guidance:

Missing info What should I do? In-text Example reference
Author Provide title, date and source.

Italicise the title if it is italicised in the reference list, e.g. book or artwork.


Enclose the title in quotation marks if the title is not italicised in the reference list, e.g. a journal article.

This image creates a feeling of happiness (Sunflower, 2019).
The gardening advice provided ("Sunflowers require a sunny spot", 1989).

Sunflower [Photograph]. (2019). https://unsplash.com/photos/vKNjdRBqep0
"Sunflowers require a sunny spot." (1989). Gardening for Beginners, 4(Spring). 32.
Date Provide author, substitute n.d. for no date, and then give title and source.

(*see also below)

(Smith, n.d.). Smith, S. (n.d.). Sunflower [Photograph]. https://unsplash.com/photos/vKNjdRBqep0
Title Provide author and date, describe document inside square brackets, and then give source (Smith, 2019). Smith, S. (2019). [Photograph of sunflower]. https://unsplash.com/photos/vKNjdRBqep0
Both author and title Try to find the details. Consider using another source. N/A N/A

* To find a publishing date on a website: Right click on the page. Select View page source. Press the Control and F keys, then type the word publish to see if it will find the year it was written.

See also:

web page URL: /pages/referencelist/
last updated: Thu 25/Apr/2024