Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies: Referencing & RefWorks

When writing up a piece of work you will need to cite (quote) the bibliographic references of all the documents which you have used or referred to.  It is very important to be consistent and accurate when citing references because the references may need to be traced at some later date by someone else who reads your work. Therefore, the same rules should be followed every time you cite a reference. 

A widely used citation style is the Harvard Reference System.  However please refer to you course handbook for specific guidance on which referencing style your tutors require you to follow. 

Remember that you can use the Library's bibliographic management software, RefWorks, to: manage your list of references; insert citations into your written piece of work and create your bibliography automatically in a style of your choice. The library runs regular training sessions on RefWorks and these are advertised on the Library tab of the Portal.

RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management system which allows you to collect, organise and store references from a variety of sources such as books, journal articles and websites. It can then help you to produce bibliographies, reference lists and in-text citations in a range of referencing styles (including Harvard) automatically. 

Classes to show you how to make the best use of RefWorks are held in all campus libraries regularly during semester. These are advertised in the Library tab of the Portal. There are also short training videos available to help you get started.

Reference to a book

Author’s Surname, INITIALS. (Year of publication) Title of book. Edition (only if it is not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.

e.g. Falk, J.H. 2009, Identity and the museum visitor experience, Walnut Creek, California, Left Coast.

Reference to a contribution in an edited book

Contributing author’s Surname, INITIALS. Year of publication, Title of contribution. Followed by In: Surname, INITIALS., of author or editor of publication followed by ed. or eds. if relevant. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher, Page number (s) of contribution.

e.g. Chapman, P. 2001, Paragraphs: the building blocks of essays. In: Stott, R., Snaith, A & Rylance, R. (eds) Making your case: a practical Guide to Essay Writing, Longman/ Pearson Eduction, Harlow

Reference to an article in a journal (magazine)

Author’s surname, INITIALS. Year of publication, "Title of article", Title of journal, Volume number. part number, Page numbers of the article.

e.g. Strogner, M. 2009, The Media Enhanced Museum Experience. Curator, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 385-397

Reference to web pages with an organisation as author 

Name of Organisation (Year of publication/revision) Title of web page. Place of publication: Publisher. Available from: URL [Accessed Date].

e.g. NIMC (2013) Northern Ireland Museums Council. Belfast: NIMC. Available from http://www.nimc.co.uk/  [Accessed 22 February 2013].