Bibliographies & Footnotes

Waid Academy Library, May 2009

Bibliographies

During your research for your dissertation or essay, you may use information from other sources such as books, journals or the Internet.

You must list and acknowledge these sources, stating where you found the information – this information is called a Bibliography

Bibliographic References

Bibliography: the list of sources referred to, arranged alphabetically according to the author’s surname

Reference or Citation : the detailed description of the source used

Parts of a bibliographic reference

Author Title Publication data, Date Web address (URL)

Example of a book citation

Information is given in the following order:

1. Author

2. Title of book

3. Publisher

4. Date of publication

Walder, Dennis. Literature in the Modern World. OUP.1990

Example of a journal citation

Information is given in the following order

1. Author 2. Title of article 3. Journal title 4. Volume no.5. Issue no. 6. Page no.7. Date

Breeze, D. The Antonine Wall. History of Scotland, 8 (6): 14. Dec 2008

Example of a web-site citation Information is given in the following order:

1. Author2. Title3. Date information viewed & retrieved4. Web-site address (URL)

Duncan, John. The Origin of the Iron Age Picts. retrieved May 20, 2009 from http.//www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/origin1.html

Footnotes

Footnotes are used to give credit to any sources referred to in the main body of your essay or dissertation. They are intended to refer readers to the exact pages of the works listed in your Bibliography.

They should be kept to a minimum and numbered sequentially from the beginning to the end of your work.

They should be placed at the foot of the same page as the direct reference.

Examples of footnote citation The first reference to a text or source should be given

in full as follows:

1. Bennett, Joan, Four Metaphysical Poets, (London, 1953), p 23.

For subsequent references use only author & page no.

2. Bennett, p 47.

Simple page references for quotations from a book or article already cited in full, can be included in the text in parentheses after the quotation.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is copying the words or ideas of someone else and presenting them as your own, without giving proper acknowledgement to their source.

The SQA underlines the fact that plagiarism is a form of cheating, and this could lead to your disqualification from any award.

It is plagiarism when you:

Use the words or ideas of another person without giving a bibliographic citation

Paraphrase a person’s words without citing that person

Cut & paste passages from the Internet and insert them into your work without giving proper citation

Tips for researching

Take clear, accurate notes about where you find specific ideas

Use quotation marks when directly stating another person’s words

Always credit original authors for their information and ideas

Write down the complete bibliographic information for each source that you use