Referencing

Understanding what referencing is and knowing how to reference correctly is an essential skill to develop and demonstrate when studying at university.

It is a key part of academic integrity and a way to ensure that you avoid plagiarism. This page explains why we reference; where to find out how to reference using different styles; and explores how to manage references using reference management tools.

Why do we reference?

We get our ideas and information from many sources, such as books, journals and websites. When writing an assignment, we use relevant information from these sources to help us to produce a well-argued answer that is supported by evidence. Therefore, it is important to differentiate between our own original work and what comes from someone else to make our work credible and to follow good academic practice. This demonstrates good academic integrity.

Key reasons for referencing include:

• Avoiding plagiarism: clearly distinguish your original ideas from the ideas, data, or words that you have borrowed from others.
• Giving credit: acknowledge the original author's contribution to your work, preventing accusations of academic misconduct.
• Supporting arguments: references provide evidence to back up your claims, showing that your work is well-researched and building on existing literature.
• Locating sources: a correct reference is the “address” for your original source material and enables readers to locate it.
• Demonstrating scholarly depth: a comprehensive reference list shows the breadth of your reading and understanding of the topic.

You must reference whenever you use ideas, text, data, images or other content from another source, whether you are directly quoting, summarising, or paraphrasing. You do not need reference commonly known facts, e.g. Canterbury is a city in the South East of England.

Referencing is an important part of academic practice and is one of the criteria on which your work is assessed, as shown in the assignment marking grids, so it is worth spending time on getting it right and checking your references before you submit.

Reference list or bibliography?

At university you may be asked to include either a reference list or a bibliography with your assignment. If you are unsure which to use, then check with your tutor or refer to your course or module handbook, or assignment guidance.

Annotated bibliography: A type of assignment which is specifically focused on citations and references. This is a usually a list of sources on a particular topic, with each source accompanied by a brief paragraph explaining its relevance and importance (the annotation). The annotation can be evaluative or reflective and should include a critical element. Annotations are usually about 150-200 words long and may contain about 4-6 sentences but check your assignment brief for specific requirements. See the guidance on other assignments for further details.

Referencing styles

CCCU uses several different referencing styles across courses. The reason for this is that some referencing systems are more suited to the types of sources used in different disciplines. For example, law students use OSCOLA (The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities), as it provides clear guidance for citing legal cases and legislation, whereas historians use Chicago as they need to cite archival material and manuscripts.

The most commonly used referencing style is Harvard, which is used for many courses. Be careful to use the approved university-approved version of this as presented in the publication called Cite them right, as there are different versions of Harvard! Do not use any other versions of Harvard that you may find. Other referencing styles have their own official guides and manuals.

You may find free online quick reference generators (sometimes called citation generators), or Gen AI tools which can create references in selected styles when you input the information but use these with caution as they may not be accurate. For example, the “Cite” link under references in Google Scholar does not create references in the Harvard-style that is used at CCCU.

Referencing correctly requires attention to detail and can appear complicated, but you can always refer to the official guidance to check how to reference a specific source in the style that you are using.

Which referencing style should you use?

How do you reference?

There are many different styles of referencing. Some referencing systems require you to use a parenthetical statement or citation within the text (Author-date) but others use footnotes or endnotes and bibliography.

Author-date system (e.g. Harvard)

These are the two parts to a reference which you must include in your assignment:

1. Citation: A short note or reference at the place in your text where you use the material. This is a signpost towards the full reference for the source of information that you have used. You need to include an in-text citation wherever you quote from, summarise or paraphrase from a source. This usually consists of the last name of the author(s), the year of publication and a page or paragraph number if relevant (although some referencing styles use other in-text indicators, such as numerical markers, instead.

2. Reference: Full details of the source in the form of a reference list or bibliography, which is usually located at the end of the text, or occasionally in footnotes at the bottom of the page. The information that you include in this reference will vary depending on what the source is (e.g. a book, journal, webpage) and which referencing style you are using.

Notes and bibliography (e.g. Chicago)

Sources are cited in numbered footnotes or endnotes. Each note corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text. Sources are also usually listed in a separate bibliography.

Cite them right

Cite them right demonstrates how to reference all types of sources using the Harvard system, plus has information about referencing using APA, Chicago, OSCOLA and Vancouver systems.

It also contains articles, videos and tutorials on referencing topics, such as how to reference, avoiding plagiarism and referencing AI-generated content.

• Access Cite them right online Either click on Log in/Log-in via your institution and select Canterbury Christ Church; or access via LibrarySearch (Log-in with your CCCU username password), select: Find databases/C/Cite them right.
• You can borrow a printed copy of Cite them right from any of the campus libraries – there are lots of copies! These are shelved at classmarks 025.48 PEA (Augustine House); 808.066 PEA (Drill Hall); Z40 PEA (Salomons). Use the latest edition: Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2025) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 13th edn. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
• Or read an ebook version of the book.
• You can purchase your own copy from the CCCU Bookshop.

Writing for publication

If you are writing for publication (e.g. an article for an academic journal) then you will need to check which referencing style is required and to use the official style guide. Look on the journal homepage for “instructions for authors” or “author guidelines”. In addition to the styles listed above you may find MLA (Modern Language Association); MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association); Vancouver (used in medicine); and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

Managing your references

Reference management tools allow you to organise your references and access them online. They are often freemium products allowing you space to manage a small number of references but asking you to pay a regular subscription if you want to manage larger amounts of material.

One of the best-known features of reference managers is the ability to create a reference list, formatted in your referencing style. However, a reference manager has its limitations. If the information put into it is incomplete or incorrect, then any reference list it creates will also have errors. It is important to be familiar with the referencing style you need to use so that you can spot any errors or missing information.

Another useful feature is the Word plugin, which allows you to cite as you type and then create an automatic reference list at the end.

Some reference managers will allow you to keep your articles in the cloud as well, so that they don’t take up space on your own device. It is also possible to share your collection of references with other people, which is useful for group projects or other collaborative work.

The university offers full access to two reference management tools via the student app store, so you don’t have to pay for your own subscription. These are Refworks (soon to be EndNote Fusion) and Mendeley.

You can get additional support with reference management tools from your Academic Librarian.

Referencing Quiz

Try our quiz to see how much you have learned about referencing:

Key takeaways

Good referencing habits make your work clearer, more credible, and more ethical. If you consistently record sources, cite as you write, and check your references before submission, you will avoid many of the most common academic referencing problems.

• Be clear about why and when you need to reference.
• Record details of sources when you find them (author, title, year, publisher, page numbers, DOI, and URLs).
• Cite sources as you write rather than trying to add references at the end.
• Check which referencing style you should be using and where to find guidance about this.
• Referencing is not only for direct quotes; you should also cite paraphrased information, theories, data, and ideas that are not your own.
• Check that every in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list and that every reference is accurate and complete.
• Use reference management tools wisely: tools can save you time but always proofread the automatically-generated references.
• Remember that referencing is not just a formatting exercise, it is a way of acknowledging others' work and showing where your evidence comes from and is an integral part of academic integrity.

Before you submit your next assignment, ask yourself:

Have I clearly distinguished my own ideas from those of others, and have I provided enough information for my reader to locate every source I have used?

If you would like additional support with referencing, you can book a 1-to-1 tutorial with a member of the Learning Skills Team. We can provide guidance on referencing conventions and answer specific questions, although we do not check entire reference lists.

Credit

Written by Ruth Collingwood, Michelle Crowther and Catherine Sherwood.

Last updated 2026.