Extended Project Qualification Referencing

A requirement is that candidates demonstrate that they can correctly cite sources of information.
The point of referencing is to provide the sources of information that have been used to produce the
document, and to enable readers to find that information. There are many different systems of
reference in use; it is most important to be consistent in how you reference and that you provide
sufficient information for the reader to find the source.

Whenever a piece of information from a source is used in the text of your essay, an in-text citation
should be included linking to the full original source in the reference list.

There are 2 main types of in-text citation:

The Vancouver system: this is a numerical citation system

The Harvard System: this is a parenthetical system providing limited reference information in
brackets in the text.

Some find the Harvard system easier to handle but you should be aware of both as you may come
across it during your research. It does not matter which reference system you use, as long as you
are consistent.

Vancouver system

An example of what it might look like:

Titrations using potassium managanate (VII) can be used to determine the concentration of a
solution of Fe2+ ions. 1

The full reference is given in a number list at the end of the document, with each number linked to
the appropriate reference.

e.g. Crowder, K.J. (2011) Manganate (VII) titrations, 2nd Ed., Cambridge, Practical Chemistry
Publications.

The references are ordered in the sequence in which they appear / are first cited in the text. The
numbers are repeated in the in-text citation as needed, so the same number is assigned to cite the
same / given reference.

Harvard system (parenthetical)

An example of what it might look like:

Titrations using potassium manganate (VII) can be used to determine the concentration of a solution
of Fe2+ ions (Crowder, 2011).

The author(s) and date of work are included in the brackets at the appropriate point in the text. The
list of full references that appear at the end of the document is ordered alphabetically, and the
references are not numbered. For multiple-author works the full list of names is not usually given in
in-text references. The standard approach would be to cite the lead author followed by ‘et al’. This is
common for references with more than 3 authors.

While different referencing systems have minor variations, the basic information provided is very
similar. We need to also account for the fact you will nt just be using research papers but also books
and websites.

Books: general format

Authors (year), Title, edition (if needed), publisher’s location, publisher.

e.g. Atkins, P.W. (1986), Physical chemistry, 3rd ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press.

For books that have an editor include (ed.) after the names.

If a book does not have a named author or editor, the reference begins with the title, e.g.

CLEAPPS laboratory handbook (2001), Uxbridge, CLEAPPS School Science Service.

Journal articles: general format

Authors (year), ‘Article title’, Journal title, vol. no, issue no, pg xx-xx

e.g. Asakai, T., Hioki, A. (2011), ‘Investigation of iodine liberation process in redox titration of
potassium iodate with sodium thiosulfate’, Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 689, no 1, pg 34-38.

Websites: general reference format

Authors (year), Title [online] last access date: URL

e.g. Clark, J (2202), some beryllium chemistry untypical of group 2, [online] last access 3 Feb 2015:
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group2/beryllium.html#top

websites / webpages and online resources frequently do not have individual authors, in which case
the name of the organisation is given. It is also often not possible to find the year in which online
materials were produced. In that case, use the year in which the information was sourced.

Royal Society of Chemistry (2015), Individual Investigation: teacher guidance [online] last accessed
10 July 2016: http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/res000000456/chemistry-investigations

If no author or organisation can be found, reference website by title. However be wary and
consideration should be given as to whether the website is a trustworthy source.