Use reference books (also called reference or background sources, or resources) to get quick specific facts or information or an overview of a subject. Some examples of reference sources are: dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, almanacs, directories, atlases, and handbooks. These can be online or in print.

A library’s Reference Collection is used to gather together in one convenient location standard references like encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries that will provide answers to questions on any topic in any field of research.

Reference books cannot be checked out because they are intended to be available and quickly accessible by all students who may need to use these resources. Gale Virtual Reference Library and Sage Knowledge are two popular online collections of special subject encyclopedia articles.

Reference sources (otherwise known as reference resources, or background sources) are designed to help you find specific types of information quickly. Use reference sources to: find key facts and background information that will help you assess other resources. learn definitions of important words or concepts.

A references page is the last page of an essay or research paper that’s been written in APA style. It lists all the sources you’ve used in your project, so readers can easily find what you’ve cited.

WHAT IS APA’S STYLE OF REFERENCE CITATION? APA style uses the author/date method of citation in which the author’s last name and the year of the publication are inserted in the actual text of the paper. It is the style recommended by the American Psychological Association and used in many of the social sciences.

Harvard style referencing is an author/date method. Sources are cited within the body of your assignment by giving the name of the author(s) followed by the date of publication. All other details about the publication are given in the list of references or bibliography at the end.

Page numbers In-text references should include page number details (if available) if you are paraphrasing or quoting. Page numbers are not required if referencing an entire work, e.g. (Milligan 1985). If page numbers are not provided or possible, then author name and year of publication are sufficient.

Basic format to reference material from the web

1. Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.
2. Year.
3. Title (in italics).
4. Publisher. Where there is a corporate author, the publisher and author may be the same.
5. Date viewed.
6. Web address .

APA website citations usually include the author, the publication date, the title of the page or article, the website name, and the URL. If there is no author, start the citation with the title of the article. If the page is likely to change over time, add a retrieval date.