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Overview

 

Harvard is an author-date system of referencing (or citing).
Referencing details must be provided in two locations:

  1. In the text of your assignment, i.e. whenever another person's ideas, words, thoughts etc. has been used e.g., direct quotes, paraphrases or summaries.
  2. In the reference list where full bibliographic details are provided.

Harvard in-text referencing

The Harvard system of referencing uses in text references or citations to acknowledge someone else's words, thoughts or ideas that have been included in your work. Information required in the text of your assignment includes:

  • the author(s)'s surname(s)
  • the year of publication
  • the page number or paragraph number for non paginated sources (direct quotes only).

Punctuation in citations

Full stops are always used after the abbreviation p for page number or pp for page numbers, e.g. p. 34 or pp. 34-35. If the citation is at the end of the sentence, it is considered to be part of the sentence, so the full stop is placed after the closing parenthesis.

Punctuation in citations



Additional note:

The ampersand, the symbol '&' used to replace 'and', can only be used inside parenthical citations e.g. .....for many participants (Jones & Lee 2011). In a sentence, only use 'and' e.g. Jones and Lee (2011) point out that many participants.....

Most students will have to reference an assignment at some stage of their studies. This unit will take you through how to use the Harvard referencing style. Work through and complete the activities to learn how to avoid plagiarism when using other people's works, e.g. words, ideas, images etc. Please note that this tutorial is based on the Harvard Style Manual 6th edition.

Harvard is an author-date system of referencing (or citing).
Referencing details must be provided in two locations:

  1. In the text of your assignment, i.e. whenever another person's ideas, words, thoughts etc. has been used e.g., direct quotes, paraphrases or summaries.
  2. In the reference list where full bibliographic details are provided.

Harvard in-text referencing

The Harvard system of referencing uses in text references or citations to acknowledge someone else's words, thoughts or ideas that have been included in your work. Information required in the text of your assignment includes:

  • the author(s)'s surname(s)
  • the year of publication
  • the page number or paragraph number for non paginated sources (direct quotes only).

Punctuation in citations

Full stops are always used after the abbreviation p for page number or pp for page numbers, e.g. p. 34 or pp. 34-35. If the citation is at the end of the sentence, it is considered to be part of the sentence, so the full stop is placed after the closing parenthesis.

Example:

Paraphrase1

Plagiarism has been identified as an area of concern for first yeay students adjusting to the expectations of writing at university (Pettigrew 2010). [take note of the use of open and closed parentheses, the comma after the author's name and the full stop outside of the closed parentheses]

Paraphrase 2

Plagiarism in student writing is more often due to uncertainty about when and how to reference correctly than a deliberate intention to cheat (Madden 2011; Ryan & Lee 2009). [take note of the use of a semi-colon in between the two citations]

Quote

Plagiarism issues are an area of confusion for mant students beginning university, resulting in "many misunderstandings, which coincide with high levels of unintentional plagiarism, bogus referencing and collusion" (Pettigrew 2010, p. 97). [take note of the use of quotation marks around the direct quote and the use of a comm after the year and a full stop after the 'p' for page number.]


Additional note:

 

The ampersand, the symbol '&' used to replace 'and', can only be used inside parenthical citations e.g. .....for many participants (Jones & Lee 2011). In a sentence, only use 'and' e.g. Jones and Lee (2011) point out that many participants.....