Preparing references

The reference to a publication gives readers of your report the information needed to find a publication you cited. Before recording references, you will want to check with you instructor to see if your university has a preferred way of preparing references. If it does, you will want to follow the format required by your university. If your university does not have a preferred format, you may want to use the formats shown in Box 4.5 or another of the widely used styles for references.

A reference is composed of elements. As you see in Box 4.5, the last names of authors are listed first for all kinds of references, followed by the initials of the authors, each of which is followed by a period. For materials having a second or additional author, the last names of the additional authors are listed first, followed by their initials. The abbreviation for "and," shown as "&," is used between the next to last and the last author. Next comes the year of publication, set off in parenthesis and followed with a period. Sometimes you may have to refer to more than one publication by the same author in the same year. When this happens, add "a," "b," "c," etc., to the year, as (1999a), (1999b), or (1999c), to differentiate among publications by the same author or authors in the same year. From this point on, elements of references differ, depending on whether you are citing a journal article, book, or something else.

In Box 4.5, we provide examples of the most commonly used reference styles. For publications with features we don't show, the following site may help:

• Formatting

Box 4.5. Examples of commonly used references Journal article Ghorayshi, P. (1996). Women in developing countries: methodological and theoretical considerations. Women and Politics, 16, 89-109. Grotberg, E. H., & Badri, G. (1986). The effects of early stimulation by Sudanese mothers: an experiment. The Ahfad Journal: Women and Change, 3:2, 3-16. Book Lobban, C. F. (1987). Islamic law and society in the Sudan. London: Frank Cass. Chapter in a book Styos, J. M. (1983). Sample surveys for social science in undeveloped areas. In M. Martin & D. P. Warwick (Eds.), Social research in developing countries: surveys and censuses in the third world. New York: Wiley. Dissertation Darkoh, C. A. A. (1994). Women's roles and social change in Sudan. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames. Unpublished report Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and the National Economy, Republic of Sudan. (1982). The Sudan fertility survey. Voorburg, The Netherlands: International Statistics Institute. Online document Darden, L. (2003). The nature of scientific inquiry. Retreived on February 4, 2003, University of Maryland.