Help with Referencing

If you are writing a patient leaflet, a report or essay you will need to support what you say by using references.  Library staff can help advise you on how to insert references (cite) in your document and produce a tidy list – a bibliography at the end of the text.  There are many referencing formats.  Two of the most common in medical literature are Vancouver (as used by the BMJ) and Harvard (as used at Bournemouth University).

How do you manage your list of references?  If you do not have many – perhaps under 30 articles, book chapters or reports you may find that the References tab in MS Word is adequate.

Word References tab

Word References tab

If you are doing a big literature review, you will find it easier to be able to import references into special software – a reference management system.  There are many of these available, but a limited number of free ones!  Please ask Library staff if you would like further help or advice with referencing.