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Skills at Library Essentials

Guides to search skills and using library research resources

Workshop calendar

We run workshops throughout the year on many of the topics covered in this guide and more. Take a look at what we have coming up and book your place to learn more about improving your search skills. 

University of Essex Online students

If you are a University of Essex Online student and would like support with referencing, contact studyskills@online.essex.ac.uk

Your style guides can be found from the drop-down menu under 'University of Essex Online'.

Understanding how to reference

How to reference

You need to reference all information sources you use. To do this, you just need to insert a citation in your text and then expand on this in a footnote or full reference list at the end of your work. The exact way you need to do this depends on your referencing style.

Below, you can find quick introductory videos to each of the referencing styles we use at the University as well as more in-depth guides for each resource you may need to reference.

Referencing Video Guides

Below is a quick video introduction to referencing at the University of Essex and why it's important in an academic context.

The lists below shows all the departments and their referencing style. Once you have found which referencing style you need to use, you can find a quick video guide in the relevant tab above to get you started. You can also find further information by clicking through to the Cite Them Right guides below.

Quick access to referencing style guides

Each department of the University uses a particular referencing style. You can find your department's style guide here. Once you know which style you need, you can access the guides for that style below.

Getting help

There are several places you can find help with understanding referencing.

  • Check out Cite Them Right Online. This is a comprehensive referencing resource which will help you to cite and reference just about any source and to avoid plagiarism.
  • Visit CareerHub to find details of upcoming workshops that target your referencing skills.
  • Pick up a book on referencing from one of our libraries.
  • Have a go at our online tutorial that guides you through referencing a book and a journal article.

Link to referencing tutorial