Citing in the body of the text When you have used an idea from a book, journal article or other source, you must acknowledge this in your text. We refer to this as ‘citing’. When you cite a piece of work you use a number which will correspond with the full details of the book, journal article etc, which will be listed in a footnote at the bottom of the page. This ‘note reference number’ should be written in superscript. Whenever possible, this number should come at the end of the quote or idea that is being referenced, following any punctuation, so as not to interrupt the flow of your writing.
The report emphasises that the research was inconclusive.1
There should only be one footnote per sentence. If the information you refer to in a sentence has come from several sources you should cite all of the sources in a single footnote. Separate the sources by using a semi-colon.
Citing an author or editor If the source has up to three authors/editors you must cite them all in full:
Simpson declared that it would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of these improvements at a time when industrial developments were changing the structure of society.12
Simpson, Boden and May declared that it would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of these improvements at a time when industrial developments were changing the structure of society.12
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