Referencing sources or documents

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We do not recommend referencing sources in public-facing content. We have not seen a user need for references. Including them may cause confusion or get in the way of users navigating and understanding the information on the page.

References may be needed in professional-facing content.

The following guidance is from the NHS Digital style guide.

references to documents

References to documents should be easy to understand by anyone, not just specialists. They should follow the style guide.

When writing a reference:

• do not use italics
• use single quotation marks around titles
• write out abbreviations in full: ‘page’ not ‘p’, ‘Nutrition Journal’ not ‘Nutr J’
• use plain English. For example, use ‘and others’ not ‘et al’
• do not use full stops after initials or at the end of the reference

If the reference is available online, make the title a link and include the date you accessed the online version.
For example: ‘Corallo AN and others. ‘A Systematic Review of Medical Practice Variation in OECD Countries’ Health Policy 2014: volume 114, pages 5-14 (viewed on 18 November 2014)’