Revision Exercises
1 |
The Purpose of ReferencingWhich do you think is the most important reason to reference properly? |
2 |
What should be referenced? |
Footnotes
Consider the following example:
How important are the methodological differences between historians and the writers of historical fiction? It has been argued1 that they are a matter of degree rather than involving an absolute distinction, that historiography is simply a special sort of fiction. Even if both sorts of writing draw on the same evidence and subject it to a similar process of interpretation, however, historians are expected to 'show the working' by citing their sources in footnotes and bibliographies.2 Historians emphasise the construction of their arguments, whereas novelists present a seamless account.3
1 Hayden White, The Content of the Form (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1978).
2 Morley, N., Writing Ancient History (London), p.32
3 White, ibid., pg.47ff.
3 |
Footnote 1Is this note acceptable? |
4 |
Footnote 2Is this footnote acceptable? |
5 |
Footnote 3Is this footnote acceptable? |
References in the Text
6 |
Is the following an acceptable form of reference?It has been argued (Hayden White, 1978) that history is simply a special sort of fiction governed by particular rules of presentation. |
7 |
Is the following an acceptable form of reference?Historians, as Morley (1999) has argued, are expected to 'show their working' through footnotes. |
8 |
Is this an acceptable form of reference?There is always a concern that footnotes and other academic apparatus are primarily rhetorical devices rather than methodological necessities (Morley, ibid., pp.33-4). |
Bibliographies and Lists of References
Consider the following example:
Garnsey, P, Hopkins, K. & Whittaker, C.R., eds., Trade in the Ancient Economy (Cambridge University Press, 1983).
Hopkins, Keith, Introduction, in Trade in the Ancient Economy, 1-14.
Howgego, 'Supply and use of money in Rome', in Jnl of Roman Stud. LXXXII (1990) pp.1-31.
Hudson, P. (1992) The industrial revolution, London.
9 |
How many of the following common errors can you identify in the list of references above? |
Two other points, in case you were wondering; it is not usual to include 'pp.' in lists of references or bibliographies, and it is sometimes frowned upon to put the volume number of journals in Roman numerals rather than Arabic (e.g. LXXXII rather than 82), even if that's how the journal itself presents it.