Understanding Referencesfor Physics Students

Introduction• We will look at the content of common references that you may see

on your reading list:– Journal Article– Book – Book Chapter– Websites

• Highlight how to find the first three on the Library catalogue

• The references are in numeric style as this is used by the Physics department

• Each reference will contain the same bibliographic information that you will need to include in your bibliography when writing an assignment

Journals

• These are regular publications

• They contain information on very specific, up-to-date research written by academics and researchers

• A year’s worth of publications often corresponds to a volume and each volume is made up of a number of issues

Journal Reference

• Family name, Initial(s). Title of article. Journal title, Year: volume (issue number), page numbers.

• Taber, K. S. If you can't take the heat don't enter the classroom. Physics Education, 2007: 42(5), 430-431.

To locate this item on the catalogue you will need to search for the title of the journal first, NOT the title of the article

Only if there is no result for the journal title, should you try an author title search for the article. In some cases the library may hold a photocopy of an individual article.

Locating on the catalogue

Understanding Book References

• Family name, initial(s). Title of book. City of publication: Publisher, year

• Squires, G. L. Practical Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Locating on the catalogue

• Squires, G. L. Practical Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

To locate this item on the library catalogue use the Combined Author and Title search, enter the author’s surname and the first keyword of the title

Reference for a Book Chapter

• Family name, Initial(s). Chapter title. In Editors’ names (eds.)Title of book. City of publication: Publisher, year.

• Attal, S. ‘The Hamiltonian approach’. In Attal, S. Joye, A. Pillet, C. (eds.) Open quantum systems. Berlin: Springer, 2006.

Locating on the catalogue

• Attal, S. ‘The Hamiltonian approach’. In Attal, S. Joye, A. Pillet, C. (eds.) Open quantum systems. Berlin: Springer, 2006

To locate this item on the library catalogue you will need to search for the author and title of the book, NOT the author and title of the chapter

Web page reference

• Family name, Initial(s).Title [online]. [Date accessed]. Year . Available from: url of site

• Bunn, T. Black holes FAQ [online]. [Accessed: 1 October 2007] 1995. Available from: http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html

References and Bibliographies

• ALWAYS keep a full and accurate record of your information sources

• Make sure you refer correctly to other authors within your work to avoid plagiarism

• Use the Library Catalogue to e-mail references for saving:

1. Following a catalogue search, place a tick next to useful records. Click “Saved marked records”.

1. Following a catalogue search, place a tick next to useful records. Click “Saved marked records”.

2. Notice that the menu has changed – click “View saved”

2. Notice that the menu has changed – click “View saved”

3. Then email the results or save to a memory stick

3. Then email the results or save to a memory stick

For more information

• Ask your lecturer or tutor to make sure your style matches their requirements

• See the Physics guide to ‘Avoiding plagiarism’ or the library guide Writing your bibliography and citing references