For obligatory assignments, exams, bachelor's theses, or other mandatory activities, it is essential to understand the rules of source use. These written assignments are typically based on previously published research and work from your field of study. This means you rely on concepts, theories, arguments, and similar contributions from others.

For your reader to independently evaluate your work, they must be able to access the sources you have used. Additionally, it is important to clearly distinguish between your own contributions to the text and the material you have borrowed from others. Source use plays a significant role in academia, not only because it is vital to recognise other authors' contributions but also because it highlights the knowledge you possess and the contributions you have made yourself.

In the previous section of this learning path, the focus was on how to assess the reliability of a source. Now, the focus shifts to how you can cite and reference the sources you choose to use in your work in a way that addresses all the considerations mentioned above.

Referencing technique – a brief explanation

To meet the requirements for proper source use and referencing technique, you must cite the literature you have used in two places in your text:

In-text citations in your text where you use information from the source.
Reference list entries in the bibliography at the end of the text, providing all necessary information about the source.

There must be a correspondence between the in-text citations and the references in the bibliography:

All in-text citations must be referenced in the bibliography.
All references must have been cited in the text.

This is a very important principle. Therefore, you should always double-check that every source used in your work is cited in the text and included in the final reference list.

Reference style – how to write citations and references

There are many different ways of formatting references and citations, and we refer to these different approaches as referencing styles. The main differences between referencing styles concern punctuation and the order in which information is presented. What all referencing styles have in common is that they provide a standardized way of handling references and include the information necessary to locate the source that has been used. It is important not to mix different referencing styles! Once you have chosen a referencing style, you should apply it consistently throughout your work. Examples of referencing styles include APA, Chicago, Harvard, and Vancouver.

The University of Inland Norway recommends that its students and staff use the APA style (American Psychological Association), unless otherwise specified. APA is a so-called author-date system, in which citations are integrated into the text and all references are collected in a reference list at the end of the document. This does not mean that you must use APA, unless your course instructor has specifically required it. This learning path is based on APA 7.

In-text citations – what do they look like?

An in-text citation provides information within the body of the text that indicates the sources used. The citation should appear immediately after the text you've taken from another source, before the period, enclosed in parentheses.

An in-text citation includes information about the author and year in the format: (surname, year).

If referring to a particular part of the source, you should also include the page number in the format: (surname, year, page number).

Examples of in-text citations:

(Vygotsky, 1934)
(Vogler, 2008, p. 363)

Example in a sentence:

It is in such cases that agency fails to appear (Bandura, 1985).

Alternatively, you can incorporate the author's name into the narrative, omitting their name from the parentheses. It can look like this:

Vogler (2008, p. 363) argues that... .

Regardless of the source type (book, website, article, or other), all in-text citations follow the same format: author’s last name, year, and, if applicable, page number. The advantage of this approach is that citations take up minimal space in the text, preserving its flow. However, the downside is that the citation provides limited information, that may lead to uncertainty. For what if:

There are multiple researchers named “Vogler”?
Lev Vygotsky published several works in 1934?
Bandura’s work exist both as a book and an e-book?

This uncertainty reinforces the need for a final reference list, where readers can find complete information about your sources.

References – how are those written and organised?

The reference list appears at the end of the document and contains all the information about the source. The content of a reference depends on the type of source. For instance:

A book reference must include the author, publication year, title, and publisher.
A website reference must include the author, publication year, title, and additional details such as the website name and URL.

All references are compiled in a single list, sorted alphabetically, with no division for category (books, websites, journal articles, etc.). Here's an example of a reference list that contain both a reference to a book, to a journal article and to a book chapter:

Carey, J. R., & Zou, S. (2007). Theories of life span and aging. In P. S. Timiras (Ed.), Physiological basis of aging and geriatrics (4th ed., pp. 55-70). Informa Healthcare.

Hyland, K. (2017). Metadiscourse: What is it and where is it going? Journal of Pragmatics, 113, 16–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.03.007

Seierstad, Å. (2026). Never say war: Life inside Russia. Virago.

If a reference extends beyond one line, use a hanging indent on subsequent lines. To do this, highlight the text and press Control+T (Windows) or Command+T (Mac).

When listing multiple works from the same author, organise them chronologically starting with the oldest. If co-authors are involved, organise alphabetically by the next author’s name.

Lundberg, I. (1990). ...

Lundberg, I. (2010). ...

Lundberg, I., & Kolovos, C. (2007). ...

Lundberg, I., Tønnessen, F. E. ,& Høien, T. (1993). ...

Tip: Does your source have more than one publication year listed on the title page? Check Kildekompasset’s guide to learn which year to choose.