Whenever you refer to another person's work in your own essay, dissertation or article you must acknowledge them and give full details of your source. You risk being accused of plagiarism if you fail to do so.
The Department of History uses the Oxford referencing style, which uses footnotes. The Department provides some examples of how to use this style for different types of sources, below. For general information on referencing, including how to reference, and an explanation of different citation systems, see our Citing references guide.
For help with citing specific types of publication contact your Academic Liaison Librarian, Charlie Carpenter.
For advice on using references in your work, and how to use them to support your arguments, consult the guidance on the Study Advice website or make an appointment with them.
The Department of History uses the Oxford referencing style, in the form of footnotes and a bibliography (endnotes are not used). Pay attention to the formatting and to the differences between footnote and bibliographical styles and to the formatting of different forms of references. Above all, make sure that you are consistent in your assignments.
All quotes, paraphrased content, factual details and applied arguments must be footnoted clearly in line with the departmental style guide and include a page number/numbers. You do not need to footnote commonly known information, e.g., William I became king of England following the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Citation examples for the most commonly used publications are provided via the tabs above. Theses examples are taken from the Department of History's 'Referencing and Presentation Guide'. To consult the full guide, which has many more examples relevant to History, please see the link to the PDF below:
If necessary, you may also wish to refer to the book, New Hart's Rules: the Oxford style guide, below, which provides further guidance on referencing using the Oxford style.
New Hart's Rules: the Oxford style guide by Primary materials (e.g. manuscripts, images, objects etc.)
Manuscripts
This information is especially relevant when working with earlier primary sources.
The Basics:
Location of Archive/Collection, Name of Archive/Collection, Manuscript reference [MS. stands for manuscript], folio(s)/page(s) [folio takes the place of page depending on manuscript = use fol./fols.]
Example (first footnote):
London, British Library, MS. Harley 5294, fol. 9v.
Example (additional footnotes):
British Library, MS. Harley 5294, fol. 9v.
Example (bibliography):
London, British Library, MS. Harley 5294.
Other Archival Material
This information is especially relevant when working with more recent primary sources.
The Basics:
Author and/or Relevant Persons [e.g. if this was a letter addressed to someone you would include them here], Date of the Source [be as specific as possible], Location of Archive/Collection, Name of Archive/Collection, Archive reference [this will be the specific reference number for this item], page number(s) [include if relevant, this depends on length of the archival item].
Example (first footnote):
M. Tinkler to E. Wharton, 21 December 1921, London, Imperial War Museum, Department of Documents, R.M. Tinkler Papers, Box 2 (hereafter Tinkler Papers). [use a short form for additional references but be consistent]
Example (additional footnotes):
Tinkler to Wharton, Tinkler Papers.
Example (bibliography):
London, Imperial War Museum, Department of Documents, R.M. Tinkler Papers, Box 2.
Material Objects (including artwork):
The Basics
Artist, Description of Object/Item, Place of Creation (Date of Object/Item) [provide as much of the information here as possible], Location of Archive/Collection, Name of Archive/Collection, Object/Item reference.
Example (first footnote):
Reliquary of St Thomas Becket, Limoges (c. 1210), London, British Museum, 1878,1101.3.
Example (additional footnotes):
Reliquary of St Thomas Becket, British Museum, 1878,1101.3.
Example (bibliography):
London, British Museum, 1878,1101.3.
OR
Example (first footnote):
Unknown Artist, Portrait of Henry II of England, Oil on Panel (1597-1618), London, National Portrait Gallery, NPG 4980(4).
Example (additional footnotes):
Portrait of Henry II of England, National Portrait Gallery, NPG 4980(4).
Example (bibliography):
London, National Portrait Gallery, NPG 4980(4).
Images from Online
The Basics
Artist, Description of Object/Item, Place of Creation (Date of Object/Item) [provide as much of the information here as possible], Location of Archive/Collection, Name of Archive/Collection, Object/Item reference [if this information is provided on the website], via Author, ‘Title of Blog’, Website Name [website] (Date Published/Uploaded) [if specified, i.e. on a blog], <URL> (last accessed date).
Example (first footnote):
Effigy of Edward ‘the Black Prince’, Canterbury Cathedral, via Wikimedia [website] <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tumba_del_%22Pr%C3%ADncipe_Negro%22_3.jpg> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
Example (additional footnotes):
Effigy of Edward ‘the Black Prince’, via Wikimedia.
Example (bibliography):
Effigy of Edward ‘the Black Prince’, Canterbury Cathedral, via Wikimedia [website] <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tumba_del_%22Pr%C3%ADncipe_Negro%22_3.jpg> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
OR
Example (first footnote):
Charm against plague from Leech Book I, London, Wellcome Collection MS 404, via J. Edge, ‘Diagnosing the Past’, Wellcome Collection [website], (26 September 2018), <https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/W5D4eR4AACIArLL8> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
Example (additional footnotes):
Charm against plague from Leech Book I, via J. Edge, ‘Diagnosing the Past’.
Example (bibliography):
Edge, J., ‘Diagnosing the Past’, Wellcome Collection [website], (26 September 2018), <https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/W5D4eR4AACIArLL8> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
Printed sources (published materials)
Books
The Basics:
Author, Title of the Book (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s).
The publication date you give should be the date of that edition of the book and not the original date of publication (unless this is the same).
Example (first footnote):
T. Paine, The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution (Auckland, 2010), 20.
Example (additional footnotes):
T. Paine, The Rights of Man, 20.
Example (bibliography)
Paine, T., The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution (Auckland, 2010).
The Basics:
Original Author, Title of the Book, Editor(s) and/or Translator(s) (ed. and/or trans.) (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s).
Example (first footnote):
Geoffrey of Burton, The Life and Miracles of St Modwenna, ed. and trans. R. Bartlett (Oxford, 2002), 185.
Example (additional footnotes):
Geoffrey of Burton, The Life and Miracles of St Modwenna, 185.
Example (bibliography):
Geoffrey of Burton, The Life and Miracles of St Modwenna, ed. and trans. R. Bartlett (Oxford, 2002).
Notes:
Use ‘ed.’ for one editor and ‘eds.’ when there are two or more editors.
If you don’t know the original author, then start with the title of the work.
If the primary source comes from an edited volume or collection of primary sources:
Example (first footnote):
Eadmer of Canterbury, The Miracles of St Dunstan, in Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan and Oswald, ed. and trans A. Turner and B. Muir (Oxford, 2006), 199.
Example (additional footnotes):
Eadmer of Canterbury, The Miracles of St Dunstan, 199.
Example (bibliography):
Eadmer of Canterbury, The Miracles of St Dunstan, in Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan and Oswald, ed. and trans. A. Turner and B. Muir (Oxford, 2006) 160-211.
Or you could reference the work as a whole in the bibliography (especially if you have used more than one source from the volume):
Eadmer of Canterbury, Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan and Oswald, eds. and trans. A. Turner and B. Muir (Oxford, 2006).
Multimedia (audio-visual materials)
The Basics:
Film/Broadcast Title, Director (dir.) (Place, Broadcaster, Date Published), [type of multimedia], timestamp [if directing attention to a specific scene etc. this is very useful, just as you would include page numbers for written work].
Example (first footnote):
The Red Badge of Courage, dir. John Huston (USA, MGM, 1951), [videocassette], 00:15:00-00:16:39.
Example (additional footnotes):
The Red Badge of Courage, 00:15:00-00:16:39.
Example (bibliography):
The Red Badge of Courage, dir. John Huston (USA, MGM, 1951), [videocassette].
If the citation is of a digital version of a pre-digital film or broadcast, include details of the original publication date (as above) and where you sourced it:
Example (first footnote):
‘Tony Hancock Face to Face interview 01 with John Freeman’ (televised by the BBC 7 February 1960), 00:12:15-00:13:00, via YouTube [video] (uploaded 17 March 2009), <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnkovGeASzE> (last accessed 27 February 2018).
Example (additional footnotes):
‘Tony Hancock Face to Face interview 01 with John Freeman’, 00:12:15-00:13:00.
Example (bibliography):
‘Tony Hancock Face to Face interview 01 with John Freeman’ (televised by the BBC 7 February 1960) [video], via YouTube [website] (uploaded 17 March 2009), <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnkovGeASzE> (last accessed 27 February 2018).
Books
The Basics:
Author, Title of the Book (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s). [For classics include the original publication date in square brackets so we do not have Immanuel Kant, 2022!].
Example (first footnote):
R. Foxley, The Levellers: Radical Political Thought in the English Revolution (Manchester, 2013), 23.
Example (additional footnotes):
Foxley, The Levellers, 23.
Example (bibliography):
Foxley, R., The Levellers: Radical Political Thought in the English Revolution (Manchester, 2013).
Notes:
If there are up to 3 authors, then name all the authors.
If there are more than 3 authors, then name the first (lead) author and then use ‘et. al.’ to highlight the contribution of others.
If the book has been translated, then add the name of the translator(s) between the book’s title and the publication information, i.e:
Author, Title of the Book, Translator (trans.) (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s).
Books (edited volumes)
The Basics:
Editor, ed., Title of the Book (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s).
Example (first footnote):
N. Saul, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (Oxford, 2000), v. [Note: this example references a page where the number is given in Latin numerals, list the page in the format it appears within the material.]
Example (additional footnotes):
Saul, The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England, v.
Example (bibliography):
Saul, N., ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (Oxford, 2000).
Note:
If there are up to 3 editors, then name all the editors (if there more than 3 use name the main editor and then use ‘et. al.’, as above)
E-Books
If the e-book is the same as the hard copy (i.e. it is an electronic version of the hard copy with the same page numbers, publication date etc.) then you can cite this as a normal book. BUT, if the e-book differs from the hard copy (e.g. it does not follow the same page numbers as the hard copy) then you need to make it clear that you used the e-book:
The Basics:
Author, Title of the Book (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s), via Name of Online Library/Website [e-book] <URL>(last accessed date).
Example (first footnote):
H. Newton, The Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720 (Oxford, 2012), 43-45, via Oxford Scholarship Online [website] <https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199650491.001.0001> (last accessed 14 September 2021).
Example (additional footnotes):
Newton, The Sick Child, 43-45.
Example (bibliography):
Newton, H., The Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720 (Oxford, 2012), via Oxford Scholarship Online [website] <https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199650491.001.0001> (last accessed 14 September 2021).
Chapter/articles (in edited books)
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of the Article/Chapter’, in Editor, ed., Title of the Book (Place of Publication, Date of Publication), page number(s).
Example (first footnote):
T. Licence, ‘Public Spectacle’, in J. Crick and E. van Houts, eds., A Social History of England, 900-1200 (Cambridge, 2011), 322.
Example (additional footnotes):
Licence, ‘Public Spectacle’, 322.
Example (bibliography):
Licence, T., ‘Public Spectacle’, in Crick, J. and van Houts, E, eds., A Social History of England, 900-1200 (Cambridge, 2011), 321-29.
Journal articles (print or electronic format)
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of the Article’, Name of the Journal, vol. volume number (Date of Publication), page number(s).
In the bibliography provide the page numbers for the entire article and the specific page number for the citation in the footnotes.
Example (first footnote):
M. Worley, ‘‘Oi! Oi! Oi!’: Class Locality and British Punk’, Twentieth Century British History, vol. 24 (2013), 623-25.
Example (additional footnotes):
Worley, ‘'Oi! Oi! Oi!’, 623-25.
Example (bibliography):
Worley, M., ‘‘Oi! Oi! Oi!’: Class Locality and British Punk’, Twentieth Century British History, vol. 24 (2013), 606-636.
Articles and chapters on websites (with no print original)
If the e-copy you are using is a scan of the printed article or appears just as it would do in print, then it is fine to use the referencing style presented above. However, if the e-copy differs (e.g., different formatting, lacking page numbers etc.) you should use the following formatting.
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of the Article’, Name of the Journal, vol. volume number (Date of Publication), page number(s), <URL> (last accessed date).
Example (first footnote):
K. R. Moore, ‘Was Pythagoras Ever Really in Sparta?’, Rosetta, vol. 6 (2009), 17, <http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue6/pythagoras-sparta.pdf> (last accessed 15 September 2022).
Example (additional footnotes):
Moore, ‘Was Pythagoras Ever Really in Sparta?’, 17.
Example (bibliography):
Moore, K. R., ‘Was Pythagoras Ever Really in Sparta?’, Rosetta, vol. 6 (2009), 1-25, <http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue6/pythagoras-sparta.pdf> (last accessed 15 September 2022).
Newspaper articles
Print newspaper article
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of the Article’, Name of the Newspaper (Date of Publication), page number(s).
Example (first footnote):
N. Motlafi, ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’, Mail & Guardian (7 August 2015), 3-4.
Example (additional footnotes):
Motlafi, ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’, 3-4.
Example (bibliography):
Motlafi, N., ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’, Mail & Guardian (7 August 2015), 3-4.
Online newspaper article
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of the Article’, Name of the Newspaper (Date of Publication), <URL> (last accessed date).
Example (first footnote):
N. Motlafi, ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’, Mail & Guardian (7 August 2015), <https://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-07-whyblack-women-in-south-africa-dont-fully-embrace-the-feminist-discourse/> (last accessed 30 August 2022).
Example (additional footnotes):
Motlafi, ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’. [you are unlikely to have page numbers for online articles so these do not need to be included]
Example (bibliography):
Motlafi, N., ‘Why Black Women in South Africa Don’t Fully Embrace the Feminist Discourse’, Mail & Guardian (7 August 2015), <https://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-07-whyblack-women-in-south-africa-dont-fully-embrace-the-feminist-discourse/> (last accessed 30 August 2022).
Internet resources
You should avoid citing webpages unless you are clear of their quality and suitability for inclusion in academic work. See the link at the bottom of the page for more information about evaluating webpages.
Websites/webpages
The Basics:
Author(s)/Editors [if known], Website Name [website] (published/last updated date) [if known, this is very useful information that should be included], <URL> (last accessed date).
Example (first footnote):
B. Dibble and B. Milech, Elizabeth Jolley Research Collection [website] (published 2008), <http://john.curtin.edu.au/jolley/index.html> (last accessed 15 September 2022).
Example (additional footnotes):
Dibble and Milech, Elizabeth Jolley Research Collection.
Example (bibliography):
Dibble, B., and Milech, B., Elizabeth Jolley Research Collection [website] (published 2008), <http://john.curtin.edu.au/jolley/index.html> (last accessed 15 September 2022).
Blog posts
The Basics:
Author, ‘Title of Article/Page’, Name of Website [blog] (Date Published/Uploaded), <URL> (last accessed date).
Example (first footnote:
A. Bovey, ‘Inside the Walls: Exploring Medieval Towns’, The British Library [website] (30 April 2015) <https://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/inside-the-walls-exploring-towns-inthe-middle-ages> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
Example (additional footnotes):
Bovey, ‘Inside the Walls’.
Example (bibliography):
Bovey, A., ‘Inside the Walls: Exploring Medieval Towns’, The British Library [website] (30 April 2015) <https://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/inside-the-walls-exploring-towns-inthe-middle-ages> (last accessed 15 September 2019).
Notes:
For internet resources, the same rules as given above apply regarding multiple authors and/or edited volumes.
Your bibliography should be divided into two parts: ‘Primary Material’ and ‘Secondary Literature’. Under these two headings you might wish to use further subheadings to separate different forms of material, such as 'Manuscript Sources' and 'Printed Sources' under 'Primary Materials' or 'Printed Sources' and 'Internet Resources' under 'Secondary Works'.
Organise your bibliography alphabetically – usually this is done by the author’s surname. Exceptions to this are:
When listing several works by the same author, you should list them by date of publication (starting with the first to be published).
Given the impact of ChatGPT and other writing tools based on Generative Artificial Intelligence, students are reminded that their work must be referenced and drawn from their own research. This means that all quotes, paraphrased content, factual details and applied arguments must be referenced clearly in line with the departmental style guide and all footnotes should include page numbers. This allows lecturers/tutors to check and cross-reference assessed work. Students must be able to demonstrate where the information used in their work comes from, particularly if reading is drawn from outside of the module reading list.
Further information about Generative Artificial Intelligence and university study may be found via the following guide produced by the Study Advice team: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/generative-AI-and-university-study
When you do your dissertation you could consider using EndNote to manage your references. This bibliographic management package can be used to store references, and then insert the citation in your Word document, automatically building the bibliography for you in the correct style.
Find out more on our EndNote webpages:
For information on other options for electronic management of your references see our guide to Managing references:
