Referencing

Academic Writing

When writing an essay, a report or any other written document, it is necessary to acknowledge correctly all sources of information and ideas. We do this for three reasons:

• To acknowledge the author of the material;

• To provide supporting evidence for our statements, and

• To allow the reader to follow up on points of interest.

This means that in the body of the essay or report (the text), there need to be clear links between the information and its source. The citation of the source must be integrated into the normal flow of the text, and this can be accomplished in several ways, as illustrated in the examples provided.

At the end of the 'Reference List' Section, a 'Reference List' is provided that lists, in alphabetical order, all works that have been cited in the text, together with their full publication details: author, initials, date of publication, title of article or chapter if relevant, title of book, journal, publisher and place of publication. Examples are given in the section on 'Compiling a Reference List'.

There are many different referencing styles. In the Geography Department, we have adopted a modified version of the Harvard Style that is the one used in the South African Geographical Journal (i.e. the Taylor & Francis Style from the American Psychological Association):

https://www.tandf.co.uk//journals/authors/style/reference/tf_APA.pdf.

It is essential to apply the rules for this style in your work. Never mix styles in one task.