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Harvard Referencing System

This document provides guidelines for using the Harvard referencing style in biology assignments at Macquarie University. It explains that referencing is required to avoid plagiarism and allow readers to find sources. In-text citations include the author's surname and date, and a reference list at the end provides full details of all citations in alphabetical order. Examples are provided of citing different source types like books, journal articles, and websites in both the text and the reference list.

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257 views

Harvard Referencing System

This document provides guidelines for using the Harvard referencing style in biology assignments at Macquarie University. It explains that referencing is required to avoid plagiarism and allow readers to find sources. In-text citations include the author's surname and date, and a reference list at the end provides full details of all citations in alphabetical order. Examples are provided of citing different source types like books, journal articles, and websites in both the text and the reference list.

Uploaded by

thegluestick1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Macquarie University

Harvard Referencing Style for Biology Assignments


at Macquarie University
What is Referencing?
Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas
that you have used in your assignment in a way that uniquely identifies their source. Direct
quotations, facts and figures, as well as ideas and theories, from both published and
unpublished works MUST be referenced.
There are many acceptable forms of referencing. This information sheet provides a brief
guide to the Harvard referencing style. This is the preferred style of referencing in scientific
publications. Use of footnotes and numbered text citations (Oxford referencing style) should
be avoided when writing assignments in any of the biology units at Macquarie University.
Within the text of the assignment the authors surname is given first, followed by the
publication date. A reference list at the end of the assignment must contain the full details of
all the in-text citations listed in strict alphabetical order (see details below).

Why Reference?
Referencing is necessary to avoid plagiarism, to verify quotations, and to enable readers
(especially the marker) to follow-up and read or check more fully the cited authors
arguments.

Steps Involved in Referencing


1. Note down the full bibliographic details including the page number(s) from which the
information is taken.
In the case of a book, bibliographical details refers to: author(s)/editor(s), year of
publication, title, edition, volume number, place of publication and publisher as found on
the front and back of the title page. (Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable).
In the case of a journal article the details required include: author(s) of the article, year of
publication, title of the article, title of the journal, volume and issue number of the journal,
and page numbers.
For all electronic information, in addition to the above, you should note the date that you
accessed the information, and database name or web address (URL).
2. Insert the citation (author year) at the appropriate place within the text of the document
(see examples below).
3. Provide a reference list that includes all bibliographic details for each citation (see step 1
above) at the end of the document (see examples below).

In-Text Citations
When citing references within the text of an assignment, use only the surname of the author,
followed by the year of publication. There is no need to include the initials of the author(s) as
well.
The theory was first propounded in 1993 (Hamilton 1994).
OR
The theory was first propounded by Hamilton (1994).
When referring to two or more texts by different authors, separate them with a semicolon (;):
(Malinowski 1999; Larsen 2000)
Including page numbers with in-text citations is COMPULSORY for direct quotes:
Larsen (1971, pp. 245-6) noted that many of the facts in this case are incorrect.
OR
Many of the facts in this case are incorrect (Larsen 1971, pp. 245-6).
Two authors
For citations with two authors, the in-text citation must cite both authors (again there is no
need to include each authors initials), followed by the date of publication:
Valentine & Brock (2003) described a new siphonotretid brachiopod
OR
The new siphonotretid brachiopod is also evident in Australia (Valentine & Brock 2003).
Multiple authors
If there are more than three authors, the in-text citation shows the surname of the first author
only, followed by et al. (meaning and others). For example, a work by Malinowski, Larsen,
Ngu and Fairweather is cited as follows:
(Malinowski et al. 1999)
OR
Malinowski et al. (1999) have found
Remember, that all authors MUST be listed in full (surnames and initials) in the reference list
at the end of the document.
More than one work by the same author
If published in different years:
(Valentine 1996; 1997)
OR
Valentine (1996; 1997) reported on

If the same author has published two or more works in the same year, then they are
distinguished by attaching a lower-case letter of the alphabet to the publication date. The
order is determined by the alphabetical order of the titles, ignoring words such as the,
an and a. For example:
Dewhirst (1986a) discusses
Dewhirst (1986b) outlines a similar phenomenon
Secondary sources
Secondary sources refer to the work of one author being cited in another authors work. It is
always a good idea to avoid using secondary sources, but in some cases this is unavoidable.
If using a secondary source, provide both authors names in the citation. For example:
Ngu (cited in Larson 1991) reported
OR
(Ngu, cited in Larson 1991)
In this case, only Larson is included in the references list. The bibliographic details for Ngu
do not need to be included in the text or in the reference list.
Video recordings
In the in-text reference include the title (in italics) and date of production:
Coral Reef Dreaming (1992)

How to Create a Reference List


A reference list only includes books, articles, etc that are cited in the text. A list which
consists of relevant sources that are not cited in the text is called a bibliography, and is
usually only found in secondary sources (e.g. National Geographic etc)
The reference list is arranged alphabetically by author. Where an item has no author it is
cited by its title, and ordered in the reference list alphabetically by the first significant word of
the title.
The Harvard referencing style requires the second and subsequent lines of the reference to
be indented, as shown in the examples below, to highlight the alphabetical order.
Books
Bibliographic details are arranged in this sequence:
Author(s)/editor(s). Year of publication. Title of book (first word only capitalised). Edition of
book. Publisher, Place of publication.
Book with a single author
Comfort, A. 1997. A good age. Mitchell Beazley, London.
Book with 2 or 3 authors
Madden, R.T. & Hogan, T.A. 1997. The definition of disability in Australia: moving
towards national consistency. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,
Canberra.
3

Book with more than 3 authors


Include all of the authors in the reference list in the order they appear on the title page.
Leeder, S.R., Dobson, A.J., Gibberd, R.W. & Patel, N.K. 1996. The Australian film
industry. Dominion Press, Adelaide.
Book with an editor
Kastenbaum, R. (ed). 1993. Encyclopedia of dinosaurs and other extinct vertebrates.
Oryx Press, Phoenix.
Article or Chapter in a Book
Bibliographic details are arranged in this sequence:
Author(s) of article/chapter. Year of publication. Chapter or article title. Editor(s) of book,
Title of book (first word only capitalised). Publisher, Place of publication, chapter page
numbers.
Article or chapter in a book
Blaxter, M. 1976. Social class and health inequalities. In Carter, C. & Peel, J. (eds),
Equalities and inequalities in health. Academic Press, London, pp. 120-135.
Journal Articles
Bibliographic details are arranged in the sequence:
Author(s) of journal article. Year of publication. Article title. Title of journal, Volume(Issue
number if known): Article pages.
For journal titles, capitalise every significant word.
Print journal article
Wharton, N.A., Smith, D.F. & Jones, K.A. 1996. Health and safety in outdoor activity
centres. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership, 12(4): 8-9.
Full text from the Internet (not from a scholarly electronic database)*
Sopensky, E. 2002. Ice rink becomes hot business. Austin Business Journal, October
11,
2002.
Retrieved:
October
16,
2002,
from
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2002/ 10/14/smallb1.html.
Some general tips to remember..
1. No spaces between author's initials [eg. R.L. not R. L.]
2. No space between vol and issue number of journal [eg. 7(8) not 7 (8)]
3. Book title/name has only the first word capitalised, unless proper noun or species
name [eg. Animal behavior not Animal Behavior]
4. Journal name has all significant words capitalised [eg. Journal of Zoology not Journal
of zoology]
5. Journal article title has only the first word capitalised, unless proper noun or species
name [eg. Mating strategies of a spider not Mating Strategies of a Spider]
6. Place of publication is the city of publication only [eg. Oxford University Press, Oxford
not Oxford University Press, UK]
*the use of websites as references is very much frowned upon in Science

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