While you will mostly use books, journal articles and websites, you may also need to cite less common materials like conference papers, legal documents, TV programmes and ebooks: maybe even very uncommon or new materials like postcards, apps or packaging. There are lots of websites (including the Library) which give example citations for unusual sources; some of these are listed in the Resources box on the left.
However you should be able to work it out for yourself, using some key principles:
Citations have common elements, whatever kind of material they are. Use the examples here to help you work out what information you need for those elements.
Provide enough detail to enable anyone else to find the source you are citing.
Format your citation in the style your School or department has asked you to use.
Be consistent in the way you set out your citations for all materials.
Common citation elements
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Author |
This could be a person or persons, organisation, company etc. |
|
Date |
The date the material was first produced in this form. Use c. for circa if the date is not certain. |
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Title |
This identifies the unique text or object, so may be followed by other details. |
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Publication details |
Who has made the material publically available and (in some instances and styles) where this was done (e.g. if a webpage, then the URL is the place it was published). |
Example citations
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Material |
Author |
Date |
Title |
Publication details |
|
Book |
Cottrell, S. |
2005 |
Critical thinking skills |
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan |
| Journal article | Weingart, S.N., Zhang, L., Sweeney, M, & Hassett, M. | 2018 | Chemotherapy medication errors | The Lancet Oncology, 19(4), pp. e191-e199 |
|
Computer software |
IBM |
2020 |
SPSS (Version 27.0) [Computer program] |
IBM. Available at: https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/analytics/spss-statistics-software. (Accessed: 27 May 2021) |
|
TV programme |
Panorama |
2008 |
The Challenge of the Sixties |
BBC4. 15th May. 17:45. |
|
Map |
Ordnance Survey |
1956 |
Map of Roman Britain, Scale sixteen miles to one inch |
Southampton: Ordnance Survey |
|
Work of art |
Cedar, M. |
1938 |
Mars at Night. [Sculpture] |
Manor Art Gallery, Manchester |
1. What details do you think you would need to find to create a full citation for the following materials, using the idea of common citation elements?
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Material |
Conference paper (unpublished) |
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Author |
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Date |
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Title |
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Publication details |
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Material |
Advertisement on television |
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Author |
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Date |
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Title |
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Publication details |
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Material |
Patent |
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Author |
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Date |
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Title |
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Publication details |
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2. In the blog post below, find the details you would need to cite it, and write the citation
These are the answers to the exercises:
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Material |
Conference paper (unpublished) |
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Author |
Author of paper |
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Date |
Date of presentation |
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Title |
Title of paper |
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Publication details |
Details of conference where paper was given including place and dates. |
| Example | Webster, H. (2013) '23 Things for Digital Literacy', 10th ALDinHE Conference on Celebrating Learning Development. University of Plymouth, 25-27 March. |
|
Material |
Advertisement on television​ |
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Author |
Advertiser or advertising agency that created the ad. Either is acceptable, but you may find one is preferred, depending on the focus on your assignment. |
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Date |
Date it was first screened in that form. |
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Title |
If no given title, brief description of the topic is sufficient. |
|
Publication details |
Where screened and when viewed. |
| Example | Vodafone (2009) Advertisement for 3G mobile telephone [advertisement on ITV Television]. Viewed 20 April 2009. |
|
Material |
Patent |
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Author |
Assignees, or those holding the patent (may be a company) |
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Date |
Date patent came into force |
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Title |
Short title of patent |
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Publication details |
Country granting patent and patent number. Web address and date accessed if online. |
| Example | Cox, A. and Lee, J. (2021) Water remediation system. UK Intellectual Property Office Patent no. GB2591282A. Available at: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/ (Accessed: 2 September 2021) |
2. Culham, A. (2013) The Zebra Danios (Danio rerio) have produced babies. Tropical Biodiversity, 2 May. Available at: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/tropical-biodiversity/2013/05/zebra-danio-babies/ (Accessed: 20 May 2013).