Referencing FAQs

At Deakin, different referencing styles are used in different disciplines and units. Consult your unit site each trimester to find out which style you are required to use. In addition, note that some units may use variations of the styles presented in our guides. If you are in any doubt, seek advice from your unit teaching staff.

You may find that different universities (and publishers) use different versions of the Harvard and Oxford styles of referencing. With these two styles in particular, there is no single ‘correct’ style but rather a general set of principles that inform the style.

The Deakin Harvard and Oxford guides are based on authoritative style manuals. Deakin students are expected to follow the Deakin guide to referencing, unless your unit site, supervisor or publisher require you to follow another variation of these styles.

You should aim to do the following:

1. Always act with academic integrity – that is, act with honestly, accuracy, consistency and transparency.
2. Check your unit site for the required referencing style.
3. Check if you are expected to follow any variations of that style.
4. Follow the Deakin guide to referencing to format your citations.
5. Where you can’t find advice on your specific source, follow the logic of the guide to format your references as clearly and consistently as possible.
6. View our tutoring and study assistance webpage if you have any further questions.

Unit readings

• You should start by looking through your weekly unit readings. These readings align with the weekly structure of the unit and will be most important to draw on in your assessments.
• Check the citations within your readings for further sources of information.

Use the Library

• Use the Deakin Library databases and Library resource guides to find further sources.
• Learn more about effective searching techniques using the Deakin Library catalogue.
• Always ask yourself: Is this a credible and reliable source of information?
• Learn more about peer-reviewed sources.

Consult the Study Support team

• Bring a draft or your assessment task question – and ask a writing mentor, maths mentor or Study Support staff member. More information on our tutoring and study assistance webpage.
• We can give further advice on how to effectively incorporate sources into your work.

There are three different ways of acknowledging sources in the body of your paper.

In-text citations are used in both the APA and Harvard referencing styles. The family name of the author(s), the year of publication, and sometimes the page number, are provided in the body of the paper.

Here is an example in the Harvard style of referencing:

Ekwall, Gerdtz and Manias (2008:39) suggest that…

Footnotes are used in AGLC and Oxford styles of referencing. A superscript number is placed in the body of a paper. This number refers the reader to a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Here is an example in the Oxford style of referencing:

Kostof notes that Ggantija is a wholly synthetic and reproduceable form.¹

^1. S. Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals (2nd edn, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 35.

Numbered citations are a third method and they are used in the IEEE and Vancouver referencing styles. Each source is provided with a number, which is provided in the text, and the same number is used for that source throughout the paper.

They argue that approximately 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day is beneficial for our wellbeing at each stage of life. (6)

For each of these three methods you must also include a full list of sources at end of the paper – either a bibliography or a reference list. See your required referencing style guide for further details.

Sometimes the answer will be clearly provided in the guide but at other times you may need to look at more than one section to find how to reference your specific source.

Example 1:

You want to reference a web page with no listed author and no date. Your required style is Harvard.

• Double-check the source type: Are you sure this is simply a webpage? Make sure you are not looking at an online article or a blog post.
• If there is no individual author, it is often the case that the organisation that publishes a website can be given as the author. Go to the Harvard Explained section to find out how to format a Group Author.
• Under Harvard Explained, read how to format a source with No Date.
• Finally, look at the Web page topic under the Web and video section.

Example 2:

You want to reference a report that is a document found on a website. Your required style is APA7.

• Double-check the source type - determine if this is a business report, a government report or another kind of report. Our example is a government report.
• Firstly, look at government sources on how to include government authors and find an example of a government report.
• Go to web and video to read more on the topic web documents.

The main thing to remember is that accurate referencing is a matter of practice and as you progress through your studies you will gradually become more familiar with referencing different sources.

If you still have any questions about how to reference, seek advice from academic staff within your unit, or visit our tutoring and study assistance webpage.

Each time you reference a source in the body of your paper, that source requires a matching entry in a list of references at the end of your paper.

A reference list includes only those sources that you have cited in your paper.

A bibliography is a list of all the works that you have consulted in preparing a paper, including sources not cited.

If you are unclear whether you need to create a reference list or a bibliography, ask for clarification via the discussion board in your unit site and then check the Deakin guide to referencing.

For most styles, both bibliographies and reference lists are arranged alphabetically according to the family names of authors. However, in IEEE and Vancouver styles for example, they are listed numerically in the order they first occurred in the paper.

See your required referencing style guide for further details.

Preferences vary between referencing styles and discipline areas but direct quotes should, in general, be kept to a minimum. You should always have a clear purpose for using a quote. We recommend only including direct quotes when it is essential that the reader sees the original wording – it might be a memorable quote, a definition, a standard or regulation, a literary work, or a controversial statement. Here are two examples:

‘The registered nurse recognises that people are the experts in the experience of their life’ (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA], 2017, Standard 2.3).

Butler et al. (2009:30) take this one step further: ‘What lies at the origin of technology is the vision of a society in which machines replace man [sic]'.

It is important not to quote sources too often or too much – summarising and paraphrasing sources often demonstrates a deeper understanding of a topic.

Direct quoting is common in fields such as History, Literature, and where policy documents or regulations need to be cited. However, you should also be aware that direct quoting is discouraged in many disciplines, especially in the sciences. Reading widely in your subject area is the best way to gain an understanding of how to best report sources in your assignments.

Read more about quoting and using sources.

When selecting sources to support your writing, you will need to evaluate whether the source is appropriate to your task and a reliable source of information.

Academic journal articles (as opposed to non-academic journals, magazine and news articles) are often peer-reviewed and considered more credible sources of information. This does not mean that they cannot be critiqued – it just means they are more likely to have been through a process of validating information.

A journal article can usually be identified by the use of volume and issue numbers and a DOI.

Websites vary more as they could be authored by organisations or individuals with different interests and purposes and they can also be easily modified at any time. Again, it is important to evaluate your sources for reliability and credibility.

It is always best to start with:

• Your unit site and recommended readings.
• Library databases and library resource guides.
• Effective searching techniques using the Deakin library.

You need to check your specific referencing style for accurate and up-to-date advice. The following is general advice only.

In a number of referencing styles, you are required to provide the full URL and the date you accessed online sources, such as:

• websites
• web documents
• online news reports
• blog posts
• online videos, e.g. YouTube
• podcasts.

However, in many referencing styles, most e-books and journal articles accessed via online databases are cited in the same way as print books and articles. In general, these sources do not require a URL nor a date of access.

Once again, always check the referencing style guide required by your unit for accurate and up-to-date advice.

When using generative AI (genAI), always ensure that the final product is your own work, and not copied from AI generated content. The final submitted assessment must be your own work, creation, and analysis.

In most cases, it is unlikely that you would cite genAI as a primary source. While you can use genAI as a prompt to investigate a topic (much like you might with Wikipedia), it will often require further research from credible sources.

When using AI in your work, it is essential that you:

• understand the limitations of the technology and the risks of using it
• critically evaluate any output it produces as part of your learning process
• document how you used the tool and acknowledge this in your work.

For more information, including how to acknowledge your use of genAI, you can read our dedicated guide to using genAI in your studies.

Some referencing styles, including Australian Harvard, require some online source titles to link to the URL.

If you are using Microsoft Word:

1. Select the title you want to hyperlink.
2. Click CTRL and K (PC) / or COMMAND + K (Apple).
3. Paste the URL into the address.
4. Save.
5. Check that your link is correct.

Note: versions of MS Word may vary – this is general advice only.