There are many referencing styles for academic writing. The most common styles in the humanities are the style offered by the Modern Language Association  (MLA style) and the style commonly known as Harvard referencing, which both use the author-date system to display the basic information for a given source. Other referencing styles use footnotes that include all of the reference information, such as the Chicago Manual of Style  (CMOS style), which is often used in the field of history.  

The University of Roehampton’s MLA Referencing Quick Guide (8th edition) explains how to reference different sources and write your bibliography using the MLA referencing style.

However, style guides do not limit themselves to correct referencing; they also encompass a range of writing style and formatting features. For example, does your style guide suggest single or double quotations marks? When should you use footnotes? What system should you use for abbreviations? How should your writing be laid out on the page? Check with your tutor as to whether you should be following these guidelines. Do they think it is important at this stage of your academic career? They are important considerations, as they help the reader stay focused on the content, rather than getting distracted by formatting discrepancies. Should you ever want to submit your work for publication, the journal in question will request strict adhesion to a style guide.  

A good way to make referencing (and writing your bibliography) easier starts in the research stage. Before reading or making notes, write down all the information regarding the publication of each text you cite: the author(s), the titles of both the chapter and the book it appears in, or the title of the article and the journal’s name, page numbers, date of publication, place of publication, the publisher and the edition.


If you have all this information before you even begin to structure your discussion and include citations, referencing should be easy!