Learning Outcomes
This package will help you to
- understand the purpose of a bibliography
- know how to prepare a bibliography
A reference list is essential for all types of academic texts. Depending on your academic discipline, your lecturers may require you to prepare a reference list using a particular style. In this package, we will show you how to prepare a reference list using APA style.
Reference list V.S. Bibliography
You may have noticed that some academic texts have a “Reference List” section while some others have a “Bibliography” section. There are some differences between them.
If you are preparing a “Reference List”, you are only listing out all the sources that you have CITED in your work.
If you are preparing a “Bibliography”, you are not only listing all the sources you have cited but also sources you have READ/CONSULTED without actually citing.
Other than the name, they are all the same. In this package, we will just use the term ‘reference list’ for easy reference. Let’s take a look at a sample reference as shown below.
Bantock, G. H. (1968). Culture, industrialisations and education. London: Routeledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
Brembeck, Cole S. (1971). Social foundations of education: Environmental influences in teaching and learning. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Daugherty, J. and Hammack, M. (1990). Education and society: A Reader. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers.
Dunn, R and Dunn, K. (1978). Teaching students through their individual learning styles: A practical approach. Reston, Virginia: Reston Publishing.
Entwistle, H. (1977a). Class culture and education. London: Methuen and Co Ltd. Entwistle, H. (1977b). Styles of learning and teaching. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Ford, M. E. (1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions and personal agency beliefs. Newbury Park: Sage Publication
Could you prepare a similar reference list for one of your papers? Preparing a reference list requires an eye for detail. Before we learn how to compile a reference list, look at the following checklist and decide which points apply to a good reference list.
Activity 1: Check the box if you agree with that statement.
You probably now understand the basics of writing a reference list! Some citation management software can help prepare a reference list. However, you still need to proofread your reference list carefully. Visit the web link below and find out more about one of the most commonly used citation management software.
http://www.refworks.com/
Task 2 – Identifying essential information to prepare a reference list
First names and Last names
The order of names is important in a reference list. The following activity will help you learn the correct order of names in a reference list.
Activity 2 - First names and Last names
Answer the following questions:
Besides names, we need to include other information to produce a comprehensive reference list. The following activity will help you identify the other essential information to include in your reference list.
Activity 3 – Looking for other essential information
Q1 Journal
Please take a look at the journal article below and fill in the blanks.
Q2 Printed Book
Go online and look for this book. You can check the library of your University.
Q3 Edited Book
You find a very useful article from the following book. Please look for the information required
(Note: An author is the person who actually writes the book/article. An editor is the person who complies the articles to publish a book.)
You probably now understand how to look for information for your reference list. The next task will show you how to make good use of the information you found.
Task 3
In this task, you are going to learn how to prepare a reference list entry for the following types of sources:
- Books (Printed / Electronic)
- Journals (Printed / Electronic)
- Newspaper (Printed / Electronic)
- Edited Books
- Web Pages
- Unpublished Thesis
- Dictionary
- TV Programmes
- Speech / Lecture
- Youtube
- Government Document
In task 1, we learnt some of the general principles. Let’s look at some of these again: (and some new principles too!)
- There should be a full stop at the end of most components!
- For most of electronic resources, indicate the retrieval date (the date of downloading) and the actual link.
- If there are more than 2 authors, you can use “and” to separate them. If you have more than 2 authors, you can use a comma to separate first few names and use “and” to separate the last and the second last author.
1. Books
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Name of the book in italic. Place: Publisher.
e.g.
Bill, C. (2012). A guidebook for the dummies. New York: Longman.
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Name of the book in italic. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g. Jill, C. (2005). A journey to the earth. Retrieved May 20, 2005, from http://www.jillcol.com/a_journey.pdf
Quick Exercise:
Author: Charles Lipson
Publication Year: 2006
Title of the Book: Cite Right
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Place of Publication: Chicago
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Title of the article. Name of the journal in italic, Volume No.(Issue No), starting page-ending page.
e.g.
Bill, C. (2012). The latest development of Web 2.0. Journal of Education Technology. New York: Longman.
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Title of the article. Name of the journal in italic, Volume No.(Issue No). Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
Jennifer, B. (2012). Where should we go? A case study of Hong Kong. Journal of Asian Studies, 30 (2) Retrieved June 21, 2013, from http://www.journalasian.com/3498045403958.pdf
Quick Exercise
Author 1 Gul Nazir Khan
Author 2 Hafiz Muhammad Inamullah:
Publication Year 2011
Title of the article: Effect of Student’s Team Achievement Division (STAD) on Academic Achievement of Students
Title of the journal: Asian Social Science
Volume No.: 7
Issue No.: 12
Starting Page: 211
Ending Page: 215
3. Newspaper (Printed / Electronic)
Last Name, I. (Publication year, month date). Title of the article. Name of the newspaper in italic, page no.
e.g.
Baijie, A. (2013, June 14). Nation’s rise a common goal. China Daily, A1
Title of the article. (Publication year, month date). Name of the newspaper in italic, page no.
e.g.
Border security at issue in immigration measure. (2013, June 14). Sun Star Cebu, p. A26.
Last Name, I. (Publication year, month date). Title of the article. Name of the newspaper in italic [online]. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
Li, Amy. (2013, June 14). Sina Weibo users unleash scathing criticism of US hacking 'hypocrisy'. South China Morning Post [online], Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1259715/what-hypocrite-chinese-bloggers-lash-out-us-after-snowden-revelations
Title of the article. (Publication year, month date). Name of the newspaper in italic[online]. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
Air Force Cadets enjoy a taste of flight. (2013, June 12). Benalla Ensign [online]. Retrieved June 14, 2013, fromhttp://www.mmg.com.au/local-news/benalla
Quick Exercise (This is from a printed newspaper)
4. Edited Books
Last Name, I. (Ed.). (Publication Year). Name of the book in italic. Place: Publisher.
Note:
- You will need to use the name of the EDITOR when the names of authors are not available.
- “Ed” stands for ‘editor’. If you have more than 1 editor, you can use “Eds” instead.
e.g.
Bock, D.R. (Ed.). (1989). Multilevel analysis of educational data. San Diego: CA: Academic Press.
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Title of the article. In Last Name, I. (Ed.), Name of the book in italic. (pp. start page-end page). Place: Publisher.
e.g.
Creton, H.A., Wubbels, Th. & Hooymayers, H.P. (1993). A systems perspective on classroom communication. In Wubbels, Th. & Levy, J. (Eds.), Do you know what you look like?: Interpersonal relationships in education (pp. 1–12). London: Falmer Press.
Quick Exercise
Author: Barry J. Fraser
Editor: TA Simpson
Publication Year: 1993
Title of the article: Incorporating classroom and school environment ideas into teacher
education programs
Title of the book: Teacher educators’ annual handbook
Publication Year of the book: 1993
Starting page: 135
Ending Page: 152
Publisher: Queensland University of Technology
Place: Australia
5. Web Pages
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Title of the article in italics. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
Neale, H. (2013). Enjoying the beach with your family. Retrieved June, 14, 2013, from http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/enjoying-beach-family-174000743.html
Title of the article in italic. (Publication Year). Name of the Website. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
How to make a persuasive speech. (n.d.) Essortment.Retrieved June, 14, 2013, from http://www.essortment.com/make-persuasive-speech-34206.html
Note: “n.d.” stands for “no date”. We use “n.d.” to indicate that the publication year is not available.
Quick Exercise (Take 14 June 2013 as the retrieval date)
6. Unpublished Thesis
Even though master or doctoral thesis may not be published, we can always find that from our library. Therefore, we need to learn how to cite them properly.
Last Name, I. (Publication Year). Title of the article in italics. Unpublished master thesis. University name: place.
Seinde, A. (2011). Incorporating Cultural Competence into the Risk Communication & Community Engagement Strategies of the Environment Agency. Unpublished master thesis. University of Hertfordshire: United Kingdom.
The Word, part of speech. (Publication year). Name of the dictionary in italic. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g.
Privacy, n. (n.d.). Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/privacy?q=privacy
Quick Exercise (Take 14-6-2013 as the retrieval date)Check the word ‘Class’, as a noun, from the Cambridge Dictionaries Online (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/)
Last Name, I. (Writer) & Last Name, I. (Director). (Year). Episode title [Television series episode]. In Last Name, I. (Producer), Name of the Programme in italic. Episode no. Name of the TV.
Steinberg, H. (Writer) & Holohan, P. (Director). (2003). The Bus [Television series episode]. In Bruckheimer, J, Without a trace. Episode 1. CBS.
Last Name, I. (Year, month date). Nature. Organizer. Place.
Smith, J. (2012). Course Lecture. University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong.
If the real name the available:
Last Name, I. [Screen name]. (year, month date). Title of video in italics [Video file]. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
If only the screen name is available:
Screen name. (year, month date). Title of video in italics [Video file]. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
e.g. (for screen name only)
RosannaPansino. (2012, April 10). How to make a rainbow cake - nerdy nummies [Video file]. Retrieved 14 June, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC77tcJZIdU
Quick Exercise:
Visit the link below and prepare an entry for the link below. Take 14-6-2013 as the retrieval date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--jQ-Q06qlc
Name of the publishing office. (Publication year). Name of the document in italic. Retrieved month, date, year, from http://weblink.com
Census and Statistics Department. (2013). External merchandise trade statistics for April 2013. Retrieved 14 June, 2014, from http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/press_release/pressReleaseDetail.jsp?charsetID=1&pressRID=3135
All these sources are commonly used in our academic writing. Please take note of these. If you need further information, you can always visit: http://www.apastyle.org
Prepare a reference list for the following 10 sources. Take 2013, June 20 as the retrieval date if necessary.
Source 1: (a book)
Source 2 (an electronic journal article)
Source 3 - a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1E2wLW9pn8
Source 4 - a web Page: http://www.ielts.org/test_takers_information/who_accepts_ielts.aspx
Source 5 - Printed Newspaper
Source 6 - a document published in 2013. Download from: http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/MainNews/press_20130430_eng.pdf
Source 7 - Look up the word ‘Examination’ from the Cambridge Dictionaries Online