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Titles and citations of publications

Titles

When referring to publication titles, follow the following principles:

  • Italicise titles of books, films and plays and other publications.
  • Capitalise every word in the title apart from conjunctions, articles, particles and short prepositions.
  • Do not capitalise or italicise initial articles in the names of English-language newspapers and magazines, for example the Sydney Morning Herald.
  • In general, do not capitalise the names of cultural movements or historical periods unless they are derived from proper names (for example, "the Victorian era", but "baroque music").
  • Use single quotation marks for titles of individual book chapters and articles.

For example: "The report in the Sydney Morning Herald summarised the debate surrounding The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer".

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Citations

Different types of information sources require different types of reference formatting, but for general purposes use the guide on the University Library website (based on the APA style) which follows the following principles:

  • When referencing a book use the following pattern: Author. (Year). Title. Place of publication: Publisher.
    For example: Thomas, A. (2007). Sociology of health and health care. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • When referencing a book chapter use the following pattern: Chapter author. (year). Chapter title. In Editors of the book (Eds.), Book title. (pp. page numbers). Place of publication: Publisher.
    For example: Taylor, S. (2007). Sociology, social research and health. In S.Taylor & D. Field (Eds.), Sociology of health and health care. (pp. 3-24). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • When referencing a journal article use the following pattern: Author. (Year), Article title. Journal title, Volume(issue), page number.
    For example: Sweeting, A. & Vickers, E. (2007), Language and the history of colonial education - the case of Hong Kong. Modern Asian Studies, 41(1), 40.
  • When referencing a web document use the following pattern: Author (or name of parent website). (Year of copyright or last update). Title. Date of retrieval, from web address.
    For example: Department of the Environment and Water Resources. (2007). Water resources: water for the environment. Retrieved November 21, from www.environment.gov.au/water/environmental/wetlands/about.html.
  • When referencing a CD-ROM use the following pattern: Author or name of vendor. (Year of publication). Title of CD-ROM. Place of publication: Publisher.
    For example: University of Sydney (2007). Guidelines and templates for University of Sydney Alumni logos and publications. [CD-ROM]. Sydney: The University of Sydney.
  • For an interview, give the name of the person interviewed, the date of the interview and their position.
  • When a quotation is used in text, place speech marks around the author’s words, followed by his/her surname, the date of publication and the page number in brackets.
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