Citing Refs
Citing Refs
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library
When writing a piece of work, you need to refer in your text to material written or produced by others. This
procedure is called citing or quoting references. Consistency and accuracy are important to enable readers to
identify and locate the material to which you have referred. The same set of rules should be followed every time
you cite a reference.
The principles used in the Harvard System, also known as the ‘Author Date’ method, are widely applied and
interpretations exist which differ from the Bournemouth University guide. However, our guidance here is based
on both the British Standard for the citation and referencing of published material in the Harvard Style and
interpretations of that system used in academic and research institutions.
In common with most authorities, and as detailed below, we recommend that references to person-to-person
communications such as letters and emails are given only within the running text and are not detailed in the
reference list. Advice on citation of such documents can be found in BS 6371:1983, Recommendations for citation
of unpublished documents.
For Law, we use a different approach based on the Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
Our guide Citing References:Law is available through the myBU Library tab or you may also access resources via
the Library webpages.
You are also recommended to consult our Using Information Community on myBU - where you will find worked
examples of references using, as appropriate, either the Harvard System or the OSCOLA system for citing legal
materials. When you submit work for external publication please follow the guidelines for authors issued to you
by your publisher. These may differ from the guidelines set out here.
The Harvard System (Author Date Method) dominant role, e.g. videos or films, the title may be
used instead of an originator or author.
All statements, opinions, conclusions etc. taken from
another writer’s work should be cited, whether the Where neither of these options are apparent and
work is directly quoted, paraphrased or there is clearly no identifiable person/body
summarised. responsible, use ‘Anon.’.
In the Harvard System cited publications are referred Dates: if an exact year or date is not known, an
to in the text by giving the author’s surname and the approximate date preceded by ‘ca.’ may be supplied
year of publication (see section 1, Citation in the and given in square brackets. If no such
text) and are listed in a bibliography at the end of approximation is possible, that should be stated, e.g.
the text (see section 2, References at the end of a [ca.1750] or [no date]. Note that for web pages, it
piece of work). may be preferable to cite the year in which the page
was accessed, e g [ca 2009], than use [no date].
Originators/authors: name(s) of the person or
organisation shown most prominently in the source Citation in the text
as responsible for the content in its published form
should be given. This includes Editors who have Quotations: as a general rule, if the quote is less
been responsible for the editorial aspects of than a line it may be included in the body of the text
publication but may not have written an individual in quotation marks. Longer quotations are indented
contribution. For web sites, this may be the and single-spaced; quotation marks are not required.
publisher of the web site in the absence of any
identifiable individual. Pagination: for citation of quotations from particular
For certain kinds of work, e.g. dictionaries or parts of the document the relevant page number(s)
encyclopaedias, or if an item is the co-operative etc. should be given after the year within the
work of many individuals, none of whom have a parentheses. This also applies to online documents
except where pagination is absent. In such cases, e.g. Matthews and Jones (1997) have
the extent of the item may be indicated in terms proposed that…
such as the total number of lines, screens, etc., e.g. vi) If there are more than two authors the surname
"[35 lines]" or "[approx. 12 screens]". of the first author only should be given, followed by
et al.:-
Summaries or paraphrases – give the citation where
e.g. Office costs amount to 20% of total costs
it occurs naturally or at the end of the relevant piece
in most business (Wilson et al. 1997)
of writing. Page numbers are not required.
(A full listing of names should appear in list of
references.)
Diagrams, illustrations – should be referenced as
though they were a quotation if they have been
vi) If the work is anonymous then “Anon.” should
taken from a published work. So page numbers are
be used:-
after the year within the parentheses.
e.g. In one history (Anon. 1908) it was stated
Examples that…
i) If the author’s name occurs naturally in the vii) If it is a reference to a newspaper article with
sentence, the year is given in parentheses:- no author the name of the paper can be used in
place of “Anon.”:-
e.g. In a popular study Harvey (1992) argued
that we have to teach good practices… e.g. More people than ever seem to be using
retail home delivery (The Times 1996)
e.g. As Harvey (1992, p.21) said, “good (You should use the same style in list of references.)
practices must be taught” and so we…
viii) If you refer to a source directly quoted in
ii) If the name does not occur naturally in the another source you cite both in the text:-
sentence, both name and year are given in
parentheses:- e.g. A study by Smith (1960 cited Jones 1994)
showed that…
e.g. A more recent study (Stevens 1998) has (You should list only the work you have read, i.e.
shown the way theory and practical work Jones, in list of references.)
interact.
e.g. Theory rises out of practice, and once ix) If you refer to a contributor in a source you cite
validated, returns to direct or explain the just the contributor:-
practice (Stevens 1998). e.g. Software development has been given as
the cornerstone in this industry (Bantz
iii) When an author has published more than one 1995).
cited document in the same year, these are See Section References at the end of a piece of
distinguished by adding lower case letters (a,b,c, work below for an explanation of how to list
etc.) after the year and within the parentheses:- contributions (chapters in books, articles in journals,
e.g. Johnson (1994a) discussed the subject… papers in conference proceedings) in list of
references.
NB The addition of letters is determined by the
order of appearance within the main text, not by the x) If you refer to a person who has not produced a
alphabetical sequence of the items themselves. work, or contributed to one, but who is quoted in
Thus, a citation “Johnson (1994a)” will always someone else’s work it is suggested that you should
precede “Johnson (1994b) mention the person’s name and you must cite the
source author:-
iv) When more than one source is cited, the e.g. Richard Hammond stressed the part
sequence of citations may be either chronological, psychology plays in advertising in an
e.g. (Smith 1999; Jones 2001; Turner 2006) or in interview with Marshall (1999).
order of academic relevance.
e.g. “Advertising will always play on peoples’
v) If there are two authors the surnames of both desires”, Richard Hammond said in a
should be given:- recent article (Marshall 1999, p.67).
(You should list the work that has been published,
i.e. Marshall, in list of references.)
Page
Page 26
BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style
Person-to-person communications (letters, emails, name of the university, do not include the place of
interviews, etc): publication.
x Taken from: APA, 2009. Publication Manual of Where authorship is attributed to an organisation
the American Psychological Association. 6th or corporation instead of an individual author, e.g.
ed. Washington: APA. BBC, ascribe authorship to the smallest identifiable
organisational unit. Give the author as it is written
They do not provide recoverable data and so are not e.g. BBC, Training and Development or UNESCO.
included in the reference list. Cite personal
communications in the text only. Give initials as well Each reference should use the elements and
as the surname of the communicator and provide as punctuation given in the following examples for the
exact a date as possible. When citing research data different types of published work you may have
which you have collected, it is advisable to also cited. Underlining is an acceptable alternative to
include copies or summaries of source data in italics when bibliographies are hand written.
Appendices.
Reference to a book
e.g. Many designers do not understand the
Author’s Surname, INITIALS., Year of publication.
needs of disabled people according to J.
Title. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication:
O. Reiss (personal communication, April
Publisher.
18, 1997).
e.g. Mercer, P.A. and Smith, G., 1993. Private
References at the end of a piece of work viewdata in the UK. 2nd ed. London:
Longman.
At the end of a piece of work list references to Reference to a contribution in an edited book
documents cited in the text. This list may be called a Contributing author’s Surname, INITIALS., Year of
Bibliography or References. Exceptionally you may publication. Title of contribution. Followed by In:
be asked to list references not cited in the text but Surname, INITIALS., of author or editor of
which make an important contribution to your work. publication followed by ed. or eds. if relevant. Title
These are usually listed under the heading of of book. Place of publication: Publisher, Page
Further Reading. You are advised to review the number(s) of contribution.
guidelines issued to you for the preparation of work
to clarify this point. e.g. Bantz, C.R., 1995. Social dimensions of
software development. In: Anderson,
In the Harvard System, the references are listed in J.A., ed. Annual review of software
alphabetical order of authors’ names. If you have management and development. Newbury
cited more than one item by a specific author they Park, CA: Sage, 502-510.
should be listed chronologically (earliest first), and
by letter (1993a, 1993b) if more than one item has Reference to an article in a journal
been published during a specific year. Author’s Surname, INITIALS., Year of publication.
Title of article. Title of journal, Volume number and
Whenever possible, elements of a bibliographical (part number), Page numbers of article.
reference should be taken from the title page of the e.g. Evans, W.A., 1994. Approaches to
publication. intelligent information retrieval.
Information processing and management,
For place of publication give the city. If more than 7 (2), 147-168.
one town/city is listed give the first one or the
location of the publisher’s head office. If the Reference to a newspaper article
town/city is not well known, you may in addition Author’s Surname, INITIALS., (or Newspaper Title,)
add a county, region or state. Note that in the United Year of publication. Title of article. Title of
States of America states are denoted by a two letter newspaper, Day and month, Page number/s and
code, for example Hillsdale, NJ. column number.
For the publisher’s name omit superfluous terms e.g. Independent, 1992. Picking up the bills.
such as Publishers, Co, or Inc. Always retain the Independent, 4 June, 28a.
words Books or Press. Where the publisher is a
university and the place or location is included in the
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7
BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style
Page
Page 46
BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style
It should be noted that items may only be kept on Citing unpublished material
discussion group servers for a short time and hence See BS 6371:1983. Citation of unpublished
may not be suitable for referencing. A local copy documents. B.S.I. (available online via British
could be kept by the author who is giving the Standards Online).
citation, with a note to this effect.
Plagiarism
Reference to moving images accessed online
Use originator/author if ascertainable otherwise use Remember that you must acknowledge your source
title. every time you refer to someone else's work. Failure
to do so amounts to plagiarism, which is against the
Originator. Year. Title. Place of publication or University rules and is a serious offence. Further
production (if ascertainable): Publisher or Producer information about plagiarism can be found on the
(if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed plagiarism web pages at
Date]. www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/p
e.g. Walkers Crisps. 2009. Builders wheel a lagiarism.html or via the Using Information
wheelbarrow full of crisps while Community on myBU.
announcing the flavour. Available from:
www.creativeclub.co.uk [Accessed 19 Copyright
June 2009]
You do not have to seek permission to include third
Heroes of Gallipoli. 1915. London: Imperial party copyright material in your academic work, as
War Museum Film and Video Archive. long as it is fully referenced.
Available from: www.filmandsound.ac.uk
[Accessed 19 June 2009] Further information about copyright can be found on
MoCap Studio Bournemouth University Pt notices next to photocopiers, on the copyright
1. 2008. Bournemouth. Available from: compliance web pages at
www.youtube.com [Accessed 19 June www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/c
2009] opyright.html or via the Using Information
Community on myBU.
Page 6
BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style
Endnote
A version of the Bournemouth University Harvard
Style is available for both EndNote and EndNote
Web users. Further information about Endnote can
be found on the Citing References web pages at
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/c
iting_refs_main.html or via the Using Information
Community on myBU.
Page 7
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Notes