Leeds University Library

Referencing (lecturers)


Teaching resources to help you to develop your students' skills. You can adapt these materials to suit your own needs; see the link below for more details about acknowledging Skills@Library.

Using our resources
Close-up of writing and a pen

Workshops: lesson plans, slides and handouts

Each of these workshops includes a lesson plan, slides, and all relevant handouts.

The Referencing workshop (doc) will help students understand what referencing is, why they should reference and how to reference using an approved style.

The Introduction to EndNote workshop (PDF) will introduce students to using EndNote to manage their references as well as using it with Word to automatically insert in-text citations and create bibliographies.

Individual face-to-face activities

Each of these activities includes teaching notes and all relevant handouts. 

Referencing skills teaching notes (PDF)
This activity is designed to help students understand why they need to reference. 

Match the definitions (PDF)
This activity is designed to help students understand the different terminology used in referencing.

MCQ voting activity (PDF)
This activity is designed to help lecturers test their students' understanding of referencing and focus on issues of particular importance.

In-text citation activity (PDF)
This activity is designed to help students understand how to format citations within the text.

Practical referencing activity (PDF)
This activity is designed to help students understand how to format references for different types of information, eg book, journal article.

Online activities for independent or blended learning

Referencing: an introductory tutorial

This tutorial provides a basic overview of referencing. You can link to this tutorial from your module area in the VLE.

An introduction to EndNote

This tutorial will introduce students to using EndNote to manage their references as well as using it with Word to automatically insert in-text citations and create bibliographies. 

References and citations explained

We have three tutorials, covering the main referencing styles. You can link to the relevant tutorial from your module area in the VLE.

Further activities are available from the referencing student page.

Supporting resources: books, journals and websites

The Library's Referencing pages give detailed information about setting out references and citations in the Harvard and Numeric styles. They also link to the official guidance of other referencing styles used in the University. In addition, we offer advice on how to manage references.

The LearnHigher referencing tutor resource helps educators develop and deliver student workshops on referencing. The multimedia resource includes suggested workshop content, ice-breakers, activities, and FAQs.

Lecturer pages related to referencing: