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Leeds Numeric: Act of Parliament

Reference examples

Title of the Act and year. (chapter number of the Act; abbreviated to 'c.'). Place of publication: Publisher.

Acts of Parliament are published by The Stationery Office whose headquarters are based in London. Before 1963 the Stationery Office was referred to as HMSO. 

Example:

Modern Slavery Act 2015. (c.30). London: The Stationery Office.

For Acts published before 1963 you must also include some additional information:

Title of the Act and year. (Year of reign of the monarch at the time the Act was introduced, the monarch's name which can be abbreviated, chapter number of the Act). Place of publication: Publisher.

Example:

Homicide Act 1957. (5&6 Eliz.2, c.11). London: HMSO.

Online Act of Parliament

If you are referring to an Act you found online, this should be indicated in the reference.

Title of the Act and year. (chapter number of the act; abbreviated to 'c.'). [Online]. Place of publication: Publisher. [Date accessed]. Available from: URL

Example:

Higher Education and Research Act 2017. (c.29) [Online]. London: The Stationery Office. [Accessed 15 May 2018]. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ 

Citation examples

Standard citation

Every citation should be labelled within your text by using a number in brackets (1).
You should insert the citation number directly after a source is referred to in your text, even if this is in the middle of your sentence. It is acceptable to place a citation number at the end of a paragraph, if the entire paragraph is referring to the same source.

Examples:
Aitchison (1) suggests that language change is inevitable, but not a bad thing.
One leading expert suggests that language change is inevitable, but is not a bad thing (1).

The first item you cite is allocated number 1, the second item is allocated number 2, and so on throughout your piece of work.

Once a source has been allocated a number, this number is used again if you refer to the same source at a later point in your work.

If you use the name of the author(s) of a souce within the text and there are three or more authors for the source, then the name of the first author shoule be given, followed by the phrase "et al.".

Example:

Southgate et al. (1) emphasised that references should be presented in a consistent manner.

When to include page numbers

You should include page numbers if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table, etc. from a source.

Example:

"It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (1, p.24).

When referencing a single page, you should use p.

For a range of pages, use pp.

Example:

p.7 or pp.20-29.

If the page numbers are in Roman numerals, do not include p. before them.

Example:

(5, iv)

Common issues

When you're referencing with Leeds Numeric you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Numeric.

Skip straight to the issue that affects you: