Tag Archives: references

How to interpret a reference for a book or journal article

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One of the most important things you will need to know how to do when starting out at university is understanding academic references. Here’s a simple guide to help you decode book and journal (periodical) references.

Text: How To LibraryHow to interpret a reference for a book

Example book reference:

Olusoga, D. (2017) Black and British: a forgotten history. London: Pan Books.

  1. Author(s): The first part of the reference is the author’s name. In this case, “Olusoga, D.” indicates the author is David Olusoga. If there are multiple authors, they will be listed in the order they appear on the book itself.
  2. Year of Publication: The year the book was published is in brackets. Here, it’s “2017”.
  3. Title of the Book: The title of the book is italicized. In this example, it’s “Black and British: a forgotten history”. Only the first word of the title and any proper nouns are capitalized.
  4. Place of Publication: This is the city where the publisher is located. In this case, London.
  5. Publisher: The name of the publishing company. Here, it’s “Pan Books”.

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E-Resource trial: Skills for study

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As we’re midway through the second semester, many eyes are turning to assignments and thinking ahead to final exams. Did you know that we’ve recently secured a trial of the interactive resource Skills for Study?

Screengrab from the homepage of the Skills for Study website. An image of a student studying with headphones on is overlaid with some text which reads 'Successful study starts here! Help students build the skills for success in their studies and beyond with their own personalised learning pathway.'

Based on the bestselling The Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell, Skills for Study offers an interactive and personalised solution to help students hone their academic skills while developing skills required by employers:

  • Confidence with Numbers
  • Getting Ready for Academic Study
  • Referencing and Understanding Plagiarism
  • Critical Thinking Skills
  • Group Work and Presentations
  • Research Principles
  • Employability and Personal Development
  • Projects, Dissertations and Reports
  • Time Management
  • Exam Skills
  • Reading and Note-making
  • Writing Skills

Each of the modules comes complete with exercises, activities, and module assessments along with supplementary videos, articles and blogs. We know how popular the Study Skills Handbook is for students from a range of disciplines, so here’s how to access this interactive resource:

That’s it, it’s that easy! More information about the trial is available on the E-Resources trials page. Our trial ends on the 24th April so have a good look before then, and if you want to offer any comments on this or any of our other E-Resource trials then please consider filling in the trial feedback form.