Referencing the Work of Others

There is a lengthy section in Part Five of Studying Society which explains why and how we reference our sources. When you have understood this section try out the exercise below to see how accurately you can be in your referencing. All the references below look right – but they all have a major flaw – can you spot it?

Exercise 9: Accurate referencing

What is wrong with the following references:

A genetic study of male sexual orientation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 1089-1096. by Bailey, J. M. & Pillard, R. C. (1991).

Answer 1: The authors should come before anything else

Bailey, J. M. (2003). The Man who would be queen: the science of gender-bending and transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press, Washington DC.

Answer 2: The book title should be in italics

Blanchard, R. (1991). Clinical Observations and systematic studies of autogynephilia. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 17(4), 235-251. [Link to answer 3 in shaded area]

Answer 3: The journal title should be in italics – the title of the article should be in quotation marks

Blanchard R. (1993) The she-male phenomenon and the concept of partial autogynephilia. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy [Link to answer 4 in shaded area]

Answer 4: The title of the article should be in quotation marks, not in italics and there is no volume number for the journal or page numbers for the article

Blanchard, R., et al (1985) Social desirability response set and systematic distortion in the self-report of adult male gender patients. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14(6), 505-516. [Link to answer 5 in shaded area]

Answer 5: Neither the author nor the title of the article should be in italics

Copi, I. M. (1972). Introduction to Logic (4th ed). MacMillan

Answer 6: There is no place of publisher

http://www.genderpsychology.org/autogynephilia/j_michael_bailey/gender_bending_transsexual.html

Answer 7: There’s very little right with this – who is the author, what date was it published, what is the title of the page, when was it accessed?

There is no substitute for practice in referencing – the more you do it, the easier it becomes.