Herts Study Series: Figuring Out Referencing By Andy Ang

Referencing was completely new to me when I arrived at university, and it certainly took some getting used to (sometimes I used to completely forget that I needed to reference at all!). It can be really challenging, and even irritating, especially when you consider how referencing changes depending on your subject, the assignment, and the type of source you’re using. In this post, I’ll tell you about how I managed to get a handle on referencing and some advice that could be helpful for you.

During my first weeks at uni, we spent some time in lectures going over how to reference. This was helpful for understanding the basics and knowing what our lecturers expected from us, but I definitely didn’t have it all figured out yet. I looked online for the website for the referencing style I needed to use, which detailed all of the rules for referencing and gave examples of what my references should look like, and this was so helpful. Many universities also create guides which give you similar information. I suggest searching for one of these sites and using it as you’re learning to reference. You should find how to reference different sources – textbooks, newspapers, even Instagram posts, as well as how to reference images, tables, and graphs in your work.

There are also plenty of tools online which will help you create references, just by entering the URL or title of the source you’re using. The online library also has a similar tool which will create references for you when you use any source from its catalogue. Another thing I’ll do if I can’t use one of these tools is to find a correct reference from a guide and use it as a template for my own references, inserting the information from my source in place of the example.

Other than all of that, my number one piece of advice is practise, practise, practise. Having written plenty of academic pieces at this point, I’m very familiar with what my references should look like, and how I can quickly format them for my assignments. After having some practise, you’ll find the process of referencing to be really quick and smooth, even a little like muscle memory. You can always speak to your lecturers or personal tutors if you have any specific questions or need advice about referencing in your assignments. A member of the university’s academic skills team can also meet with you to guide you through any questions or issues you might be having.

Even though I’ve made mistakes with my references in the past, I’ve learned from those mistakes and the feedback I’ve gotten. Being really comfortable with referencing has helped me focus on the more challenging and time-consuming parts of my assignments, which has greatly improved my learning. Now, I’m really confident when it comes to referencing and even more confident that you can do the same.