Referencing and

Paraphrasing
Academic Skills Enhancement,
Queen Mary University of London
qmul.ac.uk/library/academic-skills
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this guide, you should be able to...

• Understand the various reasons why we reference
• Recognise some of the main differences between referencing
styles
• Know where to look for further guidance on formatting your
references
• Decide when it is appropriate to quote, paraphrase or summarise
• Paraphrase with confidence using one of several techniques
 1. Why do we reference?

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing

on the shoulders of giants.”
— Isaac Newton

• In academic writing, we refer to the research of

other scholars quite often.
• It’s an important part of building knowledge
within your discipline.
• Any time you refer to the work of another
scholar, you need to give a reference.
 Why do we reference?
There are several reasons why you might refer to other
sources in your writing.

• to provide evidence for a claim

• to credit any authors whose ideas you have integrated
into your work
• to highlight different perspectives on a subject
• so that the reader can check the sources

You need to give a reference in these situations, whether you are directly
quoting, paraphrasing or summarising your source.
Do I need to reference
everything?

You reference to chart the development

of knowledge within your subject.

So you don’t need to reference

information that is undisputed in your
subject.
2. How to reference

We provide references in the spirit of transparency. So that our

readers, if they wanted to, could independently verify our claims
For that reason, it’s important that you give your reader the
information they would need to find your source.

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
 Referencing styles
• To make sure your citations are formatted correctly and consistently,
you should make sure you follow a referencing style.
• Some of the most common are Harvard, Chicago, MLA and
Vancouver.
• These styles look quite different but mostly contain the same
information and have the same purpose.
• In a moment, we’ll direct you to some resources which will give you
detailed help on how to format your references.
• But generally, referencing styles can generally be grouped in to two
types: in-text styles and footnote styles.
 “In-text” styles
• When using an in-text style, you include part of the reference
(often the author’s surname and the year) as you write, like this:

Hall notes that genetic disorders can be effectively studied by

following 20-30 affected individuals over the course of their
lives. (Hall, 2017)

• You then provide a Reference List at the end of the document with
more complete information about the source:

Hall, J.G. 2017, "The Clinic Is My Laboratory: Life as a

Clinical Geneticist", Annual Review of Genomics and
Human Genetics, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1-29.
 “In-text” styles
In-text styles tell us the Who and When in the text itself. Eg. (Hall, 2017)
The Reference List then gives us the rest of the information we need to find the
source.
This is an in-text reference for a journal article.

Who When What

(author) (year) (title of article)

Where
(title, volume, issue number and page range of journal)
 “Footnote” styles
When using a footnote style, you insert a superscript number into the
text after you make a reference...

Valenzuela finds a strong correlation between occupational

Status and party support in the national elections of 1970.⁸

...and then you include a full citation at the bottom of the page.

A. Valenzuela, The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes:

Chile (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1988), pp.86-87.
 “Footnote” styles
This is how a footnote style reference for a book tells us everything we
need to know to find the source.

Who What Where

(author) (title of article) (place of publication)

Where cont. When

(name of publisher) (year)
“Footnote” styles

TIP: To add a footnote in Microsoft Word, go to the References tab

and click ‘Insert footnote’

Bibliographies in footnote styles

Footnote styles usually also have a Bibliography section at the end,
where you include all of the sources you’ve used as an alphabetical
list.
In the bibliography, you can also include relevant sources that you
read but didn’t cite in the text.
Which style should I use?

• Your department will give you guidance on what referencing style

they expect you to use, in your course handbook and/or on
QMPlus.
• Some departments will say that you’re allowed to choose what
style you use, as long as you’re consistent. If that’s the case,
use your reading list to get a rough idea of whether in-text styles
or footnote styles are more commonly used in your discipline.
• Then choose from one of the most common styles of that type.
E.g. Harvard for in-text. Chicago for footnotes. Using a more
popular style will make it easier to find advice when you need it.
Where can I get advice on how to
format my references?
The best place to find
guidance on referencing in
various styles is Cite Them
Right (CTRO).
CTRO is a subscription
service that you can access
for free as a Queen Mary
student.
 Where else can I get
guidance on referencing?
The library also has a
QMPlus module,
Find it! Use it! Reference
it
!, which is full of useful
tips and exercises about
each stage in the process
of referencing other
sources in your work.
Reference Management
Tools
A reference management tool is
a piece of software, like EndNote,
that helps you organise your
references and build a bibliography
in Word.
You can use EndNote for free as a
Queen Mary student.
And you can access training and
advice on reference management
on the Subject Guides page of the
Library website.
 Where else can I get
guidance on referencing?
• Another good way to make sure you’re
formatting your references correctly is to
follow a style guide.
• A style guides is a complete set of
instructions on how to format everything in
your chosen style.
• We have a links to a number of good style
guides for some of the most popular styles on
our Resources page.
3. Integrating sources

Believe it or not, the most

challenging and important part of
referencing isn’t formatting your
references. It’s deciding how to
integrate sources into your
writing.

There are three ways to integrate

sources: quoting, paraphrasing
and summarising.
When to quote?

Students are generally tempted to quote

more than they should in their writing, and
to use quotes which are too long.
As a general rule: only quote when you
want to draw attention to the particular
form of words that an author used.
Otherwise, try to paraphrase or
summarise.
Quoting, paraphrasing and
summarising
 Quoting and Paraphrasing Direct
— In-text referencing quotations
The author’s
exact words in
Introductory phrase quotation marks
But while Chile was said to have simply “laid out the welcome integrated into
The student’s own ideas the student’s
provides the framing of mat to overseas investors,” (Nasar 1991, p. 11) it was in fact own sentence
the sentence
highly selective in its implementation of the Washington
Consensus. In contrast to Mexico, Chile retained a tax on short-
Paraphrase/ term capital inflows to preserve financial stability (Stiglitz, 2002). In-text
summary reference
While Pastor and Wise (1997) point out that, in the early years of
A point from Surname and
another market reforms, the Chilean regime was “uniquely willing” (p. 4) year. Full
source, information on
explained in to suppress social unrest arising from the adjustment policies until the source is
the student’s located in the
growth occurred. Reference List
own words Page numbers
Used to show the exact location of a quote or
paraphrased point
 Reference List — In-text
referencing
Reference Reference List Formats
List Different formats
Nasar, S. (8th July 1991) Third World Embracing Reforms to (books, journals
Provides Encourage Economic Growth. The New York Times [online].
complete etc.) require
information for Available from: http:// slightly different
all of the in-text query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0DD1F3DF93B pieces of
citations at the A35754C0A967958260 information.
end of the Consult Cite Them
[Accessed 20th January 2020] Right Online or a
assignment
Pastor, M., Wise, C. (1997) State Policy, Distribution and good style guide
for information
Neoliberal Reform in Mexico. Washington, DC, Woodrow Wilson about what to
Sources International Center for Scholars. include and in
what order.
Listed in Stiglitz, J. E. (2002) Globalization and Its Discontents. London,
alphabetical W.W. Norton.
order by lead
author’s
surname
 Footnote referencing
Here’s how you would reference that same passage in a
footnote style.
Footnotes
“Superscript”
numbers after the
punctuation
correspond to the
number of the
References footnote.
Full details of
the source
included at the
foot of the
page.
Why is paraphrasing so
difficult?
Students often find paraphrasing particularly
difficult.
They think that the author made their point
perfectly and that paraphrasing would just
involve moving words around for the sake of it.
If you find yourself in this situation, ask “What
do I want to say about this passage of text?”
Your goal should be to make an observation of
your own about the passage, and to relate that
observation to your wider argument, not just to
repeat what the author said.
 Poorly-paraphrased writing
❌ The source’s
relevance to
the author’s
A study from Matis et al (2007) evaluated eight different overall point is
not explained
❌ Narrates in-office systems and their longevity after six weeks. They
the original found that all the systems had an effect and produced
source with
little critical whiter teeth with a mean reversal of 65% after six weeks.
commentary They write that, "patients were evaluated for color at ❌ Use of
from the quotations
author. baseline, immediately after treatment and at weekly (particularly
long
intervals using a colorimeter, shade guide at photos." quotations) of
points that
could be
❌Tends to focus on one source at a time, rather than paraphrased.
integrating several points/sources
 Well-paraphrased writing
✔ Not purely
narrative or
✔ Leads with descriptive.
The concentration of a teeth whitening solution might not
a clear point
in the author’s be the main determinant of its effectiveness. Matis et al
own voice. ✔ Summarises
(2007) found that all eight teeth whitening systems had an relevant aspect
effect and produced whiter teeth with a mean reversal of of the source
rather than
✔ Critically 65% after six weeks. However, the more successful describing it in
discusses the detail
products were found to have a longer contact time with
source,
qualifying its teeth, and that the catalysing of hydrogen peroxide is more
claims using ✔ Paraphrases
important than concentration. Therefore, when using in-
reasoning and key facts, where
comparisons office bleaching, a light or chemically activated system possible, instead
with other of quoting.
should be used to enhance the effects of treatment.
sources.
Three strategies for paraphrasing

• Read the original text.

• Note the relevant points in an
abbreviated form. (Do not highlight!)
• Then, put the original away and write
your paraphrase a few hours/days
later.
• This will make you use your memory
to arrive at an original form of words.
Three strategies for paraphrasing

• On the original text, highlight an

interesting part, somewhere in the
middle or towards the end of the
text that you are paraphrasing.
• Start your paraphrase from that
point.
• This will force you to change the
structure.
Three strategies for paraphrasing

• Read the original text several

times without making notes.
• Then, put the original away and
write your paraphrase as if you
were explaining it to a teacher or
classmate.
• This forces you to prioritise which
aspect of the text is most
important.
Academic Skills Enhancement

Academic Skills Enhancement supports Queen Mary

students in developing the skills they need to excel
at university.

You can access other resources, check our list of

upcoming workshops and access one-to-one support on
our page on the library website:

qmul.ac.uk/library/academic-skills