Study Successfully - Beginning your studies

Web documents

Increasingly the internet is used to publish academic information and you may find that on your reading list there are references to documents on the web.
The part of the reference that tells you it is a web document or site is the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). These references may also contain the word Retrieved and the date that it was last read online.

• Dixon, Suzanne. (2003). Roman women: following the clues. Retrieved November 22, 2007, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/roman_women_01.shtml

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Climate change in Australia, Retrieved November 22, 2007, from http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/index.php

• United Nations. (1945). Charter of the United Nations, Retrieved November 19, 2007, from http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/

Papers from conferences

Your reading list may have a reference to a paper presented at a conference or seminar, or to the complete published papers of a conference or seminar. These are generally known as conference proceedings.
Here are some examples of references to conference proceedings. The part of the reference that tells you it is a conference proceeding are the words Proceedings … , Conference … , Congress … , Symposiums … , or Papers from … ; the name of the conference and the organisation involved.

• Bergamasco, A., Pirazzoli, P., Tomasin, A. (2005). Monitoring climatic changes in the Venice lagoon and their effects on the mean sea level and floods. Lagoons and Coastal Wetlands in the Global Change Context: Impacts and Management Issues. Proceedings of the International Conference, 26-28 April, 2004. no. 3, Venice, pp 147-153.

• Kirk, C. et al. (2005). Recent efforts to assess Beaufort Sea polar bear (Ursus maritimus) health: Focus on morbillivirus exposure status. Is the North that Different? Consequences of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Environmental Variation. 2005 Arctic Science Conference, Kodiak, Alaska (USA), 27-29 September, 2005.

Technical reports

Sometimes you may find a reference to a report on your reading list. These may be a report from a government body, organisation or a working paper on a topic.
Here are some examples of references to technical reports. The part of the reference that tells you it is a technical report is the report name and number.

• Kandel, D. (2005). A tool for mapping and forecasting soil moisture deficit over Australia. (Technical Report. Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology, 05/2). Clayton, Vic.: CRC for Catchment Hydrology.

• Australian Greenhouse Office. (2000). Land clearing: a social history. (Technical Report No.4). Retrieved from Australian Greenhouse Office http://greenhouse.gov.au/ncas/reports/tr04final.html

Journal articles

Reading lists are likely to have references to journal articles. This is because journal articles are more up-to-date and relevant to current issues than books which take more time to be published. Academic journals are also extremely important because they publish the results of current research on very specialised topics.
Here are some examples of references to journal articles. The part of the reference that tells you it is a journal article is the volume number, the issue number or month and the page numbers.

• Grant, S.M. (2007). The Civil War in American culture. Journal of American Studies, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 485-486.

• Millard, B. (2007). Green commercial interiors: once an option, soon the norm. Oculus, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 34-37.

• Grist, E., Jackson, G. (2007). How long would it take to become a giant squid? Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, vol.17, no. 2-3, pp. 385-399.

Also notice that there is no publisher or place of publication in journal references.

Books

Books on your reading list may often be key texts. Here are some examples of references to books. The place of publication and the publisher are the parts of the reference that tell you it is a book.

• Nightingale, V., & Dwyer, T. (eds). 2007. New media worlds: challenges for convergence, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

• Rostami-Povey, E. 2007. Afghan women: identity and invasion, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Kaler, J. 2006. The Cambridge encyclopedia of stars, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapters in books

Some books are made up of a collection of chapters or articles, each written by a different author, and usually compiled by an editor. Your reading list may specifically mention the author of a particular chapter of a book.
Here are some examples of references to chapters in books. The part of the reference that tells you it is a chapter or part of a book is the word in, followed by the editor's and title of the whole book. Like references to books, they also have a publisher and place.

• Griffin, C. 2002. The humor of One hundred years of solitude. In G.H. Bell-Villada (ed.), Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One hundred years of solitude: a casebook, New York: Oxford University Press.

• Schwarz, M.P., Hoogendoorn, K., 1999. Biodiversity and conservation of Australian native bees. In W. Ponder, D. Lunney (eds.), The other 99%: The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates. Surrey, Beatty and Sons, Sydney, pp. 388-393.