Essay Writing Help - Open University Referencing

Open University Referencing: An Overview

The Open University uses an adaptation of the Harvard referencing style for most of its courses; in other words, references are incorporated within the text parenthetically with a reference list.

To cite books using the Open University Referencing System use the following:

Author - in the form of surname and name/initials followed by a comma
Publication date in brackets, followed by a full stop
Title in italics followed by a comma
Place of publication followed by a comma
Publisher followed by a full stop.

Thus, the citation of a book in the Open University Referencing System would read like this:

Brown, J., (2008).Referencing Styles, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

To cite a journal in the Open University Referencing System use the following:

Author - in the form of surname and name/initials followed by a comma
Publication date in brackets, followed by a comma
Title of journal article in single quotation marks
Title of journal in italics followed by a comma
Volume and issue number followed by a comma
Page numbers followed by a full stop

Thus, the citation of a journal article in the Open University Referencing System would read like this:

Brown, J.,(2008), 'OU Referencing', Referencing Styles, no. 2, pp. 33-49.

To cite an electronic source in the Open University Referencing Style, use this format:

Author - in the form of surname and name/initials followed by a comma
Publication date in brackets, followed by a comma
Title of document in italics followed by 'online' in square brackets followed by a comma
Publisher followed by a comma
URL
Date accessed in brackets.

Hence, an electronic source in the Open University Referencing Style would be cited thus:

Taylor, John, (2008) OU Referencing [online], The Open University, <http://www.referencingonline> (accessed 6 August 2008).

Further Resources: