Before you can reference a work you need to know what reference type it is. There are quite a few different reference types, but most of the time you will be referencing either books, book chapters, journal articles or web pages.
On this page, examples of where to locate information for refererences are highlighted. Match the numbers to the lists to learn what each piece of information is. If you need any further help, please Ask a Librarian.
Book
To decide if the work you are looking at is a book, look at the pages just after the title page. If you see a publisher and an ISBN, and none of the chapters have separate authors listed, then reference it as a book.
You will need to find:
- Author/s
- Year the book was published
- Title of the book
- Edition
- Publisher
- Place of Publication
Then follow the format for referencing a book.
UTS Library Catalogue
Reference list
Pears, R. 2016, Cite them right: the essential referencing guide, 10th edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.
Title page, verso and table of contents
Reference list
Tedre, M. 2015, The science of computing: shaping a discipline, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
If the item you are looking at has an ISBN but also has chapters written by different authors, please see the next section on book chapters.
Book chapter
Some books are not written by a single author, instead they have an editor or editors who commission authors to write chapters in the book. Thus we have two different sets of people who need credit for their work – the authors that go with the title of their chapter and the editors that go with the title of the book.
You will need to find:
- Author/s of the chapter
- Year the book was published
- Chapter title
- Editor/s of the book
- Edition
- Book title
- Publisher
- Place of Publication
- Page range of the chapter
Title, verso and table of contents
First page of the chapter
Reference list
Leung, L. & Goldstein, S. 2008, 'You are what you wear: the ideal and real consumer/user', in L. Leung (ed.), Digital experience design: ideas, industries, interaction, Intellect, Bristol, UK, pp. 25-34.
Journal article
Journal articles are short pieces of research written by one or more authors, which are then published in a particular volume, and usually an issue, of a journal. If you are looking at a reference that has a DOI, or has a volume or issue number such as 6(2) or 6:2 then you are looking at a journal article.
You will need to locate:
- Author/s of the journal article
- Year the journal article was published
- Title of journal article
- Journal title
- Volume number
- Issue number
- Page range of the journal article
UTS Library Catalogue
Reference list
Booth, M., Schofield, S. & Tiffen, B. 2012, 'Change and our future at UTS Library: it's not just about technology', Australian Academic & Research Libraries, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 32-45.
First page of the journal article
Reference list
Martela, F. & Steger, M. 2016, 'The three meanings of meaning in life: distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance', The Journal of Positive Psychology, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 531-45.
Database preview
Reference list
Chao-Chen, L. 2013, 'Convergence of new and old media: new media representation in traditional news, Chinese Journal of Communication, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 183-201.
Webpage
If you are looking at a reference online and wondering if it is a webpage, look to see first if it meets the criteria for a book, book chapter, or journal article, if it does, reference it as those types and not as a webpage. If it is none of these reference types then it is likely that it can be referenced as a webpage.
You will need to locate:
- Author/s of the web page
- Year the web page was created, if the year is not found, use n.d.
- Title of webpage
- Description (if needed, e.g. report number or document number)
- Publisher responsible for displaying the webpage
- Place of Publication of the organisation responsible for the webpage
- Date you viewed the webpage.
- URL
Often, a webpage may not have a human author acknowledged. In this case use the publisher as the author and don't repeat the publisher later in the reference
Reference list
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, Recorded crime - victims, Australia, 2017, cat no. 4510.0, ABS, Canberra, viewed 13 March 2018, <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/DA3DED213BAE8114CA257178001B6949?Opendocument>.
UTS Library database preview
If you have logged into a website with your UTS logon (as indicated by the word ezproxy in the URL) then you should use the database rules when creating a reference. The database format is like a website, but instead of placing the URL in angle brackets you place the name of the database. This is because the URL would not be accessible to anyone who does not have a UTS logon.
Reference list
DatAnalysis Premium 2019, Fatfish Blockchain Limited, company report, Morningstar, Sydney, viewed 13 March 2019, <DatAnalysis Premium> .
PDF with web URL
If you find a PDF online and it is not a journal article or behind a UTS login, then you can reference it as a website, but you can also cite the page numbers in-text, as you would for a print resource.
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Reference list
Health Workforce Australia 2014, Australia's future health workforce - nurses overview report, report, Canberra, viewed 13 March, <https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/34AA7E6FDB8C16AACA257D9500112F25/$File/AFHW%20-%20Nurses%20overview%20report.pdf>.
If you need any further help, please Ask a Librarian.