Harvard Referencing

Be consistent and precise!

Mark Hetherington, December 2011

In these slides, you’ll learn:

Why we reference our work

How to use in-text references competently

How to compile lists of end references, for books, journal articles and web pages.

Remember, always…

• Whenever the author has given something distinctive to the information, cite the source!

• Anything that is common knowledge you need not cite: in other words, anything that is not distinctive of a particular author.

Why reference?

To avoid plagiarism

To acknowledge direct quotes

To provide evidence to support arguments

So that readers can check how much preparation has gone into your work and can find extra information

In-Text References These appear in the main body of the text to

indicate the source of your information

Use in-text references whenever you mention facts written by someone else, or when you include someone else’s ideas

Write the surname of the author and the date of publication, in brackets e.g. (Hetherington, 2010)

Use letters after the date to distinguish between books by the same author published in the same year (Hetherington, 2010a)

In-Text References Include a reference at the end of a sentence.

(Hetherington, 2010)

Hetherington (2010) says that references can be written in the middle of a sentence.

“For direct quotes, use speech marks and state the page number of the source in the reference.” (Hetherington, 2010, p.72)

Remember that what you put in the in-text reference must direct the reader to the correct reference in the end list.

End List References / Bibliography

The end list is a list of sources that you have either quoted directly or used arguments from, listed in alphabetical order by author (or editor) surname

Be consistent with formats – capitals & italics should be used in the same way throughout

You should also include a bibliography of items consulted but not cited in your work

End list references - books MEGGS, P.B. (ed.) (1998) A history of Graphic

Design, 3rd ed., Chichester: John WileyIn-text – (Meggs, 1998)

1st & 2nd author / editor surnames (include (ed.) if editors) in capitals

Publication year in brackets Title in italics Edition number (where relevant) Place of publication Publisher Also note the punctuation between each piece of

information about your sources.

Journal articles: GERA, T. (2002) “Keep your hair on”, New Scientist,

23 (12), 13 October, p. 28-35In-text – (Gera, 2002)

Article author in capitals

Publication year in brackets

Article title in speech marks

Journal title in italics

Volume & issue / part number, and publication date

Page numbers

Web Sites

Jazz review. Your complete resource for jazz music reviews. Online. Available from: http://www.jazzreview.com. [Accessed 18 October 2003]

In-text – (Jazz review, accessed 2003)

Title of web site in italics

Web site address underlined

The date you accessed the site in square brackets (this is important as web pages can change frequently)

Referencing Using the book details that you found on the library

catalogue, produce an in-text and an end-list reference.

In-text:

(Author surname, date of publication)

End-list:

AUTHOR. (ed.) (Publication year) Title, ed., Place of publication: Publisher.

The five point code

• 1. Distinctive ideas - whenever the ideas or opinions are distinctive to one particular source.

• 2. Information or data from a particular source - info from a source in the form of facts, statistics, tables and diagrams, you need to cite the source

The five point code (ct’d)

• 3. Verbatim phrase or passage - even a single word, if it is distinctive to your author’s argument. You must use quotation marks and cite the source.

• 4. If it’s not common knowledge - whenever you mention some aspect of another person’s work, unless the information or opinion is widely known, cite!

The five point code (ct’d)

• 5. Whenever in doubt, cite it! - it will do no harm, as long as you’re not citing just to impress the examiner in the mistaken belief that getting good grades depends upon trading facts, in this case references, for marks.

Essays for Communication 4

• There is no requirement in the SQA descriptor for citing sources in your essays

• I would prefer sources though!• Good practice• Essential at University• We like good habits and high standards to

continue• One essay – one from Evan’s class (of your

choosing)