Referencing Style Guide & Tools: Referencing Styles

Referencing Styles

Choosing the correct style for your purpose will be directed by your discipline, publisher or university.  Schools at your university will provide a style guide outlining the style they utilise and the required format. There can be slight variations in format despite being the same style, so it is important to check even if you are using referencing software.  Consistency is a key feature in correct referencing.  

A number of styles exist in referencing.  They usually fall into two categories:

Some of the more popular referencing styles are:

• APA American Psychological Association - (Author-Date model)
• Harvard - (Author-Date model)
• MLA - Modern Language Association (Author-Page model)
• Vancouver - (Author-Number model) primarily used for medical and scientific articles.  AMA (American Medical Association) is one type of Vancouver style referencing.

APA Referencing

Complete Guide to the APA 7th Style

This page contains a sample guide from the Charles Darwin University. Please check with your university or publisher for their guidelines.

Harvard Referencing

Harvard referencing uses the Author/Date format for in text citations.

Sample formats:

Book

Author, AA Year, Title in italics, Publisher, Place of publication.

Journal Article

Author AA Year, 'Title of article', Title of Journal in italics, vol. #, no. #, pp. 1-2.

Complete Harvard Referencing Guide

This page contains a sample guide from the University of Sydney.  Please check with your university or publisher for their guidelines.

MLA Referencing

MLA Referencing follows the Author/page number format for in text citations. View this quick reference guide to MLA Style.

Sample formats:

Book

Author, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication (eg.Print)

Journal

Author, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.

Vancouver Style

The Vancouver style of referencing uses the Author/Number system. View this quick reference guide to Vancouver Style. 

Sample formats:

Book

Author AA. Title: subtitle. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication:  Publisher; Year.

Journal Article

Author AA. Title of article. Title of journal, abbreviated. Date of Publication:  Volume Number(Issue Number): Page Numbers.