This document provides guidance on academic referencing. It explains that references are used to cite sources, provide links for readers to find further details, and demonstrate familiarity with the literature. References lend authority but should not be used to argue from authority alone. The document discusses citing multiple authors on a topic, using page numbers, paraphrasing versus quoting, problematic phrasing of reported ideas, and different referencing styles. It also covers special conventions for citing classical literature and reference works.

1. Academic
References
– what are
they for?
to cite source of your information or
quotation
to provide a ‘link’ to further
details for the reader AND so
they can CHECK your working
to indicate familiarity with the
literature/discourse on the topic
(reader has confidence in your
knowledge)
These lend authority to your work BUT
refs are
NOT to ‘argue from authority’ – i.e.
citing someone’s work as if to say
‘They are an authority and they say
this, therefore it is true’.

2. • What is not stated is that because of over
farming, the soil became impoverished between
300 and 50 BC (Bloggs, 1992: 133-34).
• NB. Here Bloggs would be an authority
by virtue of providing some detail on
this, which would convince the reader if
they looked up that paper.
• It makes the paper ‘scientific’ – the
reader should be able to replicate the
results with the evidence provided in the
references.

3. You can use more than one author in your
citation if, for example, you are referring to
a long-researched or debated topic, or one
that has been tackled from many different
viewpoints.
• Water has sustained a variety of important roles
and symbolism in Christian theology and ritual
through the ages and according to different
denominations (see Rodwell and Bentley 1984,
30-31; Morris 1989, 84-89; Edwards 1996, 58-9;
Walsham 2011, 39-40).
This can be a good way to demonstrate the
range of reading you have done on a
subject if you are not going to be citing
some of the works in detail, but they are
relevant to the background/context of the
essay.

4. Notice use of semi-colons
to separate the
references.
• Water has sustained a variety of important
roles and symbolism in Christian theology
and ritual through the ages and according to
different denominations (see Rodwell and
Bentley 1984, 30-31; Morris 1989, 84-89;
Edwards 1996, 58-9; Walsham 2011, 39-40).

5. • for quotations,
• paraphrasing
• AND when you are citing a specific part
of a work.
Increased levels of contrastiveness and
disclaiming have been associated with
students gaining higher marks for their
work (Lancaster, 2015).
– One assumes that (Lancaster, 2015)
refers to an article/paper that is
wholly on this topic, because it if is
one part of a larger paper or book I
would want specific page numbers.
– No-one wants to search through an
entire book to check your working or
chase up more details for their own
research.
Use full page
number
ranges

6. If you
say:
‘scholars have debated the purpose of castles’,
then you should give some examples of
relevant publications by those scholars
where they debate this
i.e. scholars have debated the purpose of
castles (e.g. Coulson 1982, 2003; Platt 2007;
Stocker 1992).
The same applies to ‘it has been said’ or ‘it
has been argued’ or ‘opinion is divided’ all
these phrases need to be backed up with
the relevant evidence of texts.

7. Phrasing:
reported
ideas
• In the X cave paintings there are a number of
different animals represented. One of them is a
jackal. This is the only cave in which such a figure
appears. The jackal symbolises the ‘trickster’ in
ancient thought, and its appearance in this cave
therefore indicates that the cave was considered
a liminal place full of potential danger.
• What is problematic here?

8. Phrasing
reported
ideas –
some copy
editing
• In the X cave paintings there are a number of
different animals represented (see Bloggs 1992
for the full publication of the paintings). One of
them is a jackal. One of them has been identified
by Bloggs (1992, 30) as a jackal (on what basis?).
This is the only cave in which such a figure
appears. The jackal symbolises the ‘trickster’ in
ancient thought, According to Bloggs et al. (2000,
635-40), the jackal symbolises a trickster figure
(according to what evidence?) and its
appearance in this cave therefore indicates that
the cave could have been considered a liminal
place full of potential danger.

9. Phrasing and Referencing
Reported Ideas
• In the early period, the soil in this area was
fertile and capable of producing abundant
crops. In the later period, however, the soil
was depleted and crops were hard to grow.
Hence, the settlements in the area moved
to new areas such as the foothills of
mountains where water sources could be
found.
• This is a generalising and
unsupported set of statements

10. Phrasing and Referencing
Reported Ideas
• According to coring tests conducted by a team
from Durham University, the soil in this area
was fertile in the earlier period (reference to
publications of the coring results). In the later
period, however, evidence shows that the soil
was depleted and crops were hard to grow
(reference to specific parts of the publications
that provide convincing evidence for that –
really you should note what the evidence is in
text, though). Hence, X has proposed that the
settlements in the area moved to new areas
such as the foothills of mountains where water
sources could be found. (And do you agree
with this, based on the evidence they cite?)

11. Helpful Hedging
• Sheridan suggests that these places would have
served as shelter for colonists…
• To Smyth (2013), houses across the Neolithic
period represent successive reimaginings of
communities… [ hedging through maintaining
critical distance]
• These readings may not be entirely exclusive.
[from a conclusion]
• Smith (2007) claims that
• One possible interpretation is…
• This provides initial evidence that..
• The evidence suggests that ….
• This could be interpreted as…
• It is likely that ……….
• It is uncertain as to ……….
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

12. Integral
and non-
integral
citations
Non-integral
• (a) These larger buildings are amongst the
earliest examples in Britain (Sheridan, 2013;
Smyth, 2013; Thomas, 2015).
• (b) The paucity of evidence for habitation
structures is now regarded as a reflection of
the past situation in Britain…(Barclay, 2002;
Bradley, 2007, p.38).
Integral [emphasises the author/researcher]
• (a) Edward Gibbon, the author of The Fall of
the Roman Empire, blamed Christianity for
the fall of the Roman empire…
• (b) Semple seeks to prove that reuse was
an ever-evolving process for the Anglo-
Saxons, that it varied area by area, and that
they were aware of the landscape’s ancient
past (2013, 238).

13. Referencing
styles
1 J. Bloggs, “Impoverished Soil in the Hellenistic World,”
in G. Grump and B.E. Mangle, Hellenistic Farming
(Oxford, 1992), 345-357.
Harvard: in brackets, in text:
• What is not stated, is that the soil was impoverished
between 300 and 50 BC through over farming (Bloggs,
1992: 345-57).
Oxford: full reference in footnote, with
abbreviated version thereafter!
• What is not stated, is that the soil was impoverished
through over farming.1

14. Referring to
specialist
reference works

15. • This is especially found in Classical archaeology (and
esp. in Oxford style referencing) and in traditional NE
literature – especially textual literature.

16. For example:
Athenian Vases:
Beazley numbers
• What you put in a citation (in text or
footnote):
A black-figure vase in Berlin (Staatliche
Museen, Antikensammlung F 1890: ABV
269, 34).
One can look at an example in London
(British Museum E 82: ARV2 1269, 3), to
see the new style.
• What you put in the bibliography
– ABV: Beazley, J.D. 1956: Attic
Black-figure Vase-painters (Oxford).
– ARV2: Beazley, J.D. 1963: Attic
Red-figure Vase-painters, 2nd
edition (Oxford).

17. Similar for large, standard
reference works
• In citation:
– LIMC 4, s.v. ‘Herakles’, 46* (name of author)
• In bibliography:
– LIMC: Ackermann, H.C., Gisler, J.-R. and Kahill, L. (eds) 1981–
1997: Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, 8 vols +
supp. (Zurich).

18. Special conventions in referring to
ancient (Classical) literature
• Thucydides, History of Peloponnesian War, 2.15.2.
– This endnote/footnote refers to book two, chapter fifteen,
sentence two of the History of the Peloponnesian War by the
ancient author Thucydides.
• Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 2.14.3.
– refers to book two, letter 14, paragraph 3 of Letters to Atticus
by Cicero.
• Homer, Odyssey, 9.102-110.
– Lines 102 through 110 of Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey.
• Horace, Satires, 2.8.5-10.
– Lines 5 through 10 of the eighth satire in Book 2 of Horace’s
Satires.
• Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 830-840.
– Lines 830 through 840 of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes.
• Arist. PA I.5, 645a27-30, trans. Ogle
– Aristotle, Parts of Animals, Bekker numbers (page number,
column and line numbers of Immanuel Bekker’s edition),
translator

19. Resources and
Exercises
Try some of the resources and the
exercises provided in the links here.
We’ll use some of the exercises in
class too.
• https://www-
citethemrightonline-
com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/
• http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/wr
iting-for-
university/referencing/referencin
g-exercises/
• http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/wr
iting-for-
university/referencing/advanced
-referencing-exercises/