Citing references

Examples for articles in print copies of journal articles or a print journal accessed online (e.g. on JSTOR)

Traditionally all articles were published in print format in issues which then formed part of a volume and this way of citing them (giving volume, issue and page numbers) has been retained even though most are now available online. There is no need to include the DOI or web address for articles with volume numbers and page numbers or an article reference number even if you accessed them online.

A single author:

Reference list: Gulddal, J. (2020) 'That deep underground savage instinct: narratives of sacrifice and retribution in Agatha Christie's Appointment with Death', Textual Practice, 34(11), pp. 1803-1821.

In-text citation: (Gulddal, 2020)

Two authors - include them both separated by and or &:

Reference list: Thomas, D. and Tian, L. (2021) 'Hits from the Bong: the impact of recreational marijuana dispensaries on property values', Regional Science and Urban Economics, 87, article number 103655.

In-text citation: (Thomas and Tian, 2021)

Three authors - include them all, separate the first two with a comma and use and or & before the third author:

Reference list: Abu Salem, H., Gemail, K.S. and Nosair, A.M. (2021) 'A multidisciplinary approach for delineating wastewater flow paths in shallow groundwater aquifers: A case study in the southeastern part of the Nile Delta, Egypt', Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 236, article number 103701.

In-text citation: (Abu Salem, Gemail and Nosair, 2021)

Four or more authors - include them all in the full reference, but for the in-text citation you can just state the first author, followed by et al.

Reference list: Moise, L., Gutiérrez, A.H., Khan, S., Tan, S., Ardito, M., Martin, W.D. & De Groot, A.S. (2020) 'New immunoinformatics tools for swine: designing epitope-driven vaccines, predicting vaccine efficacy, and making vaccines on demand', Frontiers in Immunology, 11, article number 563362.

In-text citation: (Moise et al., 2020)

Examples for online-only journals

If the journal is ONLY available online, you should include the DOI or the URL in the full reference. Online-only journal articles may not have page numbers or reference numbers, or pagination for each article will begin with '1'. The rules for in-text citations are the same as for print articles.

Article with a DOI:

Reference list: Mair, A., Poirier, M. and Conway M.A. (2021) 'Age effects in autobiographical memory depend on the measure', PLoS ONE 16(10), article number e0259279, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259279

Article without a DOI:

Reference list: Farrell, L.G. (2013) 'Challenging assumptions about IT skills in higher education'. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 6. Available at: http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/ojs/index.php?journal=jldhe&page=article&op=view&path[]=173&path[]=138 (Accessed: 23 June 2021)

Examples for versions of articles found in repositories

Authors will often put versions of their articles into institutional repositories to comply with funding requirements to make the research Open Access. These may be pre-print versions (before peer review has taken place) or post-print versions, also known as author accepted manuscripts (the final version of the text, following peer review, to be published in the journal).

Pre-print example

Allen, R. J., Horowitz, L. W., Naik, V., Oshima, N., O'Connor, F., Turnock, S., Shim, S., Le Sager, P., Van Noije, T., Tsigaridis, K., Bauer, S. E., Sentman, L. T., John, J. G., Broderick, C., Deushi, M., Folberth, G., Fujimori, S. and Collins, B.  (2021) 'Significant climate benefits from near-term climate forcer mitigation in spite of aerosol reductions'. To be published in Environmental Research Letters [Preprint]. Available at: http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/view/creators/90004988.html (Accessed: 24 June 2021)

Post-print

For post-prints which are identical in content to the published version, you should cite the published version instead of citing the repository version.

You should include the following elements:

1. Title of film (in italics)
2. Year of distribution (in round brackets)
3. Directed by
4. Available at: DOI or Name of service or URL
5. (Accessed: date)

In-text citation: (Title of film, Year)

Example:

Reference list: Fatherhood (2021) Directed by P. Weitz. Available at: Netflix (Accessed: 28 June 2021).

In-text citation: (Fatherhood, 2021)

For examples of how to cite Films in different formats like Blu-ray, DVD, Video Cassette, broadcast and TV series, please see the examples in the Cite them right e-book in the Harvard Referencing chapter, under "Audiovisual recordings...";

See our section on YouTube videos:

Any image or photograph from a social media site, online image collection or website can be referenced in this way.

1. Photographer (if available)
2. (Year of publication) in round brackets
3. Title of photograph or collection in italics
4. Available at: DOI or URL 
5. (Accessed: date)

Example:

Reference list: stanitsa_dance (2021) Cossack dance ensemble. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/COI_slphWJ_/ (Accessed: 13 June 2021).

In-text citation: (stanitsa_dance, 2021)

If the image is one you have created yourself, give it a figure number and title in the caption and add (Source: the author) to show that it is your own work. The image below shows how you would do this;

You do not need to include it in the bibliography.

For Bills from the House of Commons and House of Lords you should include the following elements:

1. Title (in italics)
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Parliament: House of Commons or Lords
4. Bill no.
5. Place of publication
6. Publisher
7. If viewed online replace 5 & 6 with Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Reference list:

Agriculture Bill (2019) Parliament: House of Commons, Bill no. 2292. London: The Stationery Office.

Agriculture Bill (2019) Parliament: House of Commons, Bill no. 2292. Available at: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2292 (Accessed: 12 July 2022)

In-text citation:

Mr Gove introduced the Agriculture Bill (2019)...

For Command Papers (including Green and White papers) you should include the following elements:

1. Department
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Title of report of consultation paper (in italics)
4. Command Paper number (in round brackets) preceeded by Cmnd:
5. Place of publication
6. Publisher
7. If accessed online replace 5 & 6 with DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Papers accessed online

Reference list:

Department for Work and Pensions (2021) Shaping Future Support: the Health and Disability Green Paper (Cmnd. 470). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/shaping-future-support-the-health-and-disability-green-paper (Accessed: 30 July 2021)

In-text citation:

(Department for Work and Pensions, 2021)

Papers accessed in print

Reference list:

Department of Social Security (2000) The Pension Credit: Consultation Paper (Cmnd. 4900). London: HMSO.

In-text citation:

(Department of Social Security, 2000)

Law reports (cases) before 2002

Include the following elements:

1. Name of case (in single quotation marks)
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Title of law report (in italics)
4. Volume number
5. Page numbers

Reference list:

'Bibby Cheshire v. Golden Wonder Ltd' (1972) Weekly Law Reports, 1, pp. 1487-1492.

In-text citation:

('Bibby Cheshire v. Golden Wonder Ltd', 1972)

Law reports (cases) from 2002

From 2002 cases have been given a neutral citation. This means that it isn't necessary to include details of the printed law report series in which it was published. When using this type of citation you must give details of the publication in which the case was reported or the database/website you used.

Include the following elements:

1. Name of the parties involved in the case (in single quotation marks)
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Court and case number
4. Name of database or website (in italics)
5. DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Reference list:

'Rees v. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis' (2021) Court of Appeal (Civil Division), case 49. BAILII. Available at: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2021/49.html (Accessed: 30 July 2021) 

In-text citation:

('Rees v. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis', 2021)

Hansard is the official record of the business of the Houses of the UK Parliament. This includes databases, speeches, answers and statements. References to Hansard follow a similar pattern to journal articles. Include the following:

1. Name of speaker/author
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Subject of debate or speech (in single quotation marks)
4. Hansard: Name of House of Parliament (in italics)
5. Debates/written statement/Westminster Hall or petitions (in italics)
6. Day and month
7. Volume number, column number or page number
8. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Reference list:

Bonnar, S. (2021) 'Ethics and human rights: climate change', Hansard: House of Commons debates, 14 July, 699, c. 355. Available at: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-07-14/debates/FED21B9A-F4C2-4437-8CFD-3A08E5929C48/EthicsAndHumanRightsClimateChange (Accessed: 30 July 2021)

In-text citation:

Steve Bonnar MP (2021) asked if the UK Government would create a climate justice fund.

To cite papers from the House of Parliament or House of Lords include the following elements:

1. Parliament, House of...
2. Publication year (in round brackets)
3. Title (in italics) including the Session dates if appropriate.
4. Session dates and Paper number (in round brackets) preceeded by HC or HL as appropriate.
   Note that to distinguish House of Lords papers from the House of Commons paper with the same number the Paper number is enclosed in an extra set of round brackets e.g. (HL 2002-2003, (254))
5. Place of publication:
6. Publisher.

Reference list:

Parliament, House of Commons (2004) The English national stadium project at Wembley, Session 2003-2004. (HC 2003-2004, 254). London: The Stationery Office.

In-text citation:

(Parliament, House of Commons, 2004) 

When referencing Acts of Parliament you should use the short title of the Act and year it was enacted. It is not necessary to include the year in brackets as it would duplicate the year in the title. Include the following elements:

1. Title of Act - including year and chapter (in italics)
2. Country/Jurisdiction (only required if referencing legislation from more than one country)
3. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Reference list:

Food Safety Act 1990, c. 16. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/16/contents (Accessed: 20 July 2021)

In-text citation:

As stipulated in the Food Safety Act 1990...

When citing Statutory Instruments (SIs) include the following information:

1. Name/Title and year (in italics)
2. SI year and number (in round brackets)
3. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Reference list:

Children (Performances and Activities) (Wales) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/1757). Available at:  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2015/1757/contents/made (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

In-text citation:

Referring to the Children (Performances and Activities) (Wales) Regulations 2015...

To cite a novel use the same format as for an authored book

Elements to include:

1. Playwright
2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
3. Title (in italics)
4. Edition information 
5. Place of publication
6. Publisher

Example

Reference list: Shakespeare, W. (2008) Twelth night or what you will. Edited by K. Elam. London: Cengage.

In-text citation: (Shakespeare, 2008, 1.3: 13).

Elements to include:

1. Author of the poem
2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
3. Title of poem in single quotation marks
4. 'in' followed by book author(s)/editor(s)/compiler(s) 
5. Book title (in italics)
6. Place of publication
7. Publisher
8. Poem pagination

Include the page extent of the whole poem when writing your full citation. Put just the pages you have referred to in the in-text citation.

Example

Reference list: Orr, J. (2002) 'The dying African', in Basker, J. (ed.) Amazing grace: an anthology of poems about slavery, 1660-1810. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 533-535.

In-text citation: (Orr, 2002, p. 533)

Elements to include:

1. Title of newspaper (in italics - capitalize first word of each word in title except for linking words such as and, of, the, for)
2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
3. Title of article (in single quotation marks)
4. Day and month
5. Page reference if available

Note: if you are using the online version of a newspaper, which often varies from the print edition, you would omit page reference and instead include Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Examples

Printed article:

Reference list: The Daily Telegraph (2021) 'Walking on wooden floors could help to generate power', 2 September, p. 12.

In-text citation: (The Daily Telegraph, 2021, p. 12)

Online article:

Reference list: The Guardian (2021) 'We cannot allow inequality to increase within the education system', 2 September. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/inequality-education-exams-schools-private-b1900252.html (Accessed: 4 September 2021)

In-text citation: (The Guardian, 2021)

You should include the following elements:

1. Title of programme (in italics)
2. Year of original broadcast (in round brackets)
3. Radio station
4. Day and month of original transmission (if available)
5. Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

In-text citation: (Programme title, Year)

Example:

Bibliography: Elvenquest (2011) BBC Radio 4, 7 November. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016vn8f (Accessed: 2 July 2021).

In-text citation: (Elvenquest, 2011)

Elements to include:

1. Title (not in italics)
2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
3. Translator and edition, if required (in round brackets)
4. Place of publication (if in print)
5. publisher (if in print)

If accessed online:

Available at DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

Example

Reference list: The Qur'an: a new translation (2015) (Translated by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem.) Oxford: Oxford University Press

In-text citation: (The Qur'an, 2015, 20: 26) 

Elements to include:

1. Title (not in italics)
2. Year of publication (in round brackets)
3. Translator and edition, if required (in round brackets)
4. Place of publication (if in print)
5. publisher (if in print)

If accessed online:

Available at DOI or URL (Accessed: date)

Example:

Reference list: The Torah: the five books of Moses (1962) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.

In-text citation: (The Torah,1962, Devarim 4: 2)

There are many different forms of social media.  Here is some general guidance for citing a social media page, rather than an individual post.

Elements to include:

• Author (if available; if not use title)  

• Year site was last updated (in round brackets)  

• Title of site (in italics)  

• [Name of platform]  

• Available at: URL (Accessed: date) 

Example

Reference list: University of Reading Library (2022) [Facebook]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/universityofreadinglibrary (Accessed: 20 July 2022). 

In text: (University of Reading Library, 2022) 

Elements to include:

1. Author
2. Year tweet posted (in round brackets)
3. Title or description of Tweet
4. [Twitter]
5. Day/month tweet posted
6. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Examples

Reference list: Harvard Business Review (2021) ‘In this large-scale study of military performance measures, negative words — like selfish, passive, and scattered — were much more frequently applied to women’. [Twitter] 4 July.  Available at: https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz/status/1411692276888317952 (Accessed: 6 July 2021). 

In-text citation: (Harvard Business Review, 2021) 

When citing an Instagram Post, please use the guidance below.  When citing a photograph or image specifically, please see our citing an image from social media guidance.

Elements to include:

1. Author (Instagram account/poster)
2. Year posted (in round brackets)
3. Title of post in single quotation marks
4. [Instagram]
5. Day/month of posted message
6. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Examples

Reference list:  University of Reading (2022) 'Say hello to Reading's Climate Stripes bus!' [Instagram] 27 July. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CghAmV4Mre-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link (Accessed: 2 August 2022). 

In-text citation: (University of Reading, 2022)

See our section on YouTube videos: