Vancouver Citation Style  Tags: referencing medndent citation undergrad postgrad  

The basics of citing and referencing

• What is referencing and citing?
• Why you need to reference your sources
• Paraphrasing and direct quotation
• When one author cites another
• When should you cite?

Your source is always the text you have read, either in print or electronically.

If you read an article or book that cites information by another author and you also want to cite this information, always refer to the source where you found the information, not the original source.

For example, you read an article by Charles Hoffman on the epidemiology of asthma. Hoffman cites or refers to a study by Joseph Yui. You also want to refer to this study. Your source is Hoffman's article. The usual convention is to acknowledge Yiu in the text:

Yiu's study, cited by Hoffman⁵

In your reference list only include reference details for Hoffman. In some instances you might consider finding the cited article by Yiu and using it instead. In this case you would then cite Yiu because you have actually read it.