At the minimum, a reference must contain enough information to identify and retrieve the source. To do this, the reference should tell the reader who, what, where and when.
Who:
The author, composer or creator of a work. May be named individuals or a group.
Enter surname first for each author and use initials.
For more information see the button below.
What:
The title of the item or document, website name, etc.
Article titles and book chapters - capitalise the first word of the title, proper nouns, acronyms or initialisms (e.g. MRI, DNA), and the names of study groups or clinical trials (the PrevANZ trial). Do not capitalise the first word in a journal article subtitle.
Book, government document and pamphlet titles - capitalise the first letter of each major word, do not capitalise preposition or conjunctions that are less than 4 letters (e.g.: or, and, as, per, via). Italicise the title.
Journal titles - abbreviate journal titles according to the NLM Catalog, capitalise according to the abbreviation and italicise. If the name of the journal has changed over time, use the name of the journal as when the cited resource was published.
When:
The year when the resource was published or produced.
For web pages and news articles, include the full date of publication in the format Month ##, year (e.g. January 25, 2018), as well as the date last updated (if provided).
For most online materials, also provide the date you accessed the information, as web content may change frequently.
Where:
Books - provide the name of the publisher or publisher's imprint. The place of publication is not required. See the button below
Journal articles - in addition to the year, provide the volume, issue, span of pages or e-locator, and DOI where one is available.
Document or series numbers - if an item is part of a report series, or has a document or publication number, provide the number along with its name (e.g. AIHW Cat. AUS 237, not just AUS 237). This information is usually placed after the publication year.
Online materials - where there is no DOI, provide a URL that takes the reader directly to the item. See button below.