FORMAT

&
REFERENCING
DISSERTATIONS

OF

ASSESSED

ESSAYS/

Every Essay is written in answer to a question. That question inevitably deals with a
problem: e.g. Was Prophet Mohammed a good statesman? When writing your essay, you
are seeking to answer that question, to find a solution to that problem. This is an intellectual
undertaking, so you should not merely recount events. Information for informations sake is
not what is required; rather information should be given to back up the argument of your
essay.
Mere summary of what is said in book A or article B is not enough. Your aim is analysis and
synthesis, not mere summary. You must learn to absorb the ideas and information from the
works you have read and produce your own independent analyses. What will interest the
reader of your essay is not so much what Professor X or Dr. Y thinks as what you think.
While it may be a useful exercise to examine critically modern Arabists theories, merely to
summarise a chapter or a book without independent thought is not very productive.
Similarly, no tutor wants to read an essay, which is merely a string of quotations - even if
properly acknowledged. You should use quotations sparingly, unless they are from primary
sources.
Thought therefore, is never an optional extra in essay writing. After all, the chief value of
this exercise to you is a training in the art of making sense of a mass of data, and producing a
coherent and reasoned analysis, in as lucid a form as possible, to explain a problem. This is,
of course an invaluable and fundamental skill.
A Dissertation hand-book for those who opt for a dissertation module is available from Dr.
Sirriyeh. The guidelines should be read, and followed, carefully.

Essay Presentation
The way in which you present your written work is of great importance: however competent
you may become in terms of understanding and analysis, your achievements in this field will
be wasted if your efforts to communicate them to others are marred by sloppy grammar,
convoluted phraseology and incorrect English. If you have difficulties over syntax or
grammar, you may find the following key reference works of help:
K. Waterhouse, English, our English
H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
Eric Partridge, Usage and Abusage
Occasional spelling mistakes may be forgivable, but an essay that is littered with errors will
certainly be penalised. You cannot be urged too strongly to read through your essay carefully
before handing it in.
It is equally important that your essays should be legibly written; otherwise the effect of
much of what you have to say may be lost on the reader. Essays produced on typewriters or
word processors are preferred, but remember that you will always have to be able to write
legibly in examinations.
Certain elements of good practice should be common to all essays. For example, you
should always append to your essays a list of all the books and articles read. You should

always acknowledge quotations either in a footnote or in brackets. If you fail to do so you

may incur severe penalties. It is vital when taking notes on your reading that you use your
own words, and do not simply copy out long or short passages. This will ensure that you have
understood what is being said and it will avoid the grave danger of your falling into
unconscious plagiarism.

Referencing:
Referencing is a very important aspect of your written work. Making sure that your
references are presented appropriately and consistently is a major part of being able to
communicate your ideas and arguments in a convincing manner. As such, it is key to your
academic training, and forms part of the highly employable communication skills you gain
from your studies.
In the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, two referencing systems are widely used:
the Harvard system (sometimes called Author: Date), and the MHRA system. Generally
speaking, the Harvard system is used in social sciences, linguistics and translation studies,
whereas the MHRA system is widely used in humanities studies such as history, literature
and art history. It is good practice to present your references in the style which is most widely
accepted in the discipline in which you are working. However, the Harvard (or Author:
Date) system may be used in any part of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures,
unless module documentation explicitly states otherwise; and the referencing guidelines set
out here apply across the whole of the School.
The Department of Arabic & Middle Eastern Studies encourages all students to follow the
Harvard system, unless they are instructed to use MHRA by their module tutor. Whichever
system you use, it is very important that you apply it consistently.
Compile your bibliographies and footnotes on the basis of the following models:

Referencing within text: the Harvard system

The recommended referencing method within the department is the Harvard system (also
known as the author: date system). Advice on how to use this system is provided below,
along with examples; further training can be found on the library skills website at
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/200201/training/99/training_materials/5 It is the normal
expectation that students will use this method of referencing when preparing work for
modules within the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, regardless of the
requirements made on them for modules taught in other Schools.
On occasion, module leaders may require the use of an alternative referencing method (such
as MHRA the footnote system) where it is felt that the demands of a particular subdiscipline make it appropriate for students to engage with the dominant referencing system
used within it. If this is the case, then this alternative requirement will be stated explicitly on
module outlines and assessment sheets. The ability to use the appropriate referencing system
is an important part of being able to communicate your ideas and arguments in a convincing
manner, and as such forms part of the highly employable communication skills you gain from
your studies.

How to use the Harvard system

Do not use footnotes/endnotes. Simply cite your references within the text by the authors
family name, year of publication and page number where applicable (see examples below).
Where three or more authors are involved, use the et al. (and others) convention.
Enclose quotations in single quotation marks, enclose quotations within quotations in
double quotation marks.
NB: For the first mention of any source, please give the FULL name eg. Mustapha Lahlali
argues, thereafter just Lahlali argues.

The Harvard system: Examples

Referring to works not quoted directly:
Tourism and Literature: Literature, in its various forms, has always played an important role
in tourism. Promotional tourist literature, such as brochures with their pictures and
descriptions of places and landscapes, often constitutes tourists first encounter with their
holiday destination and deliberately shapes their responses to that place (Cronin, 2003: 179).
Promotional tourist literature, argues Cronin (2003: 181182), performs a dual function: it is
at once representative and rhetorical, i.e. it represents places and landscapes to people who
cannot be there, and it persuades people to visit those places and see the landscapes for
themselves. Guidebooks are also representative and rhetorical. With their more detailed
descriptions and explanations of places, together with practical information on how to survive
in the local area, guidebooks accompany tourists on their travels and mediate between the
tourist and the strange new land they are visiting (Jack & Phipps, 2005; Koshar, 2000;
Pagenstecher, 2003).
References
Cronin, M. (2003) Next to being there: Ireland of the welcomes and tourism of the word. In
M. Cronin and B. OConnor (eds) Irish Tourism: Image, Culture and Identity (pp.179195).
Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Jack. G. and Phipps, A. (2005) Tourism and Intercultural Exchange: Why Tourism Matters.
Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Koshar, R. (2000) German Travel Cultures. Oxford: Berg.
Pagenstecher, C. (2003) Der bundesdeutsche Tourismus: Ansatze zu einer Visual History:
Urlaubsprospekte, Reisefhrer, Fotoalben 19501990. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac.
Despite the changes to womens circumstances during the war years, the war equally
emphasized the differences between the sexes (Higonnet et al. 1987: 4; Higonnet and
Higonnet 1987: 35) and privileged the experience and contribution of men over those of
women.
Reference
Higonnet, Margaret Randolph and Higonnet, Patrice L.-R (1987) The Double Helix. In
Higonnet et al 1987 31-47.
Higonnet, Margaret Randolph et al. eds (1987) Behind the Lines. Gender and the Two World
Wars. Yale: Yale University Press.

Direct quotation:
As Caroline Gay succinctly puts it, cultural memory needs props to keep it alive such as
monuments, speeches, books and films (2004: 412).
Reference
Gay, C. (2004), 'On Pride and Other Pitfalls: Recent Debates on German Identity', in S.
Parkes and F. Wefelmeyer (eds.), Seelenarbeit an Deutschland: Martin Walser in Perspective
(German Monitor, 60). Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 409-428.
Several short quotations from the same text:
Although usually described as a film noir, Sunset Boulevard can in fact be read, as Richard
Corliss has identified, as the 'definitive Hollywood horror movie', which strongly recalls
earlier cinematic images. Corliss specifically points to the influence of the Universal cycle,
'Desmond Swanson is Dracula or perhaps the Count's older forgotten sister', who lives 'in an
old dark house that opens its doors only to the walking dead' (Corliss 1975: 147-148).
Reference
Corliss, Richard (1975) Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema, Penguin,
Harmondsworth.
Mixed direct quotation and reference to text:
Gilman (1995, 40) examines some of the political and cultural events which brought GermanJewish relations into closer focus during the 1980s, among them Israels invasion of
Lebanon, the so- called Historians Debate, and finally the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Of
course, the growing German-Jewish discourse around these events was by historical necessity
overshadowed by the Holocaust, so memorably defined by Diner as a negative symbiosis
(1986, 18).
Citing an internet site:
George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999) grossed $924 million
worldwide (Box Office Mojo 2006).
Reference
Box Office Mojo (2006) Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. Accessed on 22 May
2007, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies?id=starwars.htm
Citing a film
You just need to put: in Die Bchse der Pandora [film titles in italics] (G. W. Pabst, 1929) or
in G. W. Pabst's Die Bchse der Pandora (1929). For every subsequent mention give the title
of the film in italics.
Using and referencing visual material
Another example of how the Greek myth influences the visual paradigm of the film is the
scene of liberation of Olga (Galina Tiunina). Geser presents Anton with a stuffed owl; in his
kitchen, Anton accidentally guesses the spell and releases Olga from the body of the bird in
which she has been trapped for sixty years. The scene, of course, relates to the story of the
Sphinx, a hybrid creature with the body of a lioness, the head of a woman and wings, and a
monster who terrorizes Thebes (Sophocles 50-52). In the film, the scene is visually
orchestrated in the manner reminiscent of the two most famous Greek representations of
Oedipus solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Fig. 1 The owl is poised on a kitchen table facing

Anton; as he pronounces the spell, the owl transforms into a woman; she asks Anton to turn
away and continues to occupy her pedestal until the metamorphosis is complete.

Fig. 1 Unknown author. Oedipus Solving the Riddle of the Sphinx.1

Bibliographies
For essays, dissertations, etc. you must always include a Bibliography to show the sources of
the quotations and information you have used. This must be simply presented in the form of a
list at the end, with the entries in alphabetical order by author, listing surnames first, and in
chronological order where there is more than one entry for a particular author.
Although there are many ways of citing references to books, articles, films, internet sources
etc., and you may be asked to use a different method in your other subject area/s, you must
use the AMES guidelines when submitting work for all AMES modules.
Note: The following gives only the main categories you are likely to need, and is adapted
from Donald, S.G. and Kneale, P.E. (2001) Study Skills for Language Students. A Practical
Guide. London: Arnold, Chapter 15, which contains full and detailed guidance for every type
of reference.
Citing a book
Author(s) (year) Title (edition). Place of publication: Publisher.
Lahlali, M. (2008) Advanced Media Arabic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Citing an edited book
Editor(s) ed(s). (year) Title (edition). Place of publication: Publisher.
Kelly, C. and Lovell, S. eds. (2000) Russian literature, modernism and the visual arts.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://lilt.ilstu.edu/wmcbrid/oedipus.jpg&imgrefurl=http://lilt.ilstu.ed
u/
wmcbrid/drama.htm&h=516&w=509&sz=74&hl=en&start=33&tbnid=6rCUBbPfzc0DpM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=
129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doedipus%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl
%3Den%26sa%3DN

Citing a chapter in an edited volume

Author (Year) Chapter title. In Editors Name(s) (ed(s).) Book title (edition). Place of
Publication: Publisher, Page numbers.
Ayish, M. (2001) The Changing Face of Arab Communications: Media Survival in the
Information
Age. In Kai Hafez ( Eds.), Mass Media, Politics, and society in the Middle East, Hampton
Press, INC. New Jersey, 111-136.
Citing a journal article
Author (year) Article title. Journal title, volume number, issue number, page numbers.
Sawant, P. B. (2003). Accountability in journalism. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 18 (1),
16-28.
Citing a newspaper article
When an author is cited
Author. Full date. Title of article. Newspaper, volume number if applicable, page number(s).
Browaeys, D.B. and Kaplan J.-C. May 2000. La tentation de le lapartheid gntique. Le
Monde Diplomatique, 554. 1.
For an unattributed item
Title, full date. Newspaper, volume number if applicable, page number(s).
French face racism enquiry, 16 March 1699. The Daily Groat, 3.
Citing audio and video material
Audio / video-tape
Composer or author(s) (date) Title, Publisher, tape section number / duration if applicable.
Broady, E. and Meinhof, U. (1995) Tltextes, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Video clip
Deutsche Einheit Grenze: Minensuche (25.6.91) Tagesthemen, 244. ARD.
Citing internet sites
The safest way to cite correctly is to copy and paste WWW addresses to a text file as you
view them.
Author / editor(s) (year) Title [online] (edition). Place of publication: publisher (if
ascertainable), URL, accessed date.
Hautus, E. (2000) Salsa dancing in Amsterdam [online] http://www.xs4all.nl/~ehautus/salsaamsterdam.html Accessed 30 July 2000.
Shummo, M. ( 2009) The right to communicate as seen in developing countries [online]
http://www.righttocommunicate.org. Accessed 18 January 2009.