Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
to prove that you have researched your topic, and that your ideas have
been presented in the light of published material;
to substantiate your ideas and arguments;
to acknowledge the source of your information and development of your ideas;
to distinguish between your own opinions and those of others;
to enable your readers to locate the source of your ideas in order to study the
material themselves.
The Harvard, or “Name and Date”, method of referencing is one of the most
commonly used. There are two aspects to the system. Firstly, a „flag‟ is
entered, in brackets, in the body of your text at the point at which you make
Please note
Students should note that while Glyndŵr‟s Academic Board has asked all students have
an understanding of the Harvard referencing system students should note that in their
own subject discipline different referencing systems may apply. Staff will advise
students if this is the case. However, if you in doubt PLEASE ASK a member of staff.
The flag is usually presented in the following form: a set of brackets containing
the surname of the author to whom you are referring followed by the year of
publication of the source document. For example:
If the author‟s name appears naturally in the text, add only the date in
brackets. For example:
The original conclusions have now been questioned by both Reynolds (1994)
and Roberts (1995).
Where there are 2 authors, both should appear in brackets. For example:
A more recent study (Williams and Reynolds, 1996) disproved the earlier
findings.
In a recent report, Smith et al. (1996) have* suggested yet another solution.
When an author has published more than one work in the same year, the
works should be identified with lower case letters (a, b, c, etc. – in the order
used) after the date. For example:
Further studies (Smith, 1995a) agreed with the initial findings (Smith, 1995b).
Books:
each author‟s name and initials
the year of publication in brackets
the title of the book in italics, or bold text or underlined text
For example:
For more than one reference taken from the same source, the full
bibliographic details are cited only once but the different page numbers are
entered alongside the appropriate lower case letter used in the flags in your
main text. For example:
NB. Page numbers can also be given in the body of the text. Please check
with your tutor for advice.
For different works in the same year by one author, the lower case letters used in the
flags are included
For edited books, cite under the editor‟s or editors‟ names and include the
term (ed. or eds.) For example:
If you are directly quoting an author who has contributed to an edited book,
cite the name of the chapter (in single inverted commas) written by that author,
then, following the word „in‟ cite the bibliographic details of the source book.
For example:
Roberts, H. (1993) „The women and class debate‟ in Morgan, D. and Stanley,
L. (eds.) Debates in sociology, p55. Manchester, Manchester University
Press.
Journals:
each author‟s name and initials
the year of publication in brackets
the title of article in single inverted commas
the title of journal, in italics, or bold or underlined text
the volume number and part number or month of issue where appropriate
the number of the first and last pages of the article
For example:
Weiner, B. (1985) „An attributional theory of achievement, motivation and
emotion‟. Psychological review, vol. 92, 548-73.
(NOTE the distinguishing difference between the format of citations for books
and for journals. With the former, it is the name of the book that appears in
italics, bold or underlined text; with journals, it is the title of the journal. Note
Audio-visual material:
For audiovisual materials, include the author or director, title, format, date and
publisher. For example:
British Standards:
The citation should include the following details:
the words “British Standards Institution”
the date of publication in brackets
British Standard number and year (separated by a colon)
the title and subtitle (if any) in italics, bold or underlined text
the place of publication (if known)
the name of publisher using the abbreviation “BSI”
For example:
Conference papers:
As a general rule, list as much information as possible, including dates and the
body responsible for publication. For example:
Great Britain, Department of Health and Social Security (1980) Report of the
working party on inequalities in health [Chairperson: Sir Douglas Black].
London, HMSO.
Government publications:
These are usually of corporate authorship, and should be listed according to
the department responsible for publication. However, the citation should
always commence with the words “Great Britain”. For example:
Great Britain, Home Office (1990) The Hillsborough Stadium, 15 April 1989
: inquiry by Lord Chief Justice Taylor: final report. London, HMSO.
Internet sources:
There is not yet a standard related to referencing Internet sources. As a
general rule, it is unwise to use Internet references unless they are from
reputable sources, which could also be reliably located by means other than
the Internet. Remember that one of the purposes of referencing is to enable
others to locate the original source of your ideas. As we all know, many
Internet sources are ephemeral (“here today, gone tomorrow”). Also, it is often
far from clear who the publisher is for many Internet sites.
With these points in mind, it may be better not to use such a source unless
you know who actually produces it. If you do know who produces (i.e.
publishes) it, then you should include this information as part of the
bibliographic citation. But, don’t use ephemeral or trivial Internet sources.
However, for credible Internet sources follow the general rules for Harvard
referencing by citing the author(s), the date, the title, a web-site address, AND
enough information to locate the publisher of the site so that you might be
able to obtain hard copy. A note of the date you accessed the site may also
be useful. For example:
Research reports:
If possible it is important to include the subtitle and series information
author‟s name
publisher
For example:
Unpublished material:
You may refer to items which you found useful, but which are not officially
published, for example pamphlets, internal working papers. They should be
referenced in the same way. For example:
You may even wish to reference a useful interview or conversation you have
conducted. For example:
For example:
Direct quotations:
If your quotation is less than 2 lines long, you should include it in your text in
inverted commas. For example:
Many academics have pointed to the need to develop students‟ writing skills.
It has been argued that “writing is like talking: a natural ability - once you have
learned how to do it” (Newby, 1989). However, the debate seems never
ending . . .
If your quotation is longer than 2 lines, indent the whole quotation as a new
paragraph; reduce the point size of the text and close the line spacing to single
line spacing (if you have been using a more open spacing for your main text).
You do not need to use inverted commas. Add the page number(s) where the
quote is taken from, and use 3 full stops to indicate any word(s) you have
missed out. For example:
Writing is like talking: a natural ability - once you have learned to do it. It
develops with use in the right environment. You can learn how to write
Personal additions:
Sometimes you may wish to append personal notes to a citation or to a bibliographic
entry in your reference list. This is often best done by using square brackets, e.g.
for conference papers [paper presented to a conference held at the Science Centre,
Berlin, September 1987.]
Compiling a bibliography
A bibliography is different from a list of references. It is a list of various
sources – in addition to those you have cited in your list of references – which
you have used during the process of studying for, and writing, your
assignment. The purpose of including a bibliography is to assist others who
may wish to study a similar topic. It therefore does not require page numbers
since you are generally referring to whole works for background reading
purposes rather than isolated quotes or ideas.
a) the effective use of a reference usually involves a bit more than simply
citing the source!
The following, for instance, is not very helpful in supporting an argument you
are making:
The studies carried out by Robinson (1998) have provided some interesting
new ideas about change in organizations.
In the first example you are giving the reader no actual evidence that
Robinson‟s studies support your argument. The reference is thus of virtually
no use to anyone; we are left to guess what his work was about.
c) The use of direct quotations in work which you are submitting for
assessment should be fairly limited. It only really makes sense to use a
quotation where the words or the phraseology of the original writer convey
the meaning in an exceptional or memorable way. Broadly speaking you
should use your own words wherever possible to describe or explain the
work of others
Thus when using verbatim quotations from other sources you should not
normally use excerpts more than three or four lines long. Nor should you use
too many quotations overall. (As a guide, no more than 5% of the total word
count of your work should normally be made up of direct quotations.)
In general, make use of paraphrasing or précis as much as possible. This will best
demonstrate your own understanding of the issues involved. (Remember that you
still need to acknowledge the source of ideas by citing references even when
paraphrasing the work of others. Not to do so would be plagiarism.)