Referencing Styles

A guide to the reference styles used at the University of St Andrews

What you need to include:

This advice related specifically to web pages, rather than all information found online.  If you need to reference a book or journal article which you have accessed online, please refer to the section within this guide for books and journal articles.

Remember to evaluate the information you find on websites to ensure they are appropriate for academic use.

  • Author or organisation
  • Title of the webpage
  • Year - where no year can be found use [n.d.]
  • URL
  • Date Accessed

The Basic Footnote citation (for first citation)

Note number. First Name Surname or Organisation Name, Title, (Platform Publisher or Organisation, Year) <URL> [accessed DD Month YYYY].

The Basic Footnote citation (for subsequent citation of a work)

Note number. Surname or Organisation, or webpage title.

The Basic Reference format is:

Surname, First name, or Organisation, Title of webpage. (Platform or Publisher or Organisation, Year) <URL> [accessed DD Month YYYY]

 

First footnote citation:

4. Chris Jones, 'Solar system facts', ([n.d.]) <http://space-facts.com> [accessed 15 July 2016].

Subsequent footnote citation:

8. Jones.

Reference list entry:

Jones, Chris, 'Solar system facts', ([n.d.]) <http://space-facts.com> [accessed 15 July 2016]

Example web page reference with individual author
  • For author information look in the "About" section of a web page
  • Dates can often be found either beside the title, if it's a blog entry, etc. or at the bottom of the website.
  • Where no date is available use the abbreviation [n.d.] for no date.

First footnote citation:

10. NASA, Journey to Mars, (2016) <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html> [accessed 14 June 2016].

Subsequent footnote citation:

14. NASA.

Reference list entry:

NASA, Journey to Mars, (2016) <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html> [accessed 14 June 2016]

Example web page reference with organisation as author
  • Where an organisation is commonly known by an acronym (NASA, UN, etc) there's no need to give the full name.  Where an acronym isn't in common use, or you want to avoid any uncertainly the full name of the organisation should be given.
  • Date of publication can often be found alongside the page title or at the bottom of the page.
  • Where there's no date of publication is given use the abbreviation [n.d.]

Footnote:

  • Authors are given as First name Surname, organisation abbreviations can be used where these are commonly known
  • First citations provide the full reference, subsequent use of the same source requires a shortened citation

Bibliography

  • Author name is given as Surname, First name, or use the Organisation Name
  • Abbreviations for organisations can be given if these are in common use, otherwise use the full name.
  • Give the title of the specific webpage you are referring to
  • If the source you are using has been found on a specific platform (social media, blog, wiki etc) add this ahead of the date of publication.
  • Date of publication oe date last updated should be given, where no date can be found use the abbreviation [n.d.] for no date
  • A URL for the specific page you are referring to is given
  • Provide the date accessed.