Harvard referencing

Answer the following questions. Then use www.citethemrightonline.com to check your answers.

1. What is referencing?

2. What are the two types of references? What is the function of each type?

Type Function
In-text citation A brief citation which a) acknowledges others’ ideas and b) points the reader
to the fuller list of references in case s/he is interested in locating the source
List of references Complete information which enables the reader to locate the sources

3. Why do we need to reference? Try to think of 3 good reasons.

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4. What is your previous experience of referencing?

At Regent College London, we are going to use the Harvard author/date system of referencing.

Study the following example of a full in-text citation:

Author’s
surname Page number;
note the use of
p.

Tack, 2015, p.192

Note the use

of commas
Year
Now look at how in-text citations are used in sentences. What do you notice about the
punctuation? How do these in-text citations differ from one another? Why is this?

1. Allen (2014) points out that London’s main foreign investors come from China, Russia and the
Middle East. Author’s name included in sentence, so no need to repeat it at the end
2. There are parts of London where construction is banned due to protection of skylines (The
Economist, 2014). Organisation as author; citation enclosed in parentheses; punctuation goes
outside the parentheses
3. London is said to be in danger of a housing bubble as it satisfies ‘bubble indicators’ devised by
academic writers (Yoshino et al., 2013). Three or more authors = use et al. (‘and others’)

True or False? If the statement is false, correct it. Use Cite Them Right Online to check your
answers.

1. A list of references and a bibliography are the same thing. T / F: We will only ask for a list of
references, which is a list of all sources used; a bibliography also includes all sources read, even if
only for background information

2. To reference a printed book at the end of your paper, you need the following pieces of
information: author’s surname, year, title of book, city of publication and publisher. T / F Also
include edition if this information is given

3. When referencing a web page at the end of your paper, it is important to include the date the
page was accessed. T / F Information on the web is volatile, so it’s important to show when it was
accessed

4. You must not include sources in the list of references which were not cited in the text. T / F This
is the definition of a list of references

5. You should try to memorise the format for creating entries in the list of references. T / F: No, you
should always ALWAYS refer closely to a guide!

Look at the following information taken from an academic book. Write the correct in-text citation
and entry for the list of references in Harvard style.

Authors James Dean Brown, Theodore S. Rodgers

Title Doing second language research
Year 2002
City of publication Oxford
Publisher Oxford University Press

In-text
[sentence] (Brown and Rodgers, 2002).
List of references
Brown, J.D. and Rodgers, T. S. (2002) Doing second language research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Look at the following information taken from an academic journal article. Refer to the model
reference on Cite Them Right Online to write the correct in-text citation and entry for the list of
references in Harvard style.

Authors Richard Arthur, Martina Francisca Baidoo, Edward Antwi

Title Biogas as a potential renewable energy source: A Ghanaian case study
Year 2011
Journal Renewable Energy
Volume 36
Pages 1510-1516

In-text
[sentence] (Arthur, Baidoo and Antwi, 2011).
List of references
Arthur, R., Baidoo, M.F. and Antwi, E. (2011) ‘Biogas as a potential renewable energy source: A Ghanaian
case study’, Renewable Energy, 36, pp. 1510-1516.

Check out a book that interests you from the LRC. Write the correct in-text citation and entry for
the list of references in Harvard style.

In-text

List of references