Following your University’s referencing guidelines and achieving full internal consistency between the in-text references and reference list is very significant as up to 10% of the overall paper mark can be deducted for referencing mistakes and poor format.
Firstly, you need to understand which referencing system is expected by your educational institution (e.g. Harvard, APA, Chicago, MLA, Oxford, etc.). Secondly, all journal articles, books and credible internet sources used in your work must be referenced correctly and in strict accordance with the referencing guides approved by your University. We can offer a standardised guide below, which covers the most popular referencing styles.
Harvard Referencing – 6th ed.
In-text citation in the Harvard referencing style includes only the information about the author and the year of publication, while reference lists provide full bibliographic information. Page numbers are required when a direct citation is inserted in the text body.
Direct citation:
“The role of business in society and in the world is a complex issue” (He and Harris, 2020, p.177).
Indirect citation:
It was noted by He and Harris (2020) that defining the role of business in the surrounding world was difficult.
Reference list:
He, H. and Harris, L., 2020. The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy. Journal of Business Research, 116(1), pp.176-182.
Exceptions:
For citing the works with more than three authors in the text, use ‘et al.’ preceded by a comma:
Edwards, et al. (2020) noted that...
or
Recent research (Edwards, et al., 2020) found that...
All the authors’ names are mentioned in the reference list:
Edwards, C., Bendickson, J., Baker, B. and Solomon, S., 2020. Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 108(1), pp.259-267.
The following free guidelines provide more recommendations on how to use Harvard referencing.
APA Referencing – 7th ed.
In the 7th version of APA referencing, first-time in-text citations with three and more authors are reduced to the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’. The ‘Retrieved from’ line is excluded from electronic sources. The reference list should provide all surnames and initials for all sources with less than 20 authors. Page numbers are not indicated in the text. Ampersand signs are always preceded by a comma in reference lists.
Direct citation:
“In this article, we offer some initial examination of how Covid-19 pandemic can influence the developments of CSR and marketing.” (He & Harris, 2020).
“Few scholarly articles explore the history of marketing beyond the commonly accepted origins.” (Edwards et al., 2020).
Indirect citation:
He and Harris (2020) explored the influence of Covid-19 pandemic on the developments of CSR and marketing.
or
The study explored the influence of Covid-19 pandemic on the developments of CSR and marketing (He & Harris, 2020).
Reference list:
BBC. (2020). Coronavirus: Government draws up plan to rescue key firms. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52793505
Edwards, C., Bendickson, J., Baker, B., & Solomon, S. (2020). Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 108(1), 259-267. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.040
The following free guidelines provide more recommendations on how to use APA referencing.
Chicago Referencing – 17th ed. (Author-Date)
In Chicago Author-Date referencing, you should use ‘et al.’ for the references with four or more authors in all direct and indirect in-text citations. Page numbers are mentioned at all times.
Direct citation:
“Few scholarly articles explore the history of marketing beyond the commonly accepted origins.” (Edwards et al. 2020, 259).
Indirect citation:
He and Harris (2020, 176) suggested that it was necessary to explore the influence of Covid-19 pandemic on the developments of CSR and marketing.
Reference list:
Chase, Edwards, Joshua Bendickson, Brent Baker, and Shelby Solomon. 2020. "Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing." Journal of Business Research 108, no. 1 (January): 259-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.030.
The following free guidelines provide more recommendations on how to use Chicago referencing.
Chicago Referencing – 17th ed. (Footnotes)
In Chicago Footnotes referencing, numbered footnotes are utilised for in-text citations. A reference list containing all sources is usually provided after the main text body. The references with four or more authors are replaced with ‘et al.’.
- Hongwei He and Lloyd Harris, “The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy,” Journal of Business Research 116, no. 1 (August 2020): 176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.030.
- Chase Edwards et al., “Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing,” Journal of Business Research 108, no. 1 (January 2020): 259, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.040.
Reference list:
Chase Edwards et al., “Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing,” Journal of Business Research 108, no. 1 (2020): 259-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.040.
Hongwei He and Lloyd Harris, “The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy,” Journal of Business Research 116, no. 1 (2020): 176-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.030.
MLA Referencing – 8th ed.
In MLA referencing, in-text citations should include one or several surnames and a page number, while full bibliographic information is provided in the reference list. Sources with three or more authors are referenced with ‘et al.’ to replace the second and third names.
Direct citation:
“Few scholarly articles explore the history of marketing beyond the commonly accepted origins” (Edwards et al. 259).
Indirect citation:
He and Harris focused on the analysis of the influence of Covid-19 pandemic on the developments of CSR and marketing (176).
Reference list:
Edwards, Chase, et al. "Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing." Journal of Business Research, 20 Jan. 2020, pp. 259-267.
He, Hongwei, and Lloyd Harris. "The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy." Journal of Business Research, 1 Aug. 2020, pp. 176-182.
The following free guidelines provide more recommendations on how to use MLA referencing.
Oxford Referencing – 2nd ed.
The Oxford referencing style uses numbered footnotes for in-text referencing. Special acronyms are used to refer to the same page or to a different page of the previously referenced source.
- C. Edwards et al., ‘Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 108, no. 1, 2020, p. 259.
- ibid, p. 262 (same work, different page)
- H. He and L. Harris, ‘The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 116, no. 1, 2020, p. 176.
- Edwards et al., loc cit (same page)
- Edwards et al., op. cit. p. 93 (different page)
Reference list:
He, H. and Harris, L., ‘The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Philosophy’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 116, no. 1, 2020, pp. 176-182.
Edwards, C. et al., ‘Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 108, no. 1, 2020, pp. 259-267.
Comparison of Referencing Systems
In the table below, you will find a comparison of in-text references and bibliographic references for the four most popular Author-Date referencing styles. The cited documents are academic books and journal articles since these formats of secondary data are used in most essays, reports, and dissertations. Examples are provided for the sources with two and four authors used as indirect citations to better demonstrate the differences between these styles.
Books with two authors
Journals with two authors
Books with four authors
Journals with four authors
