QuickRef 19

A guide to referencing styles

What is a 'referencing' style?

Referencing styles are established systems of referencing with consistent rules. Referencing style requirements cover the two elements of a referencing system:

1. in-text citations such as author-date citations or footnotes
2. reference lists or bibliographies.

What do I need to know about referencing styles?

There is a wide range of referencing styles, each with different origins and features. Some disciplines have developed their own style. For example, the American Psychological Association (APA style) was developed specifically for Psychology. Some disciplines have adopted a particular referencing style, while other disciplines may use a range of referencing styles. It is up to students to familiarise themselves with the referencing style requirements for each subject.

Consistency is most important. Do not mix referencing styles within one piece of writing.

Which referencing style should I use?

To find out which style to use:

• check your assignment instructions or Unit Guide
• ask your lecturer
• consult your faculty handbook and/or style guide (such as the Q Manual for BusEco)
• for information on referencing styles for Information Technology, Engineering, Science and Medicine and for preferred referencing style by faculty go to the Monash University Library citing and referencing website
• look at samples of work from your department
• look at the table on the next page for general guidance.

How do I find out more about referencing styles?

There is a wide range of resources available on referencing styles.However, you should first consult the following Monash University resources:

• Language and Learning Online an online student resource website. Here you can access relevant tutorials and information on general aspects of academic study and writing skills in your subject areas. There are also QuickRef sheets available with explanations and examples of different referencing styles.
• the Library website contains tutorials on referencing styles with examples.

What if I still have problems?

If you still have problems with referencing styles consult:

• faculty staff
• Library staff:learning skills advisers and librarians
• style manuals and writing guides (see next page)
• Language and Learning Quick Reference sheets (available online).

A quick guide to referencing styles

A quick guide to referencing styles

Style name	Style features	Author organisation	General application	Reference manual or guide
ACS		American Chemical Society	Chemistry	Dodd, JS (ed) 1997, The ACS style guide: a manual for authors and editors, 2nd edn, ACS, Washington DC.
AIP		American Institute of Physics	Physics	Hathwell, D & Metzner, AWK 1978, Style manual for guidance in preparation of papers, 3rd edn, NY. AIP style manual 1990, American Institute of Physics, NY. Library citing and referencing website.
APA	Author and date in text	American Psychological Association	Psychology, Education, Anthropology, and other Social and Behavioural Sciences	Publication manual of the American Psychological Association 2001, 5th edn, APA, Washington DC. Library citing and referencing website . For information on citing web references in APA, see: Web extension to American psychological association style
Chicago	Author-date and/or note system	University of Chicago Press	Humanities, Social, Biological and Physical Sciences	The Chicago Manual of Style 2003, 15th edn, The University of Chicago Press , Chicago.
Harvard	Author and date in text	Harvard University	Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Education, Business	Simplified version of the Chicago style, as documented in Anderson & Poole, Thesis and Assignment Writing . Library citing and referencing website .
IEEE		Institute for Electronics & Electrical Engineers	Electronics, Electrical Engineering	Library citing and referencing website Style manual .
MLA	Author and page number in text	Modern Languages Association of America	Humanities: Modern Languages, Literature, and other fields	Gibaldi, J 2003, MLA handbook for writers of research papers, 6th edn, MLA, New York.
Oxford or footnoting system	Number in text, details in notes for each entry		Arts, History, English, Literature	Style manual for authors, editors and printers 2000, 6th edn, Canberra Ausinfo (see 'footnotes') Deakin University website
Vancouver	Number in text for each source	Developed at a meeting in Vancouver, 1988.	Medicine, Humanities	'Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals', in British Medical Journal, 6 Feb 1988, vol.296, pp. 401-405. Library citing and referencing website: Vancouver style .

* All texts referred to are available through the Monash library.

Other useful references on this topic:

The ASM style manual for journals and books, 1991, (American Society for Microbiology), Washington, D.C.

Curtin University of Technology Library

Peters, P 1995, The Cambridge Australian English style guide, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne. (see Referencing and Bibliographies sections)

Style manual for authors, editors and printers 2001, 6th edn, Ausinfo, Canberra.

Woodward, JA 1997, Writing research papers: Investigating resources in cyberspace, NTC Publishing Group, Chicago.