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Harvard referencing

Harvard referencing is a citation system used in academic writing. Referencing systems acknowledge other authors' ideas, thus avoiding plagiarism, giving credibility to new work by demonstrating that the topics have been researched widely and enabling readers to follow up on the sources. Harvard referencing is structured in two parts: firstly an in-text citation which mentions the author's name, the work's publication date and the page number on which the information appears, and secondly a list at the end of the text of all works cited, giving the author's full name, the year of publication, the title, the place of publication and the publisher's name. Within Harvard referencing the information cited for books varies from that required for electronic sites, and this will be discussed in more detail below.

How To Use Harvard Referencing

Using a fictitious example, the above information could be quoted from page 23 of a book written by John Smith in 2006, and the sentence would then have started something like this:

According to Smith (2006, p. 23), Harvard referencing is structured in two parts:

Then at the end of the work there would be a list of references including the following entry:

Smith, J (2006) Referencing Systems Explained Johannesburg: African Consolidated Press.

The publisher's details can usually be found on the front and back of the book's title page.

When using Harvard referencing, citations can be located at various points, and to enhance the readability of the text it helps to vary the placement. Using the previous example, the citation could be placed at the end of the sentence, in brackets:

the place of publication and the publisher's name (Smith, 2006, p. 23).

Within the Harvard referencing system the use of page numbers in the in-text citation is not always necessary, for example when the text is summarising ideas expressed in a more general way:

In a comparison of various referencing systems, there were different preferences amongst academics depending on their individual disciplines, but the majority preferred the Harvard referencing system (Smith, 2006).

When using direct quotes, the page number is important, and the quote must be exact:

Smith (2006, p 36) claims that "Harvard referencing has a number of advantages over other citation systems".

Where a source has two or three authors, it is usual to mention all of them in the citation:

According to Walker, Jones and Brown (1997, p 7) the use of standardised citation systems, such as Harvard referencing, has become commonplace in tertiary education.

Things can become cumbersome if the source has multiple authors and Harvard referencing uses the Latin expression "et al", meaning "and others", in these cases. For example, a book written by Sharpe, Smith, Jones, Walker and Brown published in 1995 would be referred to like this:

The proliferation of citation systems needs to be rationalised, according to Sharpe et al (1995, p 11).

Where the author has quoted a source within his work to support his arguments, that original source can be subsequently referred to under Harvard referencing as follows:
Research by Walker and Brown (in Smith, 2006 p 67) established that citation systems are poorly understood by most university students.

In other words, Smith in his book of 2006 is referring to earlier research done by Walker and Brown, and this is now being cited in a subsequent text. When referencing newspapers and magazine articles the author is often anonymous, and in this case Harvard referencing uses the publications name:

The Independent reports that the incidence of plagiarism is rising throughout the university system ("Whose work is it", 10.07.2008 p. 5).

In some cases two or more sources need to be acknowledged. This would be handled as follows using the Harvard referencing system:

The consensus of opinion is that more emphasis needs to be placed on teaching students how to use referencing systems (Smith, 2006 p. 53; Walker, 2007 p 365; Sharpe, 2008 p 63).

A more discursive use of referencing is acceptable for unpublished sources, such as interviews or lectures. What is important is that the citation should be accurate and concise:

During a tutorial discussion on 6 June 2005 Professor John Smith warned his students that they would be penalised if they failed to use citation systems correctly.

Harvard Referencing for Electronic Sources

Within the text, electronic sources are referenced in much the same way. The author's name and the date originally published (if known) are quoted, but page numbers are not included. If the date is not known, this is indicated by "n.d.", which means "no date". If the author is also not known, the title of the article should be used.

When using the Harvard referencing systems to refer to electronic sources such as web pages in the citation list at the end of the text, it is important to include the full address of the page, and not just the address of the site. This can best be done by copying the address bar and pasting this into the citation list. A fictitious example could be:

Walker, A. (2008) A Guide to using Harvard Referencing, http:\\www.studentresources.com\referencingsystems\harvardreferencing.html

Harvard Referencing: Reference List Example

Below is an example of what a full, end of text citation list for an academic article might look like. All entries are fictitious. Note that the list is organised in alphabetic order by author. It usually starts on a new page.

Green F., (1998) Managing Your Source Material in Black, B and White, W (eds.) Journal of Academic Life September 1998 No. 9 Volume 128 London: The Magazine Printers Limited

Sharpe, M., Smith, J., Jones, K., Walker, A. and Brown, C. (1995) Referencing Systems in the Modern World London: University Printers

Smith, J. Prof. (5.06.2005) Tutorial Discussion: Correct use of Citation Systems

Smith, J., (2006) Referencing Systems Explained Johannesburg: African Consolidated Press.

The Independent Newspaper (1.07.2008, p. 5) Whose Work Is It London: Associated Newspapers.

Walker, A., Jones, B., and Brown, C. (1997) The Case for Standardising Referencing Systems New York: Academic Publishers.

Walker, A. (2008) A Guide to using Harvard Referencing, http:\\www.studentresources.com\referencingsystems\harvardreferencing.html