In-text Citation Rules

When to provide a citation

It is extremely important to provide citations for any information that is not solely your idea; not doing so is a form of plagiarism. Citations must be provided in all instances in which you have paraphrased, quoted directly from, or otherwise been influenced by, another source.

Where to place the citation

AGLC style uses a footnote citation style.1 Citations are usually inserted at the end of a clause or sentence (that is, after a comma, colon, semi-colon or full stop). For example:

For the last 10 years, ‘student to teacher ratios in Australia have been rising’;2 however, this trend appears to finally be coming to an end.3

This is the same even if using the author’s name as part of the sentence. For example:

Smith provides statistics showing that, for the last 10 years, ‘student to teacher ratios in Australia have been rising’;4 however, according to Brown and Miles, this trend appears to finally be coming to an end.5

While the rule is that the footnote follows the punctuation mark, there are two exceptions: (1) footnotes are placed before dashes (i.e., -, – and —) and (2) it is sometimes more logical to place citations inside a closing bracket (especially where the footnote relates to a term inside the parentheses6).

1. This is an example of a footnote.
2. Alan Smith, Trends in Education (Academic Publishing, 2014) 23.
3. Barbara Brown and Mildred Miles, ‘Improvements in Teacher Retention’ (2016) 20(1) Journal of Teaching 13, 16.
4. Smith, above n 2, 25.
5. Brown and Miles, above n 3, 15.
6. Parentheses are also known as ’round brackets’.

To cite in full or to use a short form

In AGLC style, for most source types, the full footnote citation is provided in the first instance only, and subsequently ‘Ibid’ or ‘[Author surname], above n [number]’ are used to refer back to the full citation.

If footnotes are numbered consecutively from the beginning to end of the document, all subsequent citations (with some exceptions, see below) will use these short forms, rather than repeating the full citation. However, in longer documents that are divided into chapters (e.g., theses, books), the author may prefer that footnote numbering starts at 1 in each chapter. In this case, full citation details are provided in the first instance in each chapter.

Note that some source types never take the ‘above n’ short form (although they can take the Ibid form). Specifically, ‘above n’ is never used for case law; international decisions; treaties; legislation; or UN, WTO, EU or GATT documents. These source types are written in full in all instances.

For any source, a short title can be introduced immediately following the first full citation. That short title can subsequently be used in place of the author/s’ name in ‘above n’ citations, as well as for case law, international decisions, etc.

1. Michael Littledyke, Keith Ross and Liz Lakin, Science Knowledge and the Environment: A Guide for Students and Teachers in Primary Education (David Fulton, 2000) 25.
2. Convention on the Rights of a Child, opened for signature 20 November 1987, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990). ‘Convention on the Rights of a Child’.
3. Alan Cohen and Louis Cohen (eds), Primary Education: A Sourcebook for Teachers (Chapman, 1988) 15.
4. Littledyke, Ross and Lakin, above n 1, 20.
5. Dale v Scott; Ex parte Dale [1985] 1 Qd R 406
6. Convention on the Rights of a Child.
7. Ibid.
8. Cohen and Cohen, above n 3, 17.
9. Dale v Scott; Ex parte Dale [1985] 1 Qd R 406

When to provide pinpoint references

A pinpoint (e.g., 1, s 38) or range (e.g., 1–2, ss 38–9) must be provided every time an idea is quoted or paraphrased from a source. There are two exceptions: 1) when citing a work in its entirety, rather than just an idea within it; 2) when citing a source that does not have page numbers, such as a website.

How to use Ibid

When inserting a subsequent citation to a source immediately after a citation to that same source, Ibid can be used, rather than the short citation. Ibid can be used for any source type, including cases, treaties, etc.

1. Philip Hewett, ‘The Role of Target Setting in School Improvement’ in Colin Conner (ed), Assessment and Action in the Primary School (Falmer Press, 1999) 165–6.
2. Ibid 165.
3. Natasha Bita, ‘Phonics, Coding and Faith as Nation’s Schools Go Back to Basics’ The Australian, 19 September 2015, 10.
4. Hewett, above n 1, 166.
5. Ibid.
6. Bita, above n 3, 11; Hewett, above n 1, 164.
7. Bita, above n 3, 11.

As shown in the above example, when the subsequent citation is to the same pinpoint reference (e.g., page number, section number), use Ibid to mean same source and pinpoint. However, when the pinpoint reference is different, use ‘Ibid [page]’ to mean same source, different pinpoint. Note that Ibid cannot be used if the preceding footnote contains citations to more than one source.

All uses of Ibid should be checked before publication. If the order of the footnotes has changed or new footnotes have been inserted, errors in the use of Ibid may have entered the text. Considering this, it is a good idea to use short forms for all subsequent citations while writing the document and to only insert Ibid during the final stage of preparing the document for submission or publication.

How to format direct quotations

In AGLC, quotations of three lines or less must be formatted in line with the text ‘like this’.

Quotations of more than three lines must be formatted as a block quotation, in a smaller font, indented from the left margin only. Quotation marks should be omitted from block quotations, as the formatting indicates it is a quotation. The block quotation should be introduced using a colon:

Here is an example of a long quotation. It is not actually more than three lines in length, but it serves to demonstrate the recommended formatting.1

1 Example of the placement of a citation at the end of a block quotation.

How to cite works with multiple authors

When citing a work in a footnote by up to three authors, give all authors’ full names in the first instance, and all authors’ surnames in subsequent ‘above n’ citations.

When citing a work in a footnote by four or more authors, give the first author’s name followed by et al in the first instance, and the first author’s surname followed by et al in subsequent ‘above n’ citations.

How to cite multiple sources in one footnote

When citing multiple sources (either by the same or different authors), they must be included in the same footnote,8 rather than in multiple footnotes placed side by side, like this. 8, 9, 10 The citations should be separated by a semi-colon and ordered either by importance or by the order of the text material to which they refer.9

How to cite a source cited in another source

Where possible, always read and cite the original source. However, in some cases, it may be necessary to state that the information was cited in another source.10 In the example in the footnote, the information being referred to is from Cohen and Cohen (the cited source); however, the information was found in Churchill (the citing source). Both sources should be included in the bibliography. Depending on the information being cited, and where the emphasis should be placed, it is possible to use ‘quoted in…’, ‘cited in’, ‘quoting’ or ‘cited by’. In these cases, the footnotes would be structured as follows:

[cited source] quoted in [citing source]

[cited source] cited in [citing source]

[citing source] quoting [cited source]

[citing source] citing [cited source]

1. Example of the placement of a citation at the end of a block quotation.
2. Michael Littledyke, Keith Ross and Liz Lakin, Science Knowledge and the Environment: A Guide for Students and Teachers in Primary Education (David Fulton, 2000); Natasha Bita, ‘Phonics, Coding and Faith as Nation’s Schools Go Back to Basics’ The Australian, 19 September 2015, 10; Denis Hayes, Primary Education: The Key Concepts (Routledge, 2006) 23–26.
3. See the above example. Note that the citations are in the order deemed most appropriate by the author (e.g., order of importance). They are separated by semi-colons. If making multiple points in the sentence/s and placing the footnote at the end, order the citations according to the order of the points (to which the sources relate).
4. For example, Alan Cohen and Louis Cohen (eds), Primary Education: A Sourcebook for Teachers (Chapman, 1988), quoted in Hayes, above n 8, 24. Note that because this is the second time the Churchill source has been cited, the short form is used. If this were the first instance of citing the Hayes source, it would be written in full.

Including commentary or quotations in notes

Commentary in footnotes should be placed after the source.11 AGLC allows for the insertion of substantive notes that do not contain sources. These give extra information necessary for understanding the text; for example, definitions, important asides and further details. When a substantive note includes most of the details of a source, any additional details required to complete the citation can be given in parentheses.12 If the note includes a quotation, the citation should follow a full stop, rather than being enclosed in parentheses.13

1. See n 10 for an example of commentary following a citation.
2. As discussed in Patrick Smith and Lyn Dawes’ book, Subject Teaching in Primary Education (SAGE Publications, 2014, Kindle edition), numbers of working mothers continue to rise.
3. According to Champion, ‘Play has an important role in human development and thus the provision of quality play opportunities is an integral part of a good learning environment’. Barbara Champion, ‘Schools Need More Time for Play, Not Less’ Education Matters <http://educationmattersmag.com.au/schools-need-more-time-for-play-not-less/>.

REFERENCE LIST ENTRIES: SUMMARY
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ORDER

CONTENTS OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

The reference list must include all works cited in the document.

Particularly relevant works that are not cited in the document may also be included. In this case, name the list ‘Bibliography’.

If no uncited works are included in the list, name it ‘Reference List’ or ‘Works Cited’.

RULES FOR STRUCTURING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography may be divided into the following sections:

A Articles/Books/Reports

B Cases

C Legislation

D Treaties

E Other

However, some subdivisions may be omitted and others included where necessary. It is recommended to keep books and articles together, as it can be useful to see all works by a given author together.

RULES FOR ORDERING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Within each sub-division, references should be ordered alphabetically by the first author’s surname.

If there are multiple sources by the same author, they should be ordered chronologically from oldest to newest.

If there are multiple sources by the same first author but a different co-author, they should be ordered alphabetically by the second (or subsequent) author’s surname.

If there are multiple sources by authors with the same surname but different first names, they should be ordered alphabetically by the authors’ first name.

When a work has no author, use the title instead of the author’s name to order the references.

EXAMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Articles/Books/Reports

Biesta, Gert, ‘Why “What Works” Won’t Work: Evidence-based Practice and the Democratic Deficit in Educational Research’ (2007) 57(1) Educational Theory 1

Grundy, Shirley, Action Research as Professional Development: Innovative Links between Universities and Schools for Teacher Professional Development (Occasional Paper No 1, Murdoch University, 1995)

Oancea, Alis and John Furlong, ‘Expressions of Excellence and the Assessment of Applied and Practice-based Research’ (2007) 22(2) Research Papers in Education 119

B Cases

Dale v Scott; Ex parte Dale [1985] 1 Qd R 406

C Legislation

Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld)

D Treaties

Convention on the Rights of a Child, opened for signature 20 November 1987, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990)

E Other

Hoy, Wayne K, Collective Efficiency Scale—CE SCALE <http://www.waynekhoy.com/collective_efficacy.html>

Moore, Wendy M, Clever Talk: Using Literature to Boost Vocabulary through Explicit Teaching in Early Childhood (PhD Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 2013), ProQuest (AAT 3312456)

Smith, Alexandra, Liam Mannix and Melissa Fyfe, ‘Primary School Homework Debate Leading Some Parents to Opt Out’ The Age, 15 March 2015 <http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/primary-school-homework-debate-leading-some-parents-to-opt-out-20150314-1442q9.html>