East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust Knowledge and Library Services: Citing and Referencing

When you are writing an essay, assignment, research article or other work you need to ensure that you  acknowledge the work you have used that has been created by other people.

There are two elements to Citing and Referencing:

1. Citing is a note (citation) in the body of your work that refers to the work you have used, at the point where you have referred to it.  It is brief and acts as a signpost to your...
2. Reference List (or Bibliography) - which gives complete details of the works referred to, so that your readers can find them and verify them

There are different Citing and Referencing styles.  You will need to check with your academic institution, organisation or publisher regarding their chosen style and you will need to use the guidance they may provide, or guidance from textbooks, the internet, the library, to ensure that you are using the correct format for the type of work that you are referencing.  This could be a book, journal, newpaper article, website, a piece of artwork, a piece of music or a video or anything else that someone has created and that you have used in your work.

There are various tools to help you create a reference list or bibliography.  Two that we use are Endnote Web and Mendeley.

On this page you will find:

• e-learning Tutorial on Citing and Referencing including a quiz.
• Links to Reference Management software and how to use it
• Links to further information on Referencing Styles.
• How to avoid plagiarism - there are different forms of plagiarism but it basically means passing off someone else's work as your own

Please see the boxes below for more information.