Referencing systems

When you are writing more formal documents such as reports, you will often need to cite other sources in a systematic way. There are several referencing systems available, so the first task is to choose the right one for your context.

The ASG recommends:

  • the documentary note system (with endnotes) for most workplace writing, because it helps to maintain the flow of the text with little interruption 
  • the author–date system for an academic audience, where in-text citations are more important to readers.

Government and corporate writing in Australia tends to use the documentary note system. The author–date system is more common in the academic world. Some scientific communities also use a variant of the documentary note system called the Vancouver system. 

This section summarises the essential elements of the 2 most common systems.

Documentary note system

Use a superscript numeral in the text and add a matching endnote

5 J Goldfinch, Family Law in Australia, Black Books, Perth, 2009.

With the documentary note system, you can use either endnotes or footnotes to reference your sources. 

As the separate entries explain, the ASG recommends endnotes because they minimise the disruption to reading and keep the page clean. 

To introduce each endnote (or footnote), insert a superscript numeral in the text after the content you’re citing. Place the numeral:

  • immediately after a direct quote, where possible
  • before commas, semicolons and similar mid-sentence punctuation
  • after punctuation at the end of the sentence (usually a full stop).
It has been predicted we will need 1,627 more classes for primary students nationally before 2025, and to respond to this demand we need to fix the gender imbalance in the teacher workforce.1

Then add the reference details using the same numeral:

  • at the end of the document (or a chapter if it’s a long work) for an endnote
  • at the bottom of the page for a footnote.

Your word processor should manage this formatting for you and keep the notes in order.

1 I Davis, ‘We need to support more men to become primary teachers’, The Conversation, Melbourne, 2018.

If you have multiple sources to reference at once, you only need 1 superscript number.

You can also include an alphabetical reference list or bibliography at the end of the text if you want to add extra source material. Use the same format for each reference, but invert the first author’s initials and family name.

Davis, I, ‘We need to support more men to become primary teachers’, The Conversation, Melbourne, 2018.
Author–date system
Use a bracketed insertion in the text with an alphabetised reference list
We will need 1,627 more classes for primary students before 2025 (Davis 2018).

The author–date system is also known as the Harvard system. Instead of using footnotes and endnotes, it adds the author's family name and the year the reference was published in round brackets. The brackets should generally come at the end of the sentence before the final full stop.

It has been predicted we will need 1,627 more classes for primary students nationally before 2025, and to respond to this demand we need to fix the gender imbalance in the teacher workforce (Davis 2018).

If there is more than 1 author, present them in the order they appear on the title page:

Number of authorsExamples
2 or 3

  (Whitehead & Brownlow 2010)

  (Whitehead, Brownlow & Da Silva 2010)

4+

  (Whitehead et al 2010)

You can then provide the full reference details in a reference list at the end of the document, arranged alphabetically by author family name. The reference list should include the names of all authors.

Davis, I 2018, ‘We need to support more men to become primary teachers’, The Conversation, Melbourne.

The main advantage of the author–date system is that it gives readers abbreviated source information in the text without making them check a footnote or endnote. 

This is why the author–date system is popular in an academic context, where readers will often want to see sources cited next to the ideas they relate to.

The disadvantage is that this source information can interrupt the flow of the text, particularly if there is a complex source or more than 1.  A footnote or endnote number is far less intrusive. And readers will still need to consult the reference list to see the full details.

See also:   In-text citations,  Italics,  Publication titles,  Reference lists,  Title case