Frequently asked questions
1. How do I reference two or three authors?
When there are two or three authors for a reference, include all their family names in the in-text
reference, in the same order that they are listed in the original source. Use the word ‘and’ to
separate surnames in the body of your sentence, and ‘&’ to do so in brackets.
2. How do I reference more than three authors?
If there are four or more authors, you should only use the first author’s family name in the in-text
reference followed by the term ‘et al.’ (a Latin abbreviation for ‘and others’).
However, all the authors’ names must be included in your reference list, in the same order that they
are listed in the original source.
3. How do I reference when there is no author and/or no year?
When no person is mentioned, include the title of the source or the authoring/sponsoring
organisation in place of the author.
When no year of publication is given, use the abbreviation n.d. which stands for ‘no date’ in place of
a year, or give an approximate year preceded by a c. which stands for ‘circa’. However, be wary of
using sources without years as it is harder to verify whether the information is relevant or outdated.
4. How do I reference information from one author (Author 1) which I have found in a book or
journal article by another author (Author 2)?
Sometimes you will need to refer to authors whose work you encounter secondhand (i.e. mentioned
in other people’s work) rather than firsthand. You should mention both authors (Author 1 and
Wahlstrom and Quirchmayr (2008) advocate for this system.
According to Campbell, Fox and de Zwart (2010, p. 11), students should tread carefully when
using internet resources.
Students should tread carefully when using internet resources (Campbell, Fox & de Zwart 2010,
p. 11).
This is observed by Solomon et al. (2008) in their climate change study.
Oral presentations, like written assessment tasks, should contain an introduction, body, and
conclusion (Learning and Teaching Unit 2010).
Developed by Learning Advisers and Librarians © UniSA, January 2011
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂