Setting out references

In these pages we show you how to set out references (citations) to all the books, reports and
journal articles, both electronic and paper versions, that you have read while doing research for
your essays, assignments and management reports.
We have chosen the Harvard system because it is the one most often used, even though it is not
totally suitable for British legal and Parliamentary documents.
You can jump to the sections listed below:

• Books
• Reports and conference proceedings
• Journal articles
• Official publications, such as Acts, Command Papers, EU Directives, etc
• Electronic documents
• Other media, such as videos, podcasts
• Quoting references in the body of the text
• Location and arrangement of references
• Sample bibliography

Books
The year of publication appears directly after the name of the author. The citation order for a
Harvard reference is:

• Author(s) or editor(s) or organization(s) responsible for writing or

compiling the book
• Year of publication
• Title and sub-title
• Edition, if not the first
• Place of publication
• Publisher

Book author

Cite the author(s) surname in the form in which it appears on the title page, using capital letters.
Use initials for the author’s first name(s).

Sometimes books will have one, two and three authors that need to be included. If there is more
than one author, cite them in the order in which they appear on the title page. If there are more
than three authors, include only the first three.

Examples
BEDEIAN, A.G. (1986) Management. Hinsale, IL: Dryden Press.

CAMERON, E. (2001) Facilitation made easy: practical tips to improve meetings and workshops.
2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.

CHILDS, M. and SUFF, P. (2005) CIPD reward management. London: Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development.

SENGE, P., ROBERTS, C. and ROSS, R.B. (1994) The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and
tools for building a learning organization. London: Nicholas Brealey.

Sometimes the author is an organisation. This is known as a 'corporate' author. Always cite
corporate author(s) in the form in which it appears on the title page. If the author is a corporate
body with a sub-body, the sub-body should be entered in lower case.

Example
DUNDEE UNIVERSITY. Department of History.

Books with editors or compilers

When a book has an editor(s) rather than an author, this will need to be shown.

Examples
HARPER, S. (ed). (1987) Personnel management handbook. Aldershot: Gower.

BACH, S. and SISSON, K. (eds). (2000) Personnel management: a comprehensive guide to

theory and practice. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Business.

KIRKPATRICK, D.L. (comp). (1975) Evaluating training programs: a collection of articles form the
Journal of the American Society for Training and Development. Madison, WI: American Society for
Training and Development.

Year of publication

This goes in brackets after the author(s) names. Make sure that you cite the publication date for
the edition that you are using.

Book title

Cite the title which appears on the title page – sometimes this is different from what appears on the
cover!

Give the full title, including any sub-title information which should appear after a colon.

Always use lower case for the title and the subtitle. Only use a capital letter for the first word of the
title and for any proper nouns. Use italics for the title.

Example
First line management: a practical approach.

Editions

Don’t forget to include an edition statement eg 2nd ed. or Rev.ed. if appropriate.

Example
HERON, J. (1999) The complete facilitator’s handbook. Rev. ed. London: Kogan Page.

Place of publication

Always record the place of publication as it appears on the item.

Where a publisher has more than one office, this is usually the first named place.

If you can’t find the place of publication on the document but you know where the publisher/body is
based, it is usual to put the place in square brackets.

Example
RACK, P. (1979) Quaker faith and practice. [London]: Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of
Friends.
Publisher

Always put the publisher in the form it used on the title page or back of the title page.

If the author and the publisher are the same and the publisher is a corporate body also known by
its acronym, for instance, CIPD, you can use the acronym for the publisher as long as you put the
corporate author’s name in full.

Examples
CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) Fresh thinking on
CPD. London:CIPD.

CALEY, L., REYNOLDS, J. and MASON, R. (2002) How do people learn? London: Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development.

CORFIELD, T. (1998) An evaluation of the introduction and application of personal development

plans at Commercial Union. [Unpublished MSc dissertation]. Sheffield: Sheffield Business School.

DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS. (2006) Security in retirement: towards a new
pensions system. [London]: DWP.

Books with more than one publisher

MOYNAGH, M. and WORSLEY, R. (2005) Working in the twenty-first century. Leeds: Economic &
Social Research Council and King’s Lynn: The Tomorrow Project.

Chapters or comments in books

Sometimes you might want to cite chapters or comments which appear in other items. The correct
format should be…… In:…..

Example - for a chapter

DOYLE, M. (2001) Management development. In: BEARDWELL, I. and HOLDEN, L. (eds).
Human resource management: a contemporary approach. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.
pp369-431.

And for a comment

DOYLE, M. (2001) In: BEARDWELL, I. and HOLDEN, L. (eds). Human resource management : a
contemporary approach. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. p2.

Reports and conference proceedings

Citing reports in Harvard is very much like citing books except you must include any series
information and series numbers where they exist.

Examples
BATES, P. and HUWS, U. (2002 ) Modelling e-work in Europe: estimates, models and forecasts
from the emergence project. IES Report, No 388. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.

MEGGINSON, D. (2001) Research as personal unfolding. Seminar series paper, No 4. Salford:

Salford University. Revans Institute for Action Learning.

Papers which have featured at conferences can be difficult to trace especially if the only record
you have is an online one. The example below has an identifiable author, title, series statement,
place of publication and publisher but this might not always be the case. Just find as much
information as you can.

VAN JAARSVELD, D. and BATT, R. (2002) Changes in employment and working conditions
among technical and professional workers. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the
Industrial Relations Research Association. Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research
Association.

Journal articles
The citation order for referencing a journal article using the Harvard system is:

• Author(s)
• Year of publication
• Title and sub-title
• Title of journal
• Volume/issue number and day/month, as appropriate to the journal
• Pages numbers for the article.

Article author

Always cite the author(s) in the form in which it appears in the article, using capital letters. Use
initials for the author’s first name(s).

Where there is more than one author, cite them in the order in which they appear. Where there are
more than three authors, include only the first three.

Articles with no obvious personal authors are quite common, in which case start with the article
title and put the date after that.

Example
In safe hands: coping with aggression in the NHS. (2001) IRS Employment Review. No 738, 15
October. pp40-42.

Article title

As with Books, always give the full title, including any sub-title information which should appear
after a colon.

Journal title

Always use italics for the title of the journal.

Volume/issue number, day/month, page numbers

Always give the full reference nneded to trace the issue of the journal. This could be volume, part,
issue numbers and/or day and month. And don't forget the page numbers!

Examples
BLACK, J. S. and GREGERSEN, H. B. (2000) High impact training: forging leaders for the global
frontier. Human Resource Management. Vol 39, Nos 2 & 3, Summer/Fall. pp173-184.

BURGOYNE, J. (2001) Tester of faith. People Management. Vol 7, No 4, 22 February. pp33-34.

GRAY, S. (1997) The great training challenge. The Times. 24 April. p12.

McCALL, A. (ed). (2003) 100 best companies to work for 2003. The Sunday Times Supplement. 2
March.

Citations for entire journals

If you need to cite a journal without specifying a particular article, you must include the
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). Do bear in mind that a printed journal will have a
different ISSN from the online version of the same journal.

Examples
Employee benefits. ISSN 1366-8722 (print format)

Competency and Emotional Intelligence Quarterly. ISSN 1469-333X (print format).

Competency and Emotional Intelligence Quarterly. ISSN 1469-3321 (electronic format).

Official publications
These include government and legal publications such as Acts of Parliament, Statutory
Instruments, Command Papers, Hansard, EU publications.

Examples of Acts of Parliament

Data Protection Act 1998. (1998) London: Stationery Office.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995. (1995) London: HMSO.

Examples of Statutory instruments

Equal Pay (Amendment) Regulations 2003. (2003) Draft SI. London: Stationery Office.

Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1976. (1976) SI 1976/2007. London: HMSO.

The Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. (2002)
SI 2002/ 034. London: Stationery Office.

Command papers

Command papers may be Green Papers, White Papers and other Government publications. They
are always referenced with an abbreviation of Command plus the serial number. The abbreviation
of Command has existed in various forms depending on when the reports were issued:

Command papers from 1900-1918 are cited Cd

Command papers from 1919-1956 are cited Cmd
Command papers from 1956-1986 are cited Cmnd
Command papers from 1987 onwards are cited Cm

Examples
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY. (1998) Fairness at work. Cm 3968. London:
Stationery Office.

HOME DEPARTMENT. (1999) The Stephen Lawrence inquiry: report of an inquiry by Sir William
Macpherson of Cluny. Cm 4262-1. London: Stationery Office.

OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. (1999) A better quality of life: a sustainable

development for the United Kingdom. Cm 4345. Norwich: Stationery Office.

Hansard

There are various ways of citing Hansard but the preferred way is first the relevant House (Lords
or Commons), then the volume, then column reference. The date goes at the end.

Examples
HL Hansard, Vol 370, cols 234-57, December 3, 2002.

HC Hansard, Vol 254, cols 1415-53, November 21, 2002.

EU directives
These can be hard to find, but the rules are the same.

Examples
Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the member states
relating to the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings,
businesses or parts of businesses. Official Journal of the European Communities. (LO61). 5 March
1977. pp26-28.

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Electronic documents
There is now so much information on the Internet you will almost certainly need to reference
documents that appear on websites.

Unlike print formats, there is no accepted standard for web publishing so it can be difficult tracking
down the main elements of a proper bibliographic reference.

The onus will be on you to find the information that you need to cite the document correctly.

You will need to include:

• Author. If you are unable to trace the author, use the title as the main
reference point.
• Publication date. Put [no date] in square brackets, when the publication
date is not available.
• Title of the document or webpage.
• URL of the webpage where the document appears. If the URL is very
long, include enough to identify the website, perhaps stopping after .uk or .com
• The date that you accessed the document. It is helpful to include this as
material on websites is often removed.

Some documents are published in ‘hard’ copy (that is, in a printed format) and on the web. Other
documents are only published electronically on the web. In the references below we have
distinguished between them.

Documents available in print and also published on websites

Examples
ADVISORY CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION SERVICE. (2000) Code of practice on
disciplinary and grievance procedures. London: ACAS.
Online version also available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/publications/pub-cop.html [Accessed 15
May 2002].

EUROPEAN COMMISSION. (2001) Promoting a European framework for corporate social

responsibility. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Online version also available at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/ oc-
dial/csr/greenpaper_en.pdf [Accessed 1 June 2002].

Documents that are only available on websites

These use the word online within square brackets at the end of the title to explain that they are
only available electronically.
Examples
CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2000) Core management
exam paper: managing in a business context: November 2000: section B [London]: CIPD.
Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/Membership/IMemQual/IndMem/EduStudy/
AssExamInfo/Examquestions/Page50.asp
[Accessed 13 August 2002].

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) Assessment centres

for recruitment and selection [online]. Factsheet. London: CIPD.
Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/assmntcent/asscentre.htm [Accessed 7
November 2006]

JOLLY, R. [No date] Roam alone: the new boundaries of e-mobility [online].
Available at: http://www.stokesjolly.com/RoamAlone.doc
[Accessed 10 July 2003]

Other media - videos, podcasts, etc

Increasingly, you will need to cite less traditional media. You should include the type of media in
square brackets after the title.

Examples
CANFIELD, J. (1991) Self-esteem and peak performance [audio cassette]. Milton Keynes:
Careertrack tapes.

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) Leadership: episode 2

[podcast]. London: CIPD.
Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts [Accessed 8 May 2007]

KANTER, R. M. (1988) Managing change: Dr Kanter plays Atlanta [video]. London: BBC
Enterprises.

Quoting references in the text

In the Harvard system, references in the text are given by the first author's surname and the date
of the publication. If the author's name is part of your text, the date is given in round brackets. If
the author''s name is not part of your text, the name as well as the date is put in the round
brackets.

If there are two authors, include both of them. If there are more than two authors, include the
others by putting 'et al' after the second one.

If you need to reference individual pages, quote or paraphrase the content of a document, the
page numbers(s) should be included after the date and separated by a comma.

Examples
Taylor (2002) argues that...

In a recent report (Taylor 2002) it was suggested that...

Tayor and Brown (2006) argue that...

In a recent report (Taylor and Brown 2006) suggest that...

In a recent report (Taylor et al 2002) it was suggested that....

In a recent report (Taylor 2002, p236)

In a recent report (Taylor 2002, p236-238)

Sometimes you need to cite more than one work published in the same year by the same author.

Example
In a recent report (Taylor 2002a)...

In a recent report (Taylor 2002b).... etc.

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Location and arrangement of references

A full list of all the references you use should always appear at the end of the text. References
should be listed in alphabetical order of the author’s name, then by year and, if necessary, then by
letter.

Where an reference lacks an author and start with the title, it should be interfiled with the authors
as shown below.

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Sample bibliography

BEDEIAN, A.G. (1986) Management. Hinsale, IL: Dryden Press.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995. (1995) London: HMSO.

DOYLE, M. (2001) Management development. In: BEARDWELL, I. and HOLDEN, L. (eds).

Human resource management: a contemporary approach. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.
pp369-431.

Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1976. (1976) SI 1976/2007. London: HMSO.

HARPER, S. (ed). (1987) Personnel management handbook. Aldershot: Gower.

In safe hands: coping with aggression in the NHS. (2001) IRS Employment Review. No 738, 15
October. pp40-42.

McCALL, A. (ed). (2003) 100 best companies to work for 2003. The Sunday Times Supplement. 2
March.

MCDERMOTT, L. C. (2001) Developing the new young managers. Training and Development
(USA). Vol 55, No 10, October. pp42-48.

OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. (1999) A better quality of life: a sustainable

development for the United Kingdom. Cm 4345. Norwich: Stationery Office.

SENGE, P. (1990) The leader’s new work: building learning organizations. Sloan Management
Review. Vol 32, No 1. pp7-23.

SENGE, P. (1992) The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. London:
Century Business.

SENGE, P., ROBERTS, C. and ROSS, R.B. (1994) The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and
tools for building a learning organization. London: Nicholas Brealey.

PRICE, D. (2000) Office of hope: a history of the public service in Great Britain. PSI Report, No
828. London: Policy Studies Institute.
TAYLOR, J. (2002a) Human resource management. London: Institute of Personnel and
Development.

TAYLOR, J. (2002b) International human resource management. London: Institute of Personnel

and Development.

WAKEFIELD METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COUNCIL. (No date) Term-time working [online].

Wakefield: Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.
Available at: http://wakefield.gov.uk [Accessed 10 July 2003]

from CIPD website