The phrase "a simple reference to" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when you want to indicate that something is merely mentioning or alluding to another concept or idea without going into detail.
Example: "The article makes a simple reference to the historical context of the event, providing just enough background for the reader."
Alternatives: "a brief mention of" or "a straightforward allusion to".
There's a small icon at the bottom but it feels like nothing more than a simple reference to Window Phone 8's design language, previously known as Metro.
On one hand, the title of the show is a simple reference to two cities that share a close proximity and long, symbiotic history, but the meaning goes deeper.
As a clinician, educator, and researcher in the field of HIV-related lung disease, I found the book to be informative, easy to read, and a quick and simple reference to have on hand.
Like many who have drunk shallow drafts from the fountains of evolutionary biology and neuroscience, Wolf is so excited at the idea of explaining complex, overdetermined features of human behavior with simple reference to the prehistoric savannah or the hypothalamus that she often ignores the promptings of common sense and logic.
I will simply leave you with a few simple references to quotes he made in the rare interviews he granted over the years.
However, none of these severity score-based models showed superior performance to a simple reference model including only age and the GCS.
The legend of Orion was first told in full in a lost work by Hesiod, probably the Astronomia; simple references to Hesiod will refer to this, unless otherwise stated.
This iterative technique relies on Green functions of a simple reference medium and extensively uses Fast Fourier Transforms.
Before discussing the observation-based probability estimates, we set the scheme in context by looking first at implied recurrence rates for a simple "reference scenario".
In this test, a simple reference surface is defined, which consists of an inclined plane (ѱ = 40°, x < 215 cm), a horizontal run-out zone (x > 255 cm), and a transition zone joining the two regions.
