Assignment 1 What is referencing?

For this assignment I will answer to the question What is referencing?. In order
to achieve this I will research the origins, uses and purposes of academic
referencing. I will concentrate my answer on the Harvard System of
referencing, as it is the one that is being used at my University. I will base my
essay mostly on internet resources. First, I will give a definition of the word
referencing. After that, I will look for its origins, importance and I will analyse it.
I will give a conclusion and a reference list at the end of my essay.
Referencing is defined as citing authorities or supporting a statement. The
Harvard System is a system used in the academic community to indicate where
ideas, theories, quotes, facts, and any other evidence and information used to
undertake an assignment, can be found. (2013, Academic Skills Tutors/Librarians)
According to a paper written by Charles Sedgwick Minot in 1896 the origin of the
author-date style is attributed to an article (1881, page 194) by Edward Laurens
Mark, Hersey professor of anatomy and director of the zoological laboratory at
Harvard University, who may have copied it from the cataloguing system used
then and now by the library of Harvards Museum of Comparative zoology. Eli
Chernin (1988, volume 297) wrote that until then, references had appeared in
inconsistent styled in footnotes, referred to in the text using a variety of printers
symbols, including asterisks and daggers. Explicit confirmation comes from a
1903 festschrift dedicated to Mark that was written by 140 former students,
including President Theodore Roosevelt. In this festschrift is stated that Marks
article introduced into zoology a proper fullness and accuracy of citation and a
convenient and uniform method of referring from text to bibliography. According
to an editorial note in the British Medical Journal in 1945, an unconfirmed
anecdote is that the term Harvard System was introduced by an English visitor
to Harvard University library, who was impressed by the citation system and
dubbed it Harvard System upon his return to England. Although it originated in
biology, it is now more common in humanities, history, and social science. It is
favoured by a few scientific journals, including the major biology journal Cell.
Referencing is important in order to avoid plagiarism. It correctly ensures that
you give appropriate credit to the sources and authors that you have used to
complete your assignment. It also demonstrates that you have undertaken wideranging research in order to create your work. Referencing enables the reader to
consult themselves the same materials that you used.
Harvard System is known as the Author and Date system, usually in
parentheses. The reference must be given as citations inside the text you wrote
and as a Reference List, at the end of your assignment essay.
Referencing emphasises the name of the creator of a piece of information and the
date of publication, with the list of references in alphabetical order at the end of
your piece of work. It is important to include it in your academic writing
assessment.

Nicoleta Faina - 5 November 2015 - London, United Kingdom

Assignment 1 What is referencing?

Reference List:
Anglia Ruskin University (April 2012) Harvard System of Referencing: Basic
Concepts . Anglia Ruskin University Library, Retrieved 5 November 2015
Anglia Ruskin University (May 2012). Harvard System of Referencing Guide .
Anglia Ruskin University. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
Birmingham City University (August, 2009) Harvard-style Referencing Guidelines,
Faculty of Health, Birmingham City University Press. Retrieved on 5 November
2015.
British Standarts Institute (1990). BS5605:1990. Recommendations for citing and
referencing published material. Milton Keynes: BSI.
Chernin, Eli (1988). "The 'Harvard system': a mystery dispelled", British Medical
Journal. October 22, 1988, pp. 10621063.
Cite Them Right Online. What is referencing and why is it important? Available at
http://citethemrightonline.com/Basics/what-is-referencing. Accesed 5 November
2015.
Mark, Edward Laurens (1881). Maturation, fecundation, and segmentation of
Limax campestris, Binney, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at
Harvard College, Volume 6, p. 194.
Morse, Edward S. (April, 1920). Biografical memoir of Charles Sedgwick Minot
1852-1914, City of Washington, National Academy of Sciences; Presented to the
Academy at the Annual Meeting, 1919.
Neville, C. (2010). The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism,
2nd edition. Open UP Study Skills. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Pears, R & Shields, G. (2006). Cite Them Right: The Essential Guide to
Referencing and Plagiarism. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Northumbria University Press.
Wikipedia (4 November 2015) Paranthetical Referencing. Available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenthetical_referencing#cite_ref-1. Accesed 5
November 2015.
Your Dictionary. Available at http://www.yourdictionary.com/referencing. Accesed
5 November 2015

Nicoleta Faina - 5 November 2015 - London, United Kingdom