Referencing Exercises

Accurate referencing enhances your credibility and authority as a writer.

Referencing your sources acknowledges the work of the original authors; it helps
others to locate the same sources for their own learning purposes; and it also helps
you to assert your own voice in assignments, as you can use sources to lend support
to your own ideas or arguments.
Test your knowledge of referencing with one or more the following four exercises. The
answers and comments are to be found at the end of the worksheet.

Exercise 1: Is a Reference Needed?

When is a reference necessary in an assignment? Decide if a reference to a source is
needed in the following situations.

Situation

Yes

No

Yes

No

1. When quoting directly from a published source.

2. When using statistics or other data that is freely available from a

publicly accessible website.

3. When summarizing the cause of undisputed past events and

where there is agreement by most commentators on cause and
effect.

4. When paraphrasing a definition found on a website and when no

writer, editor or authors name is shown.

5. When summarizing or paraphrasing the ideas of a key

commentator or author, but taken from a secondary source, e.g.
general reference book.

Situation

6. When summarizing in a concluding paragraph of your

assignment what you discussed and referenced earlier in your
text.

7. When including in your assignment photographs or graphics that

are freely available on the Internet and where no named
photographer or originator is shown.

8. When emphasizing an idea you have read that you feel makes an
important contribution to the points made in your assignment.

9. When summarizing undisputed and commonplace facts about

the world.

10. When using aphorisms, such as: Pennywise, pound

foolish.

Exercise 2: Where Should the Citations Go?

Citations are the full or partial references that you place into the text of your
assignment to identify the source of evidence presented.
For example, with the Harvard and APA referencing styles the citations used are the
last names of authors or originators of the source in question, followed by the year of
its publication, e.g. (Handy 1996).
These citations should connect with the full detail of the source contained in the
alphabetical list of references at the end of the assignment. For example, the following
essay paragraph contains two citations that help the reader to identify the source of
the definition used (i.e. Coleman and Chiva 1991) and the hypothesis presented (i.e.
Hopson and Scaly 1999).
Life planning is a process to encourage people to review their lives, identify life
priorities, consider options and make plans to implement choices (Coleman
and Chiva 1991). It is an idea that started in the USA, but has found its way to
Britain and the rest of Europe in recent years. Hopson and Scally (1999)
suggest the process is built on seven life management skills: knowing
yourself; learning from experience; research and information retrieval skills;
setting objectives and making action plans; making decisions; looking after
yourself; and communicating with others.
Look at the following three brief extracts from assignments and decide if a citation is
necessary, and, if so, where it should go. Mark the relevant point in the text with a X.

1. A major study of British school leavers concluded that parents had a major
influence on the kind of work entered by their children. The children were
influenced over a long period of time by the values and ideas about work of
their parents. A later study reached the same conclusion, and showed a link
between the social and economic status of parents and the work attitudes and
aspirations of their teenage children.
2. Climatologists generally agree that the five warmest years since the late
nineteenth century have been within the decade, 1995-2005, with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), ranking 2005 as the second warmest year behind 1998.
3. It has been argued that federalism is a way of making sense of large
organisations and that the power and responsibility that drives federalism is a
feature of developed societies and can be extended into a way forward for
managing modern business: authority must be earned from those whom it is
exercised.

Exercise 3: I Didnt Reference the Source Because

Below are six statements that might be made by students for not referencing a
particular source in an assignment. They all start with I didnt reference the source
because
However, imagine you were a tutor what would you say in response to these
statements? Six likely tutor responses are shown. Match the likely response to the
statement. Write the most likely response number in the right hand column below.
Statements

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Response
Number:

I didnt reference the source in the text of the assignment because I put
the source in the bibliography.
I didnt reference the source because I found this theory on a Wiki
Internet site; anyone can contribute to these, and no particular author
is named.
I didnt reference the source because the statistics were taken from a
government website, which are there for the whole world to see and
use.
I didnt reference the source because it just gave me ideas to use in my
assignment; I changed most of words in the article to my own.
I didnt reference the source of the definition because it was from a
tutor handout; everyone in class was given a copy.
I didnt reference the source because no author or writers name was
shown on the website.

Responses
Match each statement shown above with the appropriate tutor response from the list
below.
1. If no named author or writer is shown, you should cite and reference the name
of the originator of the source, which can be a name of an organization, or other
source.
2. Readers need to match in-text citations with the full details of sources in a list of
references. This enables readers to find and use the sources for themselves, if
required.
3. The source of all data like this must be fully referenced. Readers may, for
example, want to learn or examine the methodology for the research and data
collection.
4. It is advisable, wherever possible, to use primary sources in an assignment,
rather than secondary sources. A primary source, in this example, would be the
originator of the theory. Secondary sources may not always be reliable.
However, if you do use a secondary source, it needs to be properly referenced.
5. Any source that has played a significant contribution to your assignment must
be fully referenced. By doing this you acknowledge the part another person has
played in the development of your own ideas.
6. This came from work produced by someone else and not by you. It also
contributes to the readers understanding of terms you have used in your
assignment and so needs to be properly referenced.
4

Exercise 4: Referencing Errors

A number of the sources below, presented in the Harvard Style of referencing,
contain one or more errors. Identify and summarise in the right hand column below
the nature of any errors that you spot.

References

Error(s)?

Http://www.bbc.co.uk/bob/callcentres/ [Accessed
09/08/2004].

BUSINESS STRATEGIES (2000). Tomorrows Call

Centres: a Research Study.

DEPARTMENT FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY (2004).

The UK Contact Centre Industry: a Study. [Report].
London: Department for Trade and Industry.

HEALTH and SAFETY EXECUTIVE. Psychosocial

Working Conditions in Great Britain in 2004.

HUWS, U (1999). Virtually There: the Evolution of

Call Centres. [Report]. London: Mitel Telecom Ltd.

HUWS, U (1993). Teleworking in Britain: a Report to

the Employment Department. Research Series No 18,
Oct 1993. London: Department of Employment.

HUWS, U (1996). eWorking: an Overview of the

Research. [Report]. London: Department of Trade
and Industry.

Answers and Comments

Exercise 1: Is a Reference Needed?
Situation

Yes

No

1. When quoting directly from a published source.

Comment: The sources of all quotations should be referenced.

2. When using statistics or other data that is freely available from a
publicly accessible website.

Comment: The sources of statistics or other data that you use in

assignments should always be referenced.
3. When summarizing the cause of undisputed past events and where
there is agreement by most commentators on cause and effect.

Comment: This can be regarded as common knowledge, which does

not need to be referenced. However, the sources for any contentious
discussion of the same events would need to referenced.
4. When paraphrasing a definition found on a website and when no writer,
editor or authors name is shown.

Comment: If no named writer, author or editor is shown, you should

cite and reference the name of the websit, e.g. Bized 2007.
5. When summarizing or paraphrasing the ideas of a key commentator or
author, but taken from a secondary source, e.g. general reference
book.

Comment: You always need to acknowledge your sources, even if

they are secondary ones. However, it is advisable, whenever possible,
to consult the main (primary) sources for yourself and to reference
these.
6. When summarizing in a concluding paragraph of your assignment what
you discussed and referenced earlier in your text.

Comment: Providing the sources were properly referenced earlier in

your assignment, there would be no need to re-reference your
concluding comments. However, any new material introduced into
your assignment at this point would need to be referenced.

7. When including in your assignment photographs or graphics that are

freely available on the Internet and where no named photographer or
originator is shown.

Comment: The photographs or graphics are the result of work by

another person. In this situation, you should cite and reference the
name of the website that contains the illustrations.
8. When emphasizing an idea you have read that you feel makes an
important contribution to the points made in your assignment

Comment: This is an important reason for referencing, as it

acknowledges the importance and relevance of the source concerned
to the development of your own work.
9. When summarizing undisputed and commonplace facts about the
world.

Comment: General public awareness of undisputed facts can also be

treated as common knowledge (see also 3, above).
10.

When using aphorisms, such as: Pennywise, pound foolish.

Comment: this is an example of a common expression, or aphorism,

which does need to be referenced if the source or origin of the
expression has been lost in the mist of time. However, if you were
able to identify the period of origin, you could mention this, e.g.
Children should be seen and not heard (15th Century British proverb).
You could also identify the originator, if known, in the text citation
only, e.g. A witty saying proves nothing (Voltaire).

Exercise 2: Where Should the Citations Go?

1. A major study of British school leavers concluded that parents had a major
influence on the kind of work entered by their children X. The children were
influenced over a long period of time by the values and ideas about work of their
parents. A later study reached the same conclusion, and showed a link between the
social and economic status of parents and the work attitudes and aspirations of
their teenage children X.
Comment: The above extract refers to two different studies, so you need to cite
both of these. You have some flexibility about where the citations should go. For
example, the relevant citations could also have been placed after the words study
in lines 1 and 4. The important point is to make the connection between statement
and source as obvious and clear as possible.

2. Climatologists generally agree that the five warmest years since the late
nineteenth century have been within the decade, 1995-2005, with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), ranking 2005 as the second warmest year behind 1998 X.
Comment: The sources of all statistics and information originating from named
sources, such as the NOAA and WMO, should always be fully referenced

3. It has been argued that federalism is a way of making sense of large

organisations and that the power and responsibility that drives federalism is a
feature of developed societies and can be extended into a way forward for
managing modern business: authority must be earned from those whom it is
exercised X.
Comment: If you use the term, It has been argued, you need to cite who has
presented this argument. As a quotation is included, you can show the source of
the argument and quotation assuming they are from the same source
immediately after the quotation. If the quotation is taken from a printed source,
show the page number, as well as the authors name and year of publication, as
this helps others to easily locate the quotation in the source cited, e.g. (Handy
1996, p.32),

Exercise 3: I Didnt Reference the Source Because

Statements

Response number:
2

a. I didnt reference the source in the text

of the assignment because I put the
source in the bibliography.

Readers need to match in-text citations

with the full details of sources in a list of
references. This enables readers to find
and use the sources for themselves, if
required.
4

b. I didnt reference the source because I

found this theory on a Wiki Internet
site; anyone can contribute to these,
and no particular author is named.

It is advisable, wherever possible, to use

primary sources in an assignment, rather
than secondary sources. A primary
source, in this example, would be the
originator of the theory. Secondary
sources may not always be reliable.
However, if you do use a secondary
source, it needs to be properly
referenced.
3

c. I didnt reference the source because

the statistics were taken from a
government website - there for the
whole world to see and use.

The source of all data like this must be

fully referenced. Readers may, for
example, want to learn or examine the
methodology for the research and data
collection.
5

d. I didnt reference the source because it

just gave me ideas to use in my
assignment; I changed most of words
in the article to my own.

Any source that has played a significant

contribution to your assignment must be
fully referenced. By doing this you
acknowledge the part another person has
played in the development of your own
ideas.
6

e. I didnt reference the source of the

definition because it was from a tutor
handout; everyone in class was given a
copy.

This came from work produced by

someone else and not by you. It also
contributes to the readers understanding
of terms you have used in your
assignment and so needs to be properly
referenced.
1

f. I didnt reference the source because

no author or writers name was shown
on the website.

If no named author or writer is shown,

you should cite and reference the name of
the originator of the source, which can be

a name of an organization, or other

source.

Exercise 4: Referencing Errors?

Http://www.bbc.co.uk/bob/callcentres/

[Accessed 09/08/2004].

Comment: More information is needed; in this example, the name of author or

originator and title of item needed to be shown, e.g. BBC (2004). Brassed-off
Britain: Call Centres. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bob/callcentres/ [Accessed
09/08/2004].

BUSINESS STRATEGIES (2000). Tomorrows Call Centres: a Research Study.

Comment: You need to give details of where this study can be located, e.g. name of
publisher or details of website, e.g. BUSINESS STRATEGIES (2000). Tomorrows Call
Centres: a Research Study. Available at www.businessstrategies.co.uk [Accessed
07/07/2008].

DEPARTMENT FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY (2004). The UK Contact Centre Industry: a
Study. [Report]. London: Department for Trade and Industry.
Comment: This source is correctly referenced.

HEALTH and SAFETY EXECUTIVE. Psychosocial Working Conditions in Great Britain in

2004.
Comment: the date of publication and detail of publisher is missing. If the text is
anything other than a book, you need state what it is, e.g. a report. So the full
reference should look like this: HEALTH and SAFETY EXECUTIVE (2004). Psychosocial
Working Conditions in Great Britain in 2004. [Report]. London: Health and Safety
Executive.

HUWS, U (1999). Virtually There: the Evolution of Call Centres. [Report]. London:
Mitel Telecom Ltd.
HUWS, U (1993). Teleworking in Britain: a Report to the Employment Department.
Research Series No 18, Oct 1993. London: Department of Employment.
HUWS, U (1996). eWorking: an overview of the research. [Report]. London:
Department of Trade and Industry.
Comment: Where you have more than one publication by the same author, these need
to be listed in chronological order, with the earliest listed first. So Huws (1993) would
be the first listed in this trio of sources.

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 Colin Neville [email protected]

July 2008

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