Referencing in Practice: How to Use Citations and References
Learning ‘the theory’ of referencing is one thing, but you will benefit most when you know how to use citations and references in practice. Here is an example.
The edited book The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments contains a chapter called ‘Science as Revelation’. Adrian Holme wrote the chapter, and in it he discusses Joseph Wright of Derby’s Painting called ‘A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on an Orrey’.
Let's imagine that you have read Holme’s chapter and want to include parts of it in your own work. Remember that the rules of citations and references apply equally to an essay, a dissertation, a poster, a presentation, or another type of assessed output.
Citations
As you have seen, citations appear in the body of your work, and they signal to the reader of your work when you have used someone else’s words or ideas. There are three main ways that you can use citations, and if you can master them, you will be on the way to referencing effectively in your academic work.
Direct (Type 1)
The first example is a type of direct citation. It uses Holme’s words at the start of the sentence to foreground how important Holme’s work is to you. You must include Holme’s words in quotation marks to inform the reader that these words are not your own. This is particularly important when your tutor reads ‘similarity reports’ in Turnitin: you actively declare that words are not yours with the quotation marks.
Using this type of citation, you are saying to the reader ‘look, here is what this academic says about the topic’. You might then follow this sentence with one about how Holme’s work relates to your own (see our Academic Writing guide for more details).
You can see the different ways that you would use this type of citation in an author-date and numeric style below.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: The most important thing that you can do before starting to write your assessed work is to check which style your tutors are expecting you to use. Your module handbook will probably tell you this, but it's always best to ask directly, as some tutors may have their own unique preferences.
Author-date example (Harvard)
Holme (2023, p. 83) explains that 'there are often two sources of light in Wright's nocturnal paintings'. There may only be two sources of light, but viewing Wright in this way is too reductive…
Numeric example (MHRA)
Holme explains that 'there are often two sources of light in Wright's nocturnal paintings'.¹ There may only be two sources of light, but viewing Wright in this way is too reductive…
Direct (Type 2)
The second example again uses the exact words of Holme, but this time they do not appear at the start of the sentence. This use of the direct citation weaves Holme's words into our own more naturally and enhances the reading experience; it allows you to tell your own story about what you think—again, notice that you must use quotation marks to tell the reader that the words are not yours. You can see the different ways that you use this type of citation in an author-date and numeric style below:
Author-date example (Harvard)
Wright's paintings are famous for their contrast between light and dark, and there are 'often two sources of light in Wright's nocturnal paintings' (Holme, 2023, p.83). There may only be two sources of light, but reducing Wright’s work to…
NOTE: notice how the citation style changes when using this type of citation: Holme appears in brackets, along with the year and page number.
Numeric example (MHRA)
Wright's paintings are famous for their contrast between light and dark, and there are 'often two sources of light in Wright's nocturnal paintings'.¹ There may only be two sources of light, but reducing Wright’s work to…
Paraphrasing
The third way to cite is called paraphrasing. This means that we have read the work of Holme but are putting Holme’s sentences into our own words—notice that you do not need quotation marks because you are not using Holme’s exact words, but his idea.
Paraphrasing creates a more natural flow in your writing, and it can demonstrate that you fully understand the implications for the work you have read in relation to your own (McMillan, 2021, p. 22). Paraphrasing will also reduce your similarity score on Turnitin.
You can see the different ways that you use this type of citation in an author-date and numeric style below:
Author-date example (Harvard)
The painting attempts to represent the diversity of society—albeit upper-class society—interacting with the mechanical solar system (Holme, 2023, p. 87).
NOTE: notice the citation style: Holme appears in brackets, along with the year and page number.
Numeric example (MHRA)
The painting attempts to represent the diversity of society—albeit upper-class society—interacting with the mechanical solar system.¹
More citations examples
Author-date example (Harvard)
Holme (2023, p. 82) describes Wright’s candlelight paintings as an important source of his public recognition, and ‘A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery’ (1766) is a good example. The ‘astronomical focus’ of Wright’s painting is Jupiter and the moons of Saturn (Barnes and Leach, 2020, p. 48). The painting is ‘so great, so strange’ that it creates its own focal point at Derby Museum and Art Gallery (Cumming, 2023).
This is paraphrasing. Note how this example foregrounds Holme’s idea at the start of the sentence, just like the example above that used Holme’s actual words.
Holme (2023, p. 82) describes Wright’s candlelight paintings as an important source of his public recognition, and ‘A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery’ (1766) is a good example.
These are direct citations:
‘astronomical focus’ and ‘so great, so strange’
Numeric example (MHRA)
Holme describes Wright’s candlelight paintings as an important source of his public recognition, and ‘A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery’ (1766) is a good example.¹ The ‘astronomical focus’ of Wright’s painting is Jupiter and the moons of Saturn.² The painting is ‘so great, so strange’ that it creates its own focal point at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.³
References: styles and subtle differences
Referencing styles also affect references themselves, as the example of Harvard (an author-date) style and MHRA (a numeric style that uses footnotes and an alphabetical bibliography for its references) demonstrate below. Note the different formatting rules of the two different styles. Yes, the differences are very small, but they do matter.
Author-date example (Harvard)
Harvard requires references to appear as an alphabetical list at the end of your work:
Holme, A. (2023) ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist ... by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in M. Ivanova and A. Murphy (eds) The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. New York: Routledge, pp. 80–111.
Numeric example (MHRA)
In MHRA, citations point to footnotes at the bottom of the same page as the citation:
¹ Adrian Holme, ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist … by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments, ed. by Milena Ivanova and Alice Murphy (Routledge, 2023), pp. 80–111 (p. 82).
MHRA is special because it also requires footnotes to appear in an alphabetical bibliography at the end of the work (again, look at the subtle differences between this and the footnote):
Holme, Adrian, ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist … by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments, ed. by Milena Ivanova and Alice Murphy (London: Routledge, 2023), pp. 80–111
Secondary Referencing
A topic that often causes confusion is secondary referencing. The good news is that secondary referencing is relatively straightforward once you get the hang of it. Here is an example scenario:
You are reading Holme’s chapter ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist … by Joseph Wright of Derby’. On page 89 of the chapter, Holme includes a large quotation from the author J. D. Bernal. Let’s imagine that you want to cite and reference part of Bernal’s quotation (we call this the primary source) that you have just found in Holme’s chapter (we call this the secondary source). This is secondary referencing.
Citation
Your citation will first point the reader of your work to Bernal because it is Bernal’s words that you are using. But you also need to tell your reader that you saw Bernal’s words in Holme’s chapter. Because Holme used the exact words of Bernal, we say that Holme quoted Bernal. If Holme had not used the exact words of Bernal and paraphrased, we say that Holme cited Bernal’s work (Cite Them Right, 2022, p. 3).
Be aware: secondary referencing should only be used as a last resort. You should always try to see for yourself the primary source (in our example Bernal) to check whether the author of the work you have seen (Holme, the secondary source) correctly uses the work that they have used (in our example Bernal) (Cite Them Right, 2022, p. 3).
Author-date example (Harvard)
Bernal (1969, quoted in Holme, p. 87) explains that eighteenth-century philosophers ‘could take the scientific world-picture which Newton had given them for granted’.
Numeric style (MHRA)
The citation in numeric styles will not give a clue that secondary referencing has occurred; we must wait for the reference to alert our reader to the fact:
Bernal explains that eighteenth-century philosophers ‘could take the scientific world-picture which Newton had given them for granted’.¹
Reference
Secondary referencing has an extra consideration when working with references. If you have been able to see both the primary and secondary sources—in our case Bernal and Holme—then you must include both sources in your reference list.
Author-date example (Harvard)
Bernal, J. D. (1969) Science in History, Volume 2: The Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. London: Penguin Books.
Holme, A. (2023) ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist ... by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in M.Ivanova and A. Murphy (eds) The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. New York:Routledge, pp. 80–111.
But if you have not been able to find Bernal—i.e. not seen for yourself—then you can only reference Holme.
Author-date example (Harvard)
Holme, A. (2023) ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist ... by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in M.Ivanova and A. Murphy (eds) The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. New York: Routledge, pp. 80–111.
Numeric example (MHRA)
¹ J. D. Bernal, Science in History, Volume 2: The Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. (Penguin Books, 1969), quoted in Adrian Holme, ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist … by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments, ed. by Milena Ivanova and Alice Murphy (Routledge, 2023), p. 87.
Remember: MHRA is special because it also requires footnote references to appear in an alphabetical bibliography at the end of the work:
Bernal, J. D. Science in History, Volume 2: The Scientific and Industrial Revolutions (Penguin Books, 1969)
Holme, Adrian, ‘Science as Revelation: The Alchymist … by Joseph Wright of Derby’, in The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments, ed. by Milena Ivanova and Alice Murphy (London: Routledge, 2023), pp. 80–111
ALWAYS REMEMBER: The most important thing that you can do before starting to write your assessed work is to check which style your tutors are expecting you to use. Your module handbook will probably tell you this, but it's always best to ask directly, as some tutors may have their own unique preferences.