A brief guide to the Harvard System

The University of Greenwich, as with all universities, requires that students give credit to the authors of the evidence they use to support the arguments within their essays and other assignments. Most schools within the University require that students use the Harvard system of referencing (citation). This is a guide to that system giving some useful examples to which you can refer when referencing yourself.

Function

· A bibliographical reference should contain sufficient information for you or someone else to trace the information sources you have used.

· It indicates that you have considered appropriate authorities and evidence in your work

· It acknowledges the work of others in contributing to your work.

· The same set of rules and grammar (colons and commas) should be followed every time you cite a reference (consistency).

· Note – you ought to follow the convention of referencing dictated by your school or tutor, normally the Harvard system.

The components of the Harvard system

The Harvard system has two main components. Firstly there is the in-text reference. Fore each item of evidence that you use from an external source (a book, a journal article etc.) there is an entry that includes the author’s family name and the year of the publication (source) that the information comes from. Note that for a quotation there will also be the page number for the page that the quotation came from.

This works in conjunction with the second element which is known as a reference list (sometimes known as a Bibliography). This is an alphabetical list (by the author’s last name) which includes the full bibliographical details of the book which would enable the reader to find that source if they so wished. The in-text reference to the author’s last name can be looked up in this list and the full detail found. As you can see then, the system requires both element of in-text reference and reference list to work.

Examples of how to do both elements are shown below.

Citations in the text (in-text reference)

• All material taken from another writer’s work should be acknowledged, whether the work is directly quoted, paraphrased or summarised.
• Not referencing = Plagiarism
• Plagiarism = a fancy word for stealing

Citations in the text should give the author’s name with the year of publication, then all references should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the paper/dissertation as laid out below.

For a single author

In a study by Murthoo (1999) treatment compliance was examined…..

In a study (Seedhouse, 1997) treatment compliance was examined ….

When an author has published more than one cited document in the same year these are differentiated by adding lower cased letters after the year within the brackets.

Beattie (2000a) argued that public health issues were ignored…

Two authors:

In the book by Kearney and Rainwater (2001) ….

More than two authors:

Singer et al (1996) contend that ….

If more than one citation is referred to within a sentence, list them all in the following form, by date and then alphabetically:

There are indications that childhood poverty is a strong predictor of later morbidity (Wybourn and Hudson, 2002; Acheson, 1998; Lewis 1998)

Online sources:

When referencing a web page in your text it should be the Author and Year that you put in brackets and not the web page address or URL. Sometimes the author may be the organisation that publishes the web page, for example the Department of Health:

According to the Department of Health (2006) the quality of access to health care is one of their fundamental responsibilities.

Harvard method of quoting in the text:

Use quotation marks and acknowledge the author’s name, year of publication and page number of the quote in brackets.

Short quotations (up to 2 lines) can be included in the body of the text:-

Wybourn (1999:19) states that “being an undergraduate can be a pain”.

Longer quotations should be indented in a separate paragraph:-

Smaje (1995:17) when commenting on transcultural care comments that:

“Whereas multiculturalism tends to emphasise the existence of different cultural traditions in contemporary Britain and promotes tolerance and understanding, anti-racism places a more political emphasis on the forces that structure and determine access to power in society”

If part of the quotation is omitted then this can be indicated using three dots:-

Smaje (1995:17) states “…the existence of different cultural traditions in contemporary Britain and promotes tolerance and understanding…” .

Secondary referencing

Where one author is referring to the work of another and the primary source is not available.

You should cite the primary source and the source you have read eg Vygotsky and Piaget, 2002, cited in Wybourn, 2003.

• Secondary referencing should be avoided where possible. Find the original if you can.

The Reference List – the Harvard method of listing references at the end of the text

• List in alphabetical order by author’s name and then by date (earliest first),
• If more than one item has been published during a specific year by letter (1995a, 1995b etc.)
• Take information from the title page of a publication and not from the front cover, which may be different.
• Include the elements and punctuation given in the examples below.
• Author’s forenames can be included if given on the title page but this is not necessary.
• The title of the publication should either be in italics or underlined.

A book by a single author:

Baggini, J (2002) Making Sense: Philosophy behind the headlines. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

A book by two authors:

Searle, John and Chomsky, N (1997) The meaning of sense: critique & arguments, 105^th edition. London, Wybourn.

A book by more than two authors

Singer, R. Mandela, P. et al. (1995) Health care in a multiracial society. London, Open University Press.

A book by a corporate author (eg a government department or other organisation):

Nursing and Midwifery Council (2003) Patient-centred care: a NMC position statement on patient involvement. London, Nursing and Midwifery Council.

An edited book:

Baumeister, R. (ed) (1999) The self in Social Psychology: Key readings in social psychology, Hove, Taylor and Francis.

A chapter in a book

Burnard, P. (1997) The self and self awareness. In: K. Burns et al. (eds) The Self in Society. London, Stanley Thornes. pp17-28.

An article in a journal:

Valkimaki, A. (1993) Patient information systems. British Journal of Nursing, 13(1), 43-5.

An article in a newspaper:

Sabo, M (2003) Fear of gun crime rising. Guardian, Monday October 26^th, 2003, p.10.

If no author name is given then the publisher should be used instead.

Guardian (2003) Public health in decline. Guardian, Friday October 24^th, p11.

An online source:

Department of Health (2006) Equality and human rights, [Online] London, Department of Health. Available from http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/EqualityAndHumanRights/fs/en [Accessed: 15 May 2006].

A television programme

Julie through the looking glass. Teenage Diaries. BBC 2, 4 July 1992

Alzheimer’s Society (2002)

A video

Yesterday, today, tomorrow: providing quality

dementia care. Video. York: Alzheimer’s Society

CD ROMS

Institute of Cancer Research (2000) A breath of fresh air: an interactive guide to managing breathlessness in patients with lung cancer. [CD Rom]. Sutton:

Institute of Cancer Research

Government publications

· White Papers contain statements of Government policy

· Green Papers put forward proposals for consideration and public discussion.

· They are cited in the same way.

A White paper

Department for Education and Skills (2002) 14-19 next steps: the future. Cm.3390. London, Stationery Office

A Green paper

Department for Education and Skills (2003) Extending Opportunities: raising standards. Cm 3854. London, Stationery Office.

An Act of Parliament

Great Britain (2002) Education Act 2002. Chapter 25. London, HMSO.