The full reference list

The reference list at the end of the essay or dissertation is where the full bibliographic information for a source is presented. Each source that is cited in the body of your work, whether to elaborate on a point you have made, or reinforce an argument, must also have an entry in the end reference list, unless it is an irretrievable source like a personal communication.

A reference list is not to be confused with a bibliography, which tutors may also ask you to produce to accompany a piece of written work. The distinction between the two is that the reference list is sources that you have actually used in your essay or dissertation, through direct quotation and paraphrasing, whereas a bibliography features all the sources that you have read as part of your research for an essay or dissertation, a kind of reading list. If you are in any doubt as to what is required for a bibliography, you should speak to your tutor for clarification as there are differences compared with a reference list.

In a full reference list, individual sources are listed numerically in the order in which they are cited within the essay or dissertation. You do not need to use headings to group sources by the type of format because they are listed all together. The top of the page can either be headed ‘Reference List’, or simply ‘References’.

The second section of this manual will show you how to construct a reference as part of the full reference list for different types of source materials. The individual units which make up the reference are given, followed by an example to illustrate how this would look with all of the information pieced together.