Using the Harvard

Referencing System

September 2010
 Why do I need to reference?

• Reading, understanding and correcting referencing the work of

others in your assignments is important.

• By correctly referencing you will:

– Protect yourself against accusations of plagiarism
– Demonstrate that you have read widely
– Show your understanding of a topic
– Support your arguments with published research

• If you don’t reference correctly you may commit plagiarism,

which is seen as academic misconduct and carries penalties.
 What should I reference?

• Acknowledging the work of others in your assignments gives

academic credibility to your work by allowing you to back up
your arguments with published material.

• You should reference anything you have taken from another

work, whether you are paraphrasing, summarising or directly
quoting.

• Some things can be taken as common knowledge and do

not therefore need to be backed up with a reference.
 Taking notes

Taking clear notes during your reading will

make referencing much easier and quicker.

• Make a note of: author / title / date / publisher details and

chapter details / page numbers if relevant.
• If it is online, note the web address and the date and time
you accessed it.
• Make clear distinction between any direct quotes you write
down and information written in your own words so you don’t
accidently plagiarise when you come to write you
assignment
 Citing in your text
• The first part of a Harvard reference is the in-text
citation where you acknowledge the sources you read.
• Use (author, date) and page numbers if applicable.
• Consider the flow of your writing when choosing how to
include the citation.

Addy (2006) explains

Addy (2006, p.25) Children with
that children with
explains that children developmental
developmental
with developmental coordination disorder
coordination disorder
coordination disorder often struggle within
often struggle within
often struggle within mainstream education
mainstream education
mainstream education (Addy, 2006, p.25)
(p.25)
 Quotations
• Use quotation marks ‘t’ and page number(s) to indicate a direct
quote.

• Short quotes can be included in your own sentence:

Continuing professional development allows people to ‘build on their knowledge
and skills to develop their level of competence’ (Alsop, 2000, p.64).

• Longer quotes should be indented and in a separate paragraph:

Evidence suggests that the popularity for alternative medicine is growing.

‘It is estimated that a third of the population have

tried the remedies of complementary medicine or
visited its practitioners’ (Dimond, 2004, p.378).

• Avoid overusing quotations.

 Paraphrasing
• Presenting an idea or argument in your own words.

• Ensure it is significantly altered from the original to avoid

issues of plagiarism (just changing a couple of words is not enough!).

• Paraphrases relate to specific sections of a work, so it is

good practice to include the page number as you would do
with a direct quotation.

Effectively preparing patients by dealing with questions, setting

goals and making the patient feel involved in their care can
significantly reduce postoperative anxiety and may have a positive
impact on their subsequent recovery (Lees, 2010, p.11).
 Summarising

• A brief outline of the main points of a work without going into

specific details.

• Generally summaries relate to a whole work, or to a large

section, so are much less specific than paraphrasing.

• As a summary potentially covers most or all of a work, it

does not require page numbers to be given as they are for
direct quotations and paraphrasing.

A recent study by Sampson (2009) demonstrated that moderate

alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of dementia in later life.
 Secondary References

• Where the passage you are referring to is the authors own

reference to another work.
• You are relying on their accurate and unbiased reproduction
of that work, so it is much better to locate the source and
read and reference it directly in you own work.
• If you cannot locate the original, secondary reference it by:

A study concluded that marijuana users felt ‘less confident’ than In the body of
cocaine users about being able to stop taking the drug. (Budney your text cite
et al, 1998 cited in Butcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2010, p.412). both works

In your end list: Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S. & Hooley, J. M. (2010)

Reference the item Abnormal Psychology (14th ed). Boston, Parson
you have read. Education Inc.
 The End List
• At the end of your work include a list of references.
• List in alphabetical order by author, do not separate into
different types of work.
• The following slides show how to reference correctly.

Bibliographies and Reference Lists

Lists all the

Lists only the Reference list
material you
material you gives all items
have read,
Reference have cited Where both directly cited.
Bibliography: whether cited List: are requested:
directly in Bibliography
in your contains any
your
assignment other reading.
assignment.
or not.

• Always check your programme / module handbooks to see

which form of end list is required.
 How to reference a…

BOOK
Author(s) Date
Surname.Initial(s), Year of publication
Use & between two authors.

Naidoo, J. & Willis, J. (2001) Health studies:

an introduction. Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Title Publisher
In sentence case and italicised. Place of publication, publisher.
 How to reference a…
e-BOOK
Date
Author(s) Year of publication Title
Surname.Initial(s), In sentence case and italicised.
Use & between two authors.

Seedhouse, D. (2009) Ethics: the heart of health care (3rd

ed). Chichester, Wiley [Online]. Available at
http://www.dawsonera.com. Accessed on 24th January
2010, 10:15am.

Publisher
Publisher followed by [Online].
Access information
Give homepage of website, and date
and time you accessed the resource.

(As e-books often require a login, only

the homepage needs to be given.)

JOURNAL ARTICLE
Author(s)
Surname.Initial(s),
Use & between two authors.
How to reference a…
Date
Year of publication Article Title
In sentence case

Kelly, C. & Lynes, D. (2008) Psychological effects of

chronic lung disease. Nursing Times, 104(47), pp.82-85.

Journal Title
In Title Case and italicised
Journal information
Give volume and issue as x(x),
followed by page numbers
pp. For multiple pages
p. For a single page item
 How to reference a…
e-JOURNAL ARTICLE

Date
Author(s)
Year of publication Article Title
Surname.Initial(s),
Use & between two authors. In sentence case

Pollard, K. (2009) Student engagement in

Journal Title interprofessional working in practice placement settings.
In Title Case Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(20), pp.2846-56 [Online].
and italicised Available at www.swetswise.com. Accessed on 15th May
2010, 10:10am.

Journal information Access information

Give volume and issue as x(x),
followed by page numbers
pp. For multiple pages
p. For a single page item
Follow with [Online].
Give homepage of website, and date
and time you accessed the resource.
(As e-journals often require a login,
only the homepage needs to be given.)
 How to reference a…
WEB PAGE Date
Year site last updated (often
Author(s)
shown at the bottom of the
Surname.Initial(s) if a person
is the author. Otherwise use
page).
corporate author or If not known, enter (no date).
organisation.

Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2009) Background to

every child matters. Every Child Matters [Online]. Available at
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/background/background/
. Accessed on 18th February 2010, 11:10pm.

Page Title Access information

In sentence case Website Title Give full address of webpage,
In Title Case and and date and time you
italicised. Followed accessed the resource.
by [Online].
 How to reference …
Anything else…

http://www.resources.fhsc.salford.ac.uk/referencing/

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