Footnotes, reference lists and bibliographies
Footnote method (only to be used if requested by your tutors)
Footnotes can be used as an alternative to a reference list and are usually listed at the bottom of each page in your work. If your tutor requires you to use footnotes you should label each citation in your text with a superscript number (a small number raised above the text) instead of the author-date method. The footnotes are then organised numerically by their citation number beneath your text on each page.
The text below shows an example of the footnote method of referencing:
The Google interface is also very simple consisting of just one search box and button. Writing in the Library Journal Todd Millar of WebFeat conceded that 'Google has taught us, quite powerfully, that the user just wants a search box'2. In their study on student usage of Google and library catalogues, Fast & Campbell3 reported that 'Google is perceived as easy, and as a tool that requires very few specialized skills to use, while the OPAC clearly requires more skills than they possessed'.
2. Miller, T. (2004) 'Federated searching: put it in its place', Library Journal, Spring 2004 p.32.
3. Fast, K.V. & Campbell, G. (2004) 'I still like Google: University student perceptions of searching OPACs and the web', 67th ASIS&T Annual Meeting, University of Western Ontario.
Advantages with each method:
Reference list method
This allows a reader to browse an ordered list of all the sources you have referred to in your work. The citations in your text are not numbered and therefore can be moved around easily and do not need to be re-numbered each time you insert a new reference.
Footnote method (only to be used if requested by your tutor)
The references for your sources are kept on the same page as the citations referring to them. This makes it very easy for a reader to see a relevant reference quickly. Citations are also given as numbers and therefore do not break the flow of your text.
Bibliography
In the course of your research you are likely to have read some sources but have not used information from them in your assignment(s). You may need to make a list of these other sources, called a bibliography, to show the reader the breadth of your research. A bibliography uses the same format as the reference list. You should check with your tutor if a bibliography is required.
