Academic Referencing 

Academic Referencing and Bibliography Formatting

Scribblers Online provides professional referencing services for all projects, from academic dissertations to work reports. 

Free Bibliographies

We offer a free bibliography or reference list (the format is up to you) with every academic writing or research project. Our standard academic writing referencing system uses footnotes and bibliography, but if you would like a different style, such as the author/date (in-text citation) format, just let us know.

Why is referencing important?

When writing up a piece of research, whether you are completing an essay, dissertation, article or report, it is vital that your work is properly referenced.  If work is not referenced properly, it can be difficult for readers to follow more complex ideas and, more worringly, it could be mistaken for deliberate plagarism, which is a serious offence.  Proper referencing makes your writing more trustworthy and allows readers to explore your topic further by looking at other relevant material in your bibliography. 

Academic Referencing Systems

There are various different ways to reference your project. Most methods take one of two routes: footnotes or in-text citation. Both are used along with a full reference list or bibliography.  

Some common academic referencing systems include: Harvard, Oxford, MLA, MHRA, APA and Vancouver. 

Referencing using in-text citation

In-text citation uses brackets placed after the quote or paraphrase. For example, ‘Academic referencing is a good idea’. (Smith, 1999, p. 45) Here the author's surname is followed by the book’s date and the appropriate page number.

Referencing using footnotes

Footnotes are references which are numbered, usually with superscript, and placed at the bottom of the page in which the quotation occurs. A corresponding number is placed after the appropriate quotation. Most word processors have a footnotes function. 

Bibliographies and reference lists

Bibliographies and reference lists are lists of all the books that you have used in your writing project. Some referencing systems need you to use all books you have read in reference to your project, whereas others need you to list only those books you have quoted or paraphrased from.