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Part 7: The rules for presenting a list of references at the end of the essay

These rules are very important to observe because they provide the reader with an easy way of finding a reference. Again, they are really just basic, common sense. But remember that absolute consistency in the formatting of references is essential.

See Citing References (Information Services and Systems - http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/ir/refs/ ) for further details.

The following tasks will help you to remember how to write a list of references at the end of an essay.

1
Writing a reference to a book

Using a couple of your own textbooks or some from the library, identify the following information and either write it on a piece of paper or use the notes facility below.

1) Author's (or authors') name(s) and initial(s)

2) The year the book is published

3) The title of the book

4) The place of publication - note that this is usually a town and not a country

5) The name of the publisher

Now use this information to write a full reference for each of the books.

If you are having difficulty, remember the formula for a book reference:

Author name / Initial / (year) / Title of book / Place: / Publisher.

For example:

Gimenez J (2007) Writing for Nursing and Midwifery Students. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

Check your answer

2
Writing a reference to a dissertation

Use the following information and write out a full reference for this dissertation written by a Masters student:

Title of dissertation: A survey of views of doctors and nurses on the use of computerised records.

Student's name: Jackie Brand

Year of dissertation: 2001

Brand J (2001) A survey of views of doctors and nurses on the use of computerised records. MSc Dissertation. University of London.Check your answer

3
Writing a reference to a web document

You have read some useful guidelines on the web about assessing children with fever. The web page is:

http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=430964 The year is 2007 and you accessed the article on May 23rd. It is a press release issued by NICE under the NHS. The title is: NICE issues guidance to help assess children with fever.

Write a correct reference for it.

NICE (2007) NICE issues guidance to help assess children with fever. NICE press release [online]. Available: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=430964

[accessed May 23rd 2007]

Check your answer

4
Reference List

List the following seven references in the correct alphabetical order.

1) Korgoankar G and Tribe D (1995) Law for Nurses. London: Cavendish Publishing Limited

2) Muir Gray J A (1997) Evidence-based Healthcare. New York: Churchill Livingstone

3) Taylor H (2003) An exploration of the factors that affect nurses' record keeping. Online British Journal of Nursing 12(12): 751-758 [online] Available: http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl/library/article.htm?uid=8135 [accessed 2.9.03]

4) Johnstone M-J (2000) Bioethics: a nursing perspective. 3rd ed. Sydney: Harcourt Saunders

5) Bond M and Holland S (1998) Skills of clinical supervision for nurses. London: Open University Press

6) Bosque E M (1995) Pulse Oximetry and intuition in the neonatal intensive care unit. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America 7: 219-225

7) Guiliano K K, Scott S S, Brown V, Olson M (2003) Backrest Angle and Cardiac Output Measurement in Critically Ill Patients. Nursing Research 52(4): 242-248

The correct alphabetical order is 5 6 7 4 1 2 3Check your answer