reports: references

A report that is the culmination of a study will probably contain quotations or cited material, along with endnotes or footnotes and a bibliography.

Accuracy

A serious yet common failing of writers of reports is inaccuracy, especially in quotations and references.

A quotation should correspond exactly to the original. If a quotation is not exact or is attributed to the wrong author, or if the date, volume number or page number of the reference is wrong, a reader who needs to refer to the source will waste time and lose patience.

It is therefore wise to check all references both before and after they are inserted into the report.

For information on how to deal with omissions and changes to quoted material, see the following articles:

• quotations: omissions
• quotations: insertions and alterations

Notes and bibliographies

A bibliography lists the works most often consulted, as well as those likely to be of particular interest to the reader, even if they are not referred to in the text.

For detailed information on different types of reference notes and the various ways of listing bibliographic entries, see our series of articles on reference notes and bibliographies, including the following articles:

• reference notes: general
• reference notes: general
• reference notes: endnotes
• reference notes: in-text (author-date)
• reference notes: books
• reference notes: periodicals (articles)
• bibliographies: types of bibliography
• bibliographies: author’s name
• bibliographies: titles
• bibliographies: book
• bibliographies: articles