My Information Skills

A citation or reference must contain enough information for your reader to be able to locate the source for themselves.

This information about your source is called bibliographic information or bibliographic data.

Think WHO, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE.

1) WHO created the source

• individual author/s
• editor/s
• an organisation

2) WHEN the source was created

• year of publication if it's a book
• date of broadcast if it's a program or podcast etc.
• for a website, the date it was last updated AND the date you last visited/accessed it
• for magazines, the month and year of publication

3) WHAT the source is called

• the title of the book, magazine, article or website
• for an article you also need the title of the magazine, database or newspaper that it appeared in

4) WHERE the source was created

• for a book, the place and country where it was published
• for a website, this is the URL or web address
• for an article, this is the name of the magazine/newspaper, the volume or date of issue and the page number/s

TIP - You need to note down the bibliographic data for your source so that you can write an accurate citation. This is best done at the time you are researching, rather than when you are writing your assignment.

A reference worksheet (.docx file) or online referencing tool may help you collect these details about your sources.

You can usually locate all of the bibliographic detail you need to create a citation from the source itself. However, if you have already returned your library book, or are having trouble locating all of the bibliographic data, a library catalogue record will also show you all of the information you need.