Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide Section Whats the point? Styles of referencing: Harvard or Oxford?

How to do it: Harvard How to do it: Oxford Page 1 2 3 6

Whats the point?

A clearly-presented bibliography and adequate references for the points you make are not add-on frills for your essay or dissertation; they are an integral part of it. Indeed, a preliminary bibliography is about the first thing you should produce as you start work; references should be built up from the notes you take as you read. And when you quote from a work, or make a specific reference to any part of a work, you should enable the reader to identify the reference. For you, the author of the essay or dissertation, bibliography and references are a vital insurance against plagiarism; only with a proper bibliography and references can you be sure that you are acknowledging fully material taken from elsewhere. Moreover, they serve to underpin your argument. Imagine, for a moment, producing a report or a presentation in any workplace situation. Imagine that you are challenged over the robustness, or even the truth, of one or another of your arguments. If you have not produced references, you are unlikely to be able to answer the challenge. If you have done your references properly, your chances of doing so will be pretty good. Referencing, therefore, while an academic skill, is also a vital tool for the world beyond university. For the markers of your work, references are a way to see how you assembled the arguments in your essay, to observe the range of your reading, and to understand where, if something looks not quite right, the origin of your error might lie. In other words, the markers, as in maths, want you to show working.

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

Styles of referencing: Harvard or Oxford?

There are two main styles of referencing, which also affect they way you set out your bibliography. You should choose your style before you start work, and then use it consistently. If in doubt, ask your module convenor or dissertation supervisor before you choose. But above all, dont get the two mixed up. Harvard, or Author-date. In the first style, which we will call Harvard, references are given between brackets in the body of your text, and refer to entries in your bibliography. For example, the text may read:
Abstentionism may have increased, but there is little to suggest that persistent, purposeful abstention has risen significantly (Appleton, 2000: 219).

Here, Appleton, 2000 refers to an item by Appleton published in 2000, that appears in the bibliography, and 219 is a page number. The Harvard technique has the major advantage of simplicity; you shouldnt need any footnotes. Its main drawback is that it may present difficulties for literary references: for example, should Corneilles Le Cid be referenced as Corneille, 1636 because that was when he published it, or Corneille, 1959, because that is the date of publication of the particular edition that you are using? Harvard referencing, therefore, is usually used in the social sciences (where literary references occur rarely); it is sometimes used in works of history; it is rarely used in works on literature. Oxford, or footnote-based. In the second style, which we will call Oxford, references are given in footnotes, but you will also need a bibliography. This is a bit more laborious than the Harvard system, but it does have greater flexibility when you are dealing with literary texts, or with original documents.

If you are really keen to get this absolutely right, refer to the Style Guide of the Modern Humanities Research Association, which can be downloaded from http://www.mhra.org.uk/. Otherwise, the notes below should suffice for most of your needs.

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Harvard

Although it will appear at the end of your essay/dissertation, you should begin work on your bibliography from the start (though you will need to revise it many times). List all books or articles consulted, quoted or referred to in your essay/dissertation. You should list them in alphabetical order of authors surname and, within the works of one author, in chronological order (i.e. according to date of publication). Key to this system is the author and the date of publication, so they go first. That applies whether you are listing a single-authored book (the easiest type of entry) an edited book a journal article an edited book with more than one editor a chapter in an edited book a web page

1. For each single-authored book, your entry should have six components:
1 Author's surname 2 Author's initial 3 (Date of publication, in brackets) 4 Title of book in italics France since the Popular Front 5 City of publication 6 Publisher Oxford University Press).

Larkin,

M.

(1988).

(Oxford:

Larkin, M. (1988). France since the Popular Front (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 2. This also applies to edited works where there is only one editor, except that you need to add the abbreviation (ed.) after the editors initial, as follows: Evans, J. (ed.) (2003). The French Party System (Manchester: Manchester University Press). 3. For articles in journals, the format is, again, very similar.
1 Author' s surnam e 2 3 date of publication, in brackets 4 Title of article (within single quotation marks: no italics) The Jospin government and European social democracy, 5 Title of periodical (in italics) 6 volume and issue number : 7 page numbers of article

Author' s intial

Ladrec h

R.

(2002).

Modern and Contemporar y France,

10.3:

371-382.

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

Ladrech, R. (2002). The Jospin government and European democracy, Modern and Contemporary France, 10.3: 371-382.

social

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Harvard (contd.)

4. For edited books with more than one editor, the format is again similar, though a little more complex:
1 2 First author's initial, comma, plus 'and' 3 4 Second author's surname plus (eds.), 5 6 7 8

First author's surname

Second author' s initial

date of publication, in brackets

Title of book (in italics) Democrac y and Corruptio n in Europe

City of publicatio n

Publish er

Della Porta

D., and

Y.

Mny (eds.)

(1997).

(London:

Frances Pinter).

Della Porta, D., and Y. Mny (eds.) (1997). Democracy and Corruption in Europe, (London: Frances Pinter). 5. For chapters in edited books: Put the author and title of the chapter first. The title of the chapter should not be in italics, but should be within single quotation marks, and followed by the word in. Thus Clift, B. (2003). PS intra-party politics and party system change, in Then add the details of the edited book. J. Evans (ed.) The French Party System (Manchester: Manchester University Press): Finally, add the page numbers of the chapter: 42-55. Thus: Clift, B. (2003). PS intra-party politics and party system change, in J. Evans (ed.) The French Party System (Manchester: Manchester University Press): 42-55. 6. To list files available on the WWW, use the following format: Author (if known) date of document or last revision title of the work title of complete work (if applicable) any version or file numbers (if available) protocol (e.g. http) and full URL [date when you accessed the site] Burka, L.P. (1993). A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions. MUD History. URL: http:// www.utopia.com/talent/lpb/muddex/essay [2 Aug. 1996]. PC magazine. (2000). URL: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/mags.pcmag/thismonth_pcmag.html [7 January 2001].

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

Financial support for higher education students in 2001/2002 a guide (2001) URL: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/finance2001.cfm [18 January 2002].

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Harvard (contd.)

Once you have a bibliography, the referencing of works you have listed there is very easy. Within the body of your text, simply put, in brackets, (Author surname, date: page number). To refer to the Clift article above, for example:
It has been shown that the internal workings of French political parties have a significant influence on the functioning of the political system as a whole (Clift, 2003: 53).

Only two minor difficulties may present themselves. The first arises where there is no clearly identifiable author, as in the web pages mentioned above. In that case, you should give, within brackets: short title, date, page reference (if any). For example, you might say, using the web page entry referred to above:
Government grants for low-income students rose slightly after 2000 (Financial support, 2001: 23).

The second occurs where you have listed more than one work published by the same author in the same year. In that case, you should add, within the bibliography, the letters a, b, c, etc. after the date. Within your text, you should do the same: for example (Brown, 1986b: 22)

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Oxford

Although it will appear at the end of your essay/dissertation, you should begin work on your bibliography from the start (though you will need to revise it many times). List all books or articles consulted, quoted or referred to in your essay/dissertation. You should list them in alphabetical order of authors surname and, within the works of one author, in chronological order (i.e. according to date of publication). Because you are listing works in alphabetical order, the authors name should come first if the author is at all identiable. That applies whether you are listing a single-authored book (the easiest type of entry) an edited book a journal article an edited book with more than one editor a chapter in an edited book a web page

1. For each single-authored book, your entry should have six components:
1 Author's surname , and comma Said, 2 Author's initial, and comma, E., 3 Title of book in italics, Orientalism 4 (City of publication: (London: 5 6 Date of publication) . 1978).

Publisher, Routledge and Kegan Paul,

Said, E., Orientalism (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978). 2. For literary texts which have gone through several editions since the publication date, you should specify the edition you are using: Corneille, P., Le Cid, ed. by John C. Lapp (Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1986). 3. This also applies to edited works where there is only one editor, except that you need to add the abbreviation (ed.) after the editors initial, as follows: Eagleton, M. (ed.), Feminist Literary Theory: a Reader (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986).

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Oxford (contd.)

4. For articles in journals, the format is, again, very similar.
1 Author' s surnam e 2 3 Title of article (within single quotation marks: no italics) Modeste and Mignon: Balzac Rewrites Goethe, 4 Title of periodi cal (in italics) French Studies , 5 volume and issue number: 6 date of publicatio n, in brackets 7 page numbers of article

Author' s intial

Cave

T.

59.3

(2005),

pp. 311325.

Cave, T., Modeste and Mignon: Balzac Rewrites Goethe, French Studies, 59.3 (2005), pp. 311-325. 5. For edited books with more than one editor, the format is again similar, though a little more complex:
1 2 First author's initial, comma, plus 'and' 3 4 Second author's surname plus (eds.), 5 6 7 8

First author's surname

Second author' s initial

Title of book (in italics) Women's Writing in Western Europe

City of publicatio n

Giorgio,

A., and

J.

Waters (eds.)

(Newcastl e:

Publisher Cambridg e Scholars Publishin g,

date of publicatio n, in brackets

2007).

Giorgio, A., and J. Waters (eds.), Womens Writing in Western Europe, (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007). 6. For chapters in edited books: Put the author and title of the chapter first. The title of the chapter should not be in italics, but should be within single quotation marks, and followed by the word in. Thus Lazaro-Weis, C., Womens Histories, Womens Stories: The Italian Case, in Then add the details of the edited book. A. Giorgio and J. Waters (eds.), Womens Writing in Western Europe, (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), Finally, add the page numbers of the chapter: pp. 312-330. Thus: Lazaro-Weis, C., Womens Histories, Womens Stories: The Italian Case, in A. Giorgio and J. Waters (eds.), Womens Writing in Western Europe, (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), pp. 312-330.

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Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

How to do it: Oxford (contd.)

7. To list files available on the WWW, use the following format: Author (if known) title of the work title of complete work (if applicable) any version or file numbers date of document or last revision (if available) protocol (e.g. http) and full URL [date when you accessed the site] Burka, L.P., A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions. MUD History. URL: http:// www.utopia.com/talent/lpb/muddex/essay, (1993). [2 Aug. 1996]. PC magazine, February 2000, URL: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/mags.pcmag/thismonth_pcmag.html [7 January 2001]. Financial support for higher education students in 2001/2002 a guide (2001) URL: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/finance2001.cfm [18 January 2002].

Once you have a bibliography, the referencing of works you have listed there should be done by footnotes. Footnotes should be numbered continuously from beginning to end of your essay/dissertation. In practice, references by footnote are pretty straightforward. Follow these steps. 1. 2. 3. 4. Set up your footnote, using the Insert menu from the top of your screen in Word, then Reference, then Footnote. Copy the bibliography entry for the work you want to refer to, from your bibliography. Switch the order within the entry very slightly, in one respect only: the authors initial should come before his/her surname, not after. Add a specific page reference at the end, with a comma before it if in a single-authored book, but within brackets it if it is preceded by references to all the pages of an article or chapter. In literary works (such as poems) with line numbers, include the line numbers; in plays, include the Act and Scene nos.

5.

Here are two examples: E. Said, Orientalism (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 213. C. Lazaro-Weis, Womens Histories, Womens Stories: The Italian Case, in A. Giorgio and J. Waters (eds.), Womens Writing in Western Europe,

Bibliography and References: a Basic Guide

11

(Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), pp. 312-330 (p. 318).