The way in which in-text citations are displayed will vary depending on the structure of the sentence, the number of sources you wish to cite and the number of authors. See the box on the right for specific examples.
Remember that if you are using a direct quote you will also need to provide a page number (see guidance in the Direct Quotes & Paraphrasing section).
Both name and year are given in brackets:
The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community (Garofalo, 2013)
With a quote:
"The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (Garofalo, 2013, p.3)
Only the year of publication is given in brackets:
Garofalo (2013) describes the role played by the academic library within the community
With a quote:
Garofalo (2013) states that "The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (p.3)
Citation information is not added in brackets:
In 2013, Garofalo described the role played by the academic library within the community
With a quote:
In their 2013 work Garofalo states that "The academic library is described as having a vital role in the community" (p.3)
These are distinguished by adding lower case letters (a,b,c, etc.) after the date and within the brackets:
Garofalo (2013a, 2013b) discussed the subject…
** If you are adding citations from the same author and year, the letters after the date will determine the order in your list of reference list e.g. ‘Garofalo (2013a)’ would be listed before ‘Garofalo (2013b)’. **
2 authors
The surnames of both authors should be given every time the reference occurs in the text:
Brundrett and Rhodes (2011) have proposed that…
The academic library has an important role (Brundrett & Rhodes, 2011)
3-5 authors
When a source has 3, 4 or 5 authors, cite all authors the first time:
The academic library has an important role (Green, Preston, & Janmaat, 2006)
For subsequent citations of the same source, use the name of the first author followed by et al. (not italicised and with a full stop):
The academic library has an important role (Green et al., 2006)
6 or more authors
Use the first author followed by 'et al.', for all instances:
The academic library has an important role (Gray et al., 2006)
** For material written by 2-7 authors, include all surnames in the reference list. For 8 or more, see guidance for Journal Articles by Multiple Authors.**
Citations are listed in alphabetical order (as they would be in the reference list):
The academic library has an important role (Green, 2006; Jones, 2001; Turner, 2011)
If citing 2 works by the same author, write the author once and the dates in chronological order (earliest first):
(Garofalo, 2009, 2013)
If citing 2 works by the same author published in the same year, use lower case a,b,c etc after the date:
(Garofalo, 2013a & 2013b)
For a dictionary or encyclopaedia, if the co-operative work of many authors, none of whom are a main editor, the title of the work may be used instead:
“A quotation from the text would be inserted here.” (Philips Encyclopaedia 2008, p.11).
The first time you refer to an organisation, write the name in full and include the abbreviated form in brackets, thereafter using the abbreviation:
In-Text citations
First instance: Assessment Reform Group (ARG) states that … (2013, p.2)
Second instance: (ARG, 2013)
Reference list
Use the full name in your reference list
Readily recognisable bodies within the field of education
As a rule of good practice you would always spell out abbreviations the first time however if you are using readily recognisable abbreviations within the field of education, you can use the abbreviated forms (making sure to include them in your list of abbreviations and use in the Reference list). For example: OFSTED
You may wish to check with your supervisor about this if you are unsure
There must be no doubt or confusion as to which parts of your work are your own original work and which have been taken from someone else. If you use sources from someone else, whether they be text or illustrations or any other media then these must be referenced indicating the source of the material following the guidance in this Referencing guide:
In rare occasions you may use a passing reference to a source in text (for example stating your favourite book title as a child), in such cases no reference list entry is needed (making sure that you have not quoted or paraphrased from the source in any way, referred to any aspect of it specifically, or used it to advance an idea). If in doubt it is best to include an in-text citation and entry in the reference list