Harvard referencing guide

What is referencing?
When youre writing your assignments, youll inevitably use books, journals, websites and so on to find information. Referencing means that you are showing the person marking your assignment where the information youve used in it has come from. There are numerous styles of referencing, and you will probably come across many different formats during your studies. The Harvard style of referencing is just one way of providing the relevant details, and is the preferred style of most courses within the University of Salford. Check which referencing style you need to use with your tutors. You need to say where all of the information in your assignment has come from, so that you are giving the author credit for their work and are not committing plagiarism. This includes any quotes, any paraphrased work, any ideas or any graphs/charts/photographs which came from another persons work. (See the plagiarism pack on our website for further details).

Where do I start? Youll need to gather all of the relevant information for every source youre using. Do this carefully, and keep the details safe to avoid last-minute panics. Look for the following kinds of information: Author. Who wrote the book/journal/source youre using? If the author only wrote one chapter in a book, who is the editor of the book? Make a note of both. Date published. Look for the year the source was published (this is not necessarily the same year it was printed). Title. What is the title of the book, journal, journal article or report? Publication details. Which company published the book and where was it published? (Look for the town/city of publication, rather than the country or county.) Website address. Make a note of the date you used the website too. Page numbers and edition numbers. Which pages does the journal article appear on? Is the book a 2nd or 3rd edition?

For books, look at the front and back covers, and in the first few pages of the book. For journals, the relevant information is usually found on the first page of the article. The details should be there somewhere. However, occasionally you might not be able to find all of the information, and this guide will show you how to overcome this later.

Where do I need to reference? You will need to reference in two places within the text of your assignment, and in a reference list at the end of your assignment. Firstly, well look at referencing within the text of your assignment. Note: none of the examples used in this guide are real sources!

Referencing within the text

Every time you use another authors work in your essay or report, you must explain to the person reading your assignment where that information has come from. It doesnt matter whether you have used someones book, a journal article, a website or watched a film if you are mentioning someone elses work in your essay, you must also mention whose work it is and when it was published. There are several ways in which you might incorporate another authors work into your essay, and these are discussed below. Quotations A direct quotation is where you copy the exact words another author has used, and use them in your essay. For example, you might wish to use a phrase from a book by Smith. The phrase will need to appear in your essay in speech marks, and youll need to tell the reader the surname of the person who originally wrote the words, the year it was published and the page the phrase appears on in the original book. So, it might look something like this: Smith (2007: 34) argues that archaeology is all in the interpretation. In the above example, the book was written by Smith, published in 2007, and the phrase archaeology is all in the interpretation appears on page 34 of the book. Thats all you need to write within the text with regards to your referencing the reader will then be able to find exactly which book by Smith youve used by looking in your reference list, at the end of your essay (more on this later). You may also wish to use the quotation in a slightly different way, such as: However, it is important to remember that archaeology is all in the interpretation (Smith, 2007: 34). In this case, the name of the author doesnt flow within the sentence, so it appears in brackets at the end of the quote.

A few points to be aware of: Dont quote large chunks of text from other sources. You should only be using quotations sparingly, to back up points youre making in your essay or assignment. However, if you are studying a subject such as English Literature, you may sometimes need to quote a larger chunk of text or a poem. In that case, refer to your subjects guidelines to find out how they would like you to present large quotations. If you need to provide a definition in your essay, perhaps of a scientific term or a theory, it is often useful to quote the exact wording from another author or the dictionary. Again, dont use long quotes unless you really need to a few words or a short phrase is usually sufficient. Make sure to tie your quotes together so that your essay makes sense. Dont just string several quoted sentences together with no explanation or expansion of the points raised.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is when you use another authors work in your essay, but rather than quoting the exact words theyve used, you change the wording. Even though you have put the idea into your own words, it still belongs to the original author and so you must still provide a reference to your source. Using the example above, there are several ways in which you might convey Smiths meaning by paraphrasing, such as: Smith (2007: 34) argues that the key to archaeology is the way in which the findings are interpreted. The way in which archaeological findings are interpreted is of the utmost importance (Smith, 2007: 34). Note: Some tutors do not ask you to provide page numbers for paraphrased information, so its best to check with your School if in doubt, put the page numbers in. Note: If you have paraphrased several sentences from the same source, you dont need to put a reference in every sentence just make sure its clear which information came from which source.

Additional information Im paraphrasing some work by Khan which appears on pages 12 and 13. Do I put both page numbers in my essay? Yes, you could write it like this: Khan (2009: 12-13). However, you could also use this shortened version, which looks slightly neater: Khan (2009: 12f). The italicised letter f means and the following page. If you were referring to the argument which appears on pages 12 to 20, you

could use: Khan (2009: 12ff). In this case the ff (again italicised) means and the following pages. Three authors have said the same thing in different books, and I want to mention them all. How can I do this? Mentioning several authors who agree or disagree shows that you have looked for a wide range of evidence and have noted similarities and differences. This is good academic practice. The examples below show how you could do this: Andrews (2006), Jones (2007) and Mistry (2007) all agree that The experiment has been repeated several times, with the same results (Allan, 2001; Berry and Wood, 2005; McKenna, 2007). [In the example above, Berry and Wood are co-authors of the same article, NOT two separate authors who both wrote articles in 2005.]

Smith wrote two journal articles in 2005 and I want to use them both. How do I do this? In this scenario, the reader needs to be able to distinguish between the two articles so that they can find the right one. You cant therefore have two articles in your essay which you refer to as simply Smith (2005), as it wouldnt be clear which one you were using. So, you would refer to them as Smith (2005a) and Smith (2005b), in both the essay itself AND the reference list. Im using a book by Harris (2010), but Harris is talking about someone elses work. That person is called Ashcroft, and their work was published in 1993. How do I reference this? This is a secondary source, and you need to be clear about exactly whose work you have seen and whose you havent. The best option is to find the original work by Ashcroft, and refer to it. Harris reference list should give you all the details you need in order to find Ashcrofts book. If you find the original, you can mention Ashcroft in your essay and reference list (in this case, you wont need to mention Harris unless, of course, you use Harris work in another part of your essay). If you cant find Ashcrofts original book, you need to make it clear that you havent seen the original but have seen it mentioned by Harris. Not only must you be honest about the references you have used, you also need to make sure that any mistakes Harris has made in the interpretation of Ashcrofts work are clearly Harris mistakes and not yours. You might reference it something like this: Harris (2010) discusses the work of Ashcroft (1993), who argues that Ashcroft (1993, cited in Harris, 2010) conducted an experiment

The book Im using was written by two people. Do I mention them both? Yes. In the essay itself, and in the reference list, you must mention both authors. For example: According to Peters and Kennington (2008: 56), the study was flawed. It has been suggested that the study was flawed (Peters and Kennington, 2008: 56). The book Im using was written by three people. Do I mention them all? If a source has three or more authors, you dont need to mention them all in the text of your essay. Instead, you can mention the first author and use et al. This needs to be in italics, as it is from the Latin et alia, and it means and the others. So, you might refer to Lurgan et al. (1998) in your essay: Lurgan et al. (1998: 576) discuss the idea that Note: In your reference list, you will need to mention ALL of the authors, so remember to keep a list of them all.

How might this look in my essay? The paragraph below shows how you could use referencing in your assignments, and how a paragraph may look. It shows how you might include the work of more than one author in a paragraph (in this case, the last sentence comes from a different authors work). The information is, again, fictional and is just for demonstration purposes. Despite the initial acceptance of Gerrards (1996) report, subsequent reviews of the available evidence led to further discussion. The most influential research was that done by Carter-Holland (2007), who argued that some flavours of Brand A alco-pop were incorrectly labelled. The sugar, additive and alcohol-by-volume labels appeared to be from previous recipes of the products, and had not been updated when the recipes and flavourings had changed. The actual alcohol-by-volume content of Brand A was almost twice what it claimed to be (2007: 112). As Carter-Holland points out, this means that an individual could think that their consumption was comfortably under the legal drink-drive limit, when in fact they might have consumed almost twice as much alcohol as they thought. Although the manufacturers initially denied these claims and denied any legal responsibility, independent testing by two different laboratories seemed to confirm Carter-Hollands findings (Brandt, 2009: 67).

The reference list

What to include Your reference list should include everything youve referred to in your assignment. So, if youve mentioned someones work in your essay, put them in your reference list. Similarly, if something appears in your reference list, it must also appear in the text of your essay. Note: Although to many people the terms reference list and bibliography have become synonymous, they dont mean exactly the same thing. A bibliography would include sources which you found useful in your research but did not refer to in the body of your assignment. Most tutors do not want you to include a list of sources you have not used. However, its best to check, as some tutors are happy for you to include this information. Whats a reference list for? Your reference list should include all of the information about a source which would enable somebody else to find it. So, if your tutor wants to check the information youve used from Smiths book, they need to be able to look at your reference list and find all of the necessary details. The Harvard system of referencing requires you to set this information out in a certain way, and the examples below will show you how to do this. Note: There are some slightly different conventions within the Harvard system, and your tutors might ask you to set the information out in a slightly different way than described here. It is advisable to check with your tutors or School in case there is a preferred method of referencing theyd like you to follow. The information given here is intended as a general guide only.

Additional information Only mention each source once in your reference list, even if you have mentioned it several times in your essay. Your list needs to be written in alphabetical order by author surname. If there are several authors for one source, list them in your reference in the same order in which they appear in the original. Your sources must all appear in the same list dont separate them into lists of books, journals and so on.

Books
When referencing a book, youll need to provide the following information in this order: Author (surname, followed by initial or initials)

Year of publication (in brackets) Title of book (in italics or underlined, but not both) Place of publication Publisher Notes: Most Schools prefer you to give the title of the book in italics, but some prefer it to be underlined. Either is acceptable, but dont do both and dont jump from one to the other be consistent. You might see the place of publication and publisher the other way round this is one of the different conventions mentioned above. Again, make sure youre consistent. A book reference will look like this: Roberts, P. (2001) Theory and Practice. London: Penguin Ltd If there are two authors: Ali, M. and Shakhra, L.M. (1999) A Social Work Commentary. Oxford: Kogan Page [You dont need to add the individual page numbers youve used.] As discussed above, if there are two authors, mention them both in the text of your essay, like this: Jones and Parker (1980: 78) suggest that (Jones and Parker, 1980: 78). If there are three or more authors, you must mention them ALL in your reference list, in the order they appear in the original. However, in the text of your essay, you can use the Latin et al. like this: Rogers et al. (2005) argue that Using a chapter from an edited book You may find that you have used a chapter by one author from a book edited by another. In this case, you need to be sure that you are giving the right person credit for the work youre referring to. For example, if the book is edited by Keegan, but the chapter youve used is by Williams, youll mention Williams in your essay (not Keegan). In your reference list, you also need to make it clear to the reader exactly where this chapter appears (including which page numbers it appears on within the edited book). The title of the chapter appears in inverted commas or speech marks, and the title of the book itself appears in italics (or underlined).

Williams, P.K. (2009) A summary of recent research in Keegan, L. (ed) The State of Education Today. Gloucester: Adams Ltd., pp 133 156 The ed means editor, to show that Keegan edited the book. pp 133 156 means that the chapter is on pages 133 to 156 within the book. Books later editions You may be using a later edition of a book, for example a second edition from 2010. This means that the original was published in (for example) 1998, but a revised version was published in 2010. You must refer to the version you are actually using, so that the person reading your assignment knows which edition to look for. Make sure you are referring to the date the book was PUBLISHED, not the date it was printed. An example might be: Ali, Z. (2010) Thermodynamics (2nd edition). Norwich: Henderson Ltd

Journal articles
When using journal articles, keep a note of the following information: Author of article (surname, followed by initial or initials) Date (year of publication) Title of the article (in inverted commas or speech marks) Title of the journal itself (in italics or underlined, but not both) Other information about it (such as which volume number, issue number and so on) Page numbers (the pages within the journal it appeared on) So, if you have referred to a journal article in your assignment, youll need to put it in your reference list like this: Parry, W.G. (2009) Research into the numeracy skills of Adult Branch nursing students, British Journal of Nursing and Education, 26 (7), pp 678 698 In the above example, 26 (7) means that the article appears in volume 26, issue number 7. The title of the article (Research into the numeracy skills of Adult Branch nursing students) appears in inverted commas or speech marks, and the title of the journal (British Journal of Nursing and Education) appears in italics or is underlined. You need to make sure to include the page numbers the article appears on, to help the reader find the exact article youve used. Its not necessary to include publisher information for journal article references. You might see the last few pieces of information written in a different way: Parry, W.G. (2009) Research into the numeracy skills of Adult Branch nursing students, British Journal of Nursing and Education. Vol. 26, issue 7: 678 698

This is also acceptable. Again, please check with your tutors, as they may have a preferred style.

Note: If you have printed a journal article from the internet, you dont need to give the website details as well just treat it in the same way youd treat an article you used in the library. The only exception to this rule is when using an article from an online journal which ONLY appears online.

Reports or publications without a specified author

If a source has a listed author or authors, always use this. However, you may come across publications or reports where there isnt a named person. These sources are usually produced by or on behalf of organisations or government bodies. In these cases, youll need to use the organisation as the author. For example: Department for Learning (2007) Report into the literacy skills of children aged 4 and 5 in Wales. Cardiff: Department for Learning In the above example, the Department for Learning are both the author and the publisher, so they need to be mentioned twice. Similarly: Nursing Registration Council (2010) Standards for registration. Oxford: Advice Guide Press

Websites
As with any other source, the key is to give the reader enough information to allow them to find the exact web page youve used. Its also very important to state the date on which you used the website, in case the information has since changed. However, there are so many different kinds of web resource that it can be difficult getting this right. If in doubt, include as much of the following information as you can: Author (Who wrote the website? Was it a person or an organisation?) Date (When was it written? Take the time to look for a date, but if you cant find one, is there a page last updated date?) Title (of the page, article, website) Web address Date you looked at it It is also worth checking with your School, as different subject areas may have different rules regarding online resources. As a general guide, a website reference might look like this: Parry, H.J. (2009) The Laughing Policemans Blog, on Bloggerrythms website <www.bloggerrythms.com/laughingpoliceman> [accessed 24/09/10]

In this case, the title of the website appears in italics (or underlined), and the date the website was accessed appears in square brackets. Another example might be: National Council for Energy (2010) Temperature analysis summary, on National Council for Energy website, <www.nce.org.uk/summaries/347> [accessed 03/02/10]

Additional information Always write titles out in full, and exactly as they appear in the original source. Use the same spelling, grammar, capital letters and so on. If a source has a main title and a subtitle, include both (usually separated by a colon). For example DNA: A collection of recent research articles. In this case, the main title of the book is DNA, but the subtitle below it reads A collection of recent research articles. You need both in order to give a complete reference. Always look for an author. However, very occasionally, you might not be able to find any people or organisations to list as author. In this case, you can use Anon. (anonymous) or n.a. (which means no author) but only use these as a last resort. Always look for a date of publication. If you cant find one on a website, you can use the page last updated date. Very occasionally, there wont be any indication of a publication date, so you can use n.d. (which means no date). The Harvard style of referencing does not contain footnotes. Some other referencing styles do, so you might see them used in publications. If you use Endnote, be careful the Harvard style it contains does not match the University of Salfords style. Youll need to adjust it or find another style which matches this guide more closely. Dont forget to check for any specific referencing requirements with your tutors or School. The information provided here is intended as a general guide. However, if you include all of the information discussed here in the format shown, your referencing should be fine!

Have a look at the Plato tutorial on Blackboard for further information and to practise referencing. The College of Health & Social Care referencing guidelines can be found at http://www.resources.fhsc.salford.ac.uk/referencing/referencing_guide_hsc.pd f The Library also has referencing guides on its website, covering Harvard and numeric styles. See http://www.library.salford.ac.uk/help/userguides/ .

An example of a reference list

Adams, K. and Fallon, L.J. (2004) Art for Arts Sake. London: Abacus Ltd Benson, H.V., Roper, L.C. and Allinson, H.S. (2009) Investigations into the Paranormal. Glasgow: Scottish Publishing Group Brandt, L. (2009) Summary of findings in the recent alco-pop debate, Journal of Alcohol Research, 25 (1), pp 64 - 88 Carter-Holland, P. (2007) Research into the alcohol-by-volume percentages found in popular alco-pops, Journal of Alcohol Research, 23 (2), pp 102 114 El-Haikh, M. (2010a) Postmodernist theory, in Sanders, N. and Breith, G.A. (eds) Teaching theories: an examination of the key arguments (3rd edition). Cambridge: Youngs Education Series, pp 97 - 107 El-Haikh, M. (2010b) The Theoretical Dilemma. Belfast: Morningwell Publishing Gerrard, P. (1996) Report into the Wilkins Case. Basingstoke: Home Office National Council of Teachers (2006) Conference Proceedings: The first annual gathering, 2005. London: NCT Terry, C. (2010) Review of the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, Festynews website <www.festynews.co.uk/reviews/3428/21> [accessed 14/02/10] West, W. (2006) Starry Eyed, in The Daily News, 12/02/06, p6 Zailer, B. (2009) The History of Bellan Cove, lecture at the University of Salford, 23/04/09

Suzanne Waugh, Student Life, University of Salford. Updated 2011