Styles

There are specific conventions for structuring a set of references and for citing the listed items at the points in you report where you refer to them. You will see from the different sources that you read, there are a variety of styles that are adopted.

The two main styles are Author-Date and Numeric (Pears and Shields, 2010, p. 3). Specifically, for your reports you could consider either Harvard referencing, which is an Author-Date style or the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) referencing, which is a Numeric style.

You will see that the Numeric style is common in Computer Science academic literature. If you haven’t used any other referencing style, we recommend that you adopt the IEEE style. If have experience of other official styles from your work in other departments, it is possible for you to use those referencing styles in your work for Computer Science modules.

With respect to your work in the Computer Science Department, the key motivation is that you use a style that provides structured information for your readers. That will help them find out more about different aspects of your work. Choose a style and use it consistently in your reports. If you are unsure which style to use, please ask the relevant module coordinator.

Author-Date Style

The Author-Date style, also referred to as Parenthetical Referencing uses the name of the author and the year of publication when citing a work. If you are citing a specific section or quoting from a work, you should also reference the page number(s). A citation in the Author-Date style is always provided in-text, an example was provided earlier as (Pears and Shields, 2010, p. 3).

The citation is either provided completely in () brackets, or the authors are listed in the text and the year of publication, and possibly the page numbers, are provided in () brackets. For example:

The Spiral Model (Boehm, 1988) explicitly recognises the risk in any project …

Boehm (1988) proposed the Spiral Model …

A reference to match this citation would be:

Boehm, B. W. (1988). A spiral model of software development and enhancement. IEEE Computer, 21 (5), 61-72.

The Harvard style is a popular example of Author-Date referencing and it is widely used in the arts and humanities and the social sciences. Despite the name, it is not formally associated with Harvard University, as reported in a FAQ from Harvard University.

For the Author-Date style, references are sorted by author and the year of publication. If an author has two publications in the same year, then you should add a character suffix to the year. For example, if the author Boehm has two publications in 1990, set the year for the first one to 1990a and the second one to 1990b.

Pears and Shield discuss the author-date approach and how to represent different types of resources in this style. You can find this resource in the Hugh Owen library in the Essential Study Skills section on level F. If you have any problems finding the book, ask at the information desk in the library.

Numeric Style

The Numeric style uses a number to represent a specific source. The number might be entered as a superscript, but this is particular to the style chosen. The IEEE style is an example of a Numeric style. The IEEE Referencing Guide and the University of York IEEE referencing style describe the common usage scenarios for references using the IEEE style.

The citation is provided in square brackets, e.g. [3] within the puctuation of the sentence. The citation can be used in line, as if it is a footnote number, or as a noun. The following example shows the use of a citation as if it is a footnote, where the citation [3] is for the term Spiral Model that preceeds it.

The Spiral Model [3] explicitly recognises the risk in any project…

Whilst this use is similar to the numbering for a footnote, the reference does not appear at the bottom of the page. Instead, the reference would be in a section of all of the references at the end of the document.

Further, the citation can be used as a noun in the sentence.

Boehm developed the idea of recognising the risk in a project in [3], …

The use of the citation as a noun is a valid approach, but should be used carefully so that readability is maintained. Your reader may find it easier to follow the discussion if some name is used, as in the first example with the Spiral Model [3]….

A reference to match this citation would be:

[3] B. W. Boehm, “A spiral model of software development and enhancement”, IEEE Computer, Computer, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 61-72, May 1988, doi: 10.1109/2.59

Note, this is assuming that it is the 3rd reference in a list of references using the numeric style of referencing.

If you are following the IEEE style, you will typically order the entries so that they match the order in which they are first cited in your report.

Annotated references

Another type of reference is the Annotated Reference. Annotated References are similar to a list of references, but they include an extra note for each reference. The note is typically a few sentences and it comments on the most relevant issues.

Sometimes, a researcher might publish a document that contains just a set of Annotated References. This can be a way for a researcher to share a reading list with brief notes for each reference.

If you are asked to use an Annotated Reference in the department, the note will normally describe what you have learnt by reading, viewing or listening to the reference. For example, if you have read an academic paper, the note might highlight which of the ideas in the paper are most relevant to your work.

An annotated reference might be used on some modules in the department, but it is not common. It was used on the Major and Minor Projects (MMP) in earlier years, but we have stopped asking for an Annotated Reference on the MMP modules. Check with the module coordinator if you are not sure if the Annotated Reference is necessary for a specific piece of work.