General information on how to use the Harvard Referencing Style

(Faculty of Health Sciences - UP, December 2012: Department of Nursing Science & Department of Physiotherapy)

The Harvard referencing system is a brief citation to a source and is given in parentheses within the text of an article, and full citations collected in alphabetical order under "List of References," heading at the end. This style is also known as the "author-date" style.

However when we're writing articles for publication we have to consult the "Instructions to authors" for the specific journal in which we want to publish.

• Your reference list should identify all references cited (eg books, journal articles, pamphlets, internet sites, CDRom, DVD, etc) in sufficient detail so that others can locate and consult your references.
• It is very important that you use the right punctuation and that the order of details in the reference is also correct.
• A reference list at the end of the assignment contains the full details of all the in-text citations.

In-text references

• The identification of references within the text of your assignment are identified by "author-date" style.
• The name can be a part of a sentence and the date and page numbers only given in brackets or sometimes both the name and date including the page number are put in brackets depending on how you use the citation within the wording of the paragraph:

Example:
Fischer (2011:96) remarks on the difficult of finding appropriate material on a topic ...
OR
The difficulty of finding appropriate material has been remarked on (Fischer 2011:96).

• When multiple references are cited at a given place in a text, see punctuation used to seperate authors' names or the names of groups of co-authors:

Example:
Fischer (2011:96), Masilela and Browne (2011:35), and De Jager, Patrick and Williamson (2012:101) remark on the difficulty of finding appropriate material.
OR
The difficulty of finding appropriate material has been remarked on (Fischer 2011:96; Masilela and Browne 2011:35; De Jager, Patrick and Williamson 2012:101).

• Using of 'et al' - The first time you refer to a publication in your document you give the names of all authors even if there are 6 of them.

Example:
De Jager, Patrick and Williamson (2012:101) comment on the dangers of taking this approach.

Everytime you use this publication after the first reference you'll use:
De Jager, et al (2012:101) comment on the dangers of taking this approach.

• Direct quotations (even short ones) will be used when you consider that the words used by the author you are citing will express a particular meaning to your readers in a way that you couldn't match. Any direct quotation should be indicated by double quote marks. You need to write the page number for every in-text reference you give - even if you have not used a direct quotation.

Example:
"Some of our public hospitals are a mess and a shambles." (Maibelea 2011: 35)
Please note the reference markers will be outside the full stop.

If, however, you choose to leave out "and a shambles" you would write:
"Some of our public hospitals are a mess" (Maibela 2011: 35).
In this case your reference marker would come in front of the full stop because of what you have quoted didn't end in a full stop.

• Long quotations - example

Long quotations (longer than 40 words) should not be set out in the way short ones are. With short quotations you use double quote marks around the quotation and write the quoted phrase or sentence as part of your paragraph. Long quotations should be set out as paragraphs on their own and be indented from either side. (Jones 2012:10)

You don't need quotation marks around direct quotations set out in this way. Please note the position of the full stop.

How to Create a Reference List in Harvard style

• Understand the meaning of "Title Case" and "Sentence case".
  Punctuation: It is very important that you use the right punctuation and that the order of details in the reference is also correct.
• Book and journal titles are not italicised or placed in quotation marks.
• Only first words of the article title and words that normally begin with a capital letter are capitalised.
• Some commonly used abbreviations:
  • c. = circa (about, approximately in time)
  • ch. = chapter
  • ed. = edition
  • et al. = and others
  • fig; figs = figure(s)
  • ill; ills = illustrator(s)
  • p. = page(s)
  • para; paras = paragraph(s)
  • pt; pts = part(s)
  • rev = revised
  • suppl = Supplement

Examples of the most common publication types are listed below.

For examples of bibliographic references, click on the type of reference you would like to see:

BOOKS:

Please notice where the name of the publishing house "Limpopo Publishers" in this case goes and the name of the city (not state or country) where the book was published. If, however, the plase of publication is likely to be unknown to readers you can add the country ("SA" in this case). Also notice how and where to indicate what edition of the book it is. If you are referencing a book that is in its first edition you don't include that information in your reference item.

Title of the book is given in sentence case.

Main elements of a reference to a book:
Author/Editor/Compiler's surname, initials(full stop after each initial). Year of publication. Title of the book. # edn. (if not the 1st) Place of publication: Publisher's name.

**Give the first six names in full and add "et al". The authors are listed in the order in which they appear on the title page.

Follow the same methods used with authors but use the word "editor" or "editors" in full after the name/s. The word editor or editors must be in lower case. (Do NOT confuse with "ed." which is used for "edition")

**The first edition of a book is never mentioned. However from the 2nd edition onwards always give the specific edition of the book, eg 2nd edn.

Chapter in a book:

• Note where the word "ed" or "eds" (for editor or editors) goes in your reference item.
• Notice the first author has "3rd" immediately after his initials. American publications tend to indicate in this way that an author is the second or third generation to carry the family name and initials.
• NB - also note that you reference a chapter, as shown, only if you used a singel chapter with authors in a book. If you refer to more than one chapter in the edited book then simply reference the entire book.

Elements of the reference:
Author's (of the chapter) surname initials. Title of chapter. In: Editor's surname initials, ed. Title of the book. # ed. [if not 1st] Place of publication: Publisher's name; Year of publication. p. #. [page numbers of chapter]

• Abbreviate page numbers to p. eg p. 12-26.
• Abbreviate numbers where appropriate eg. p. 122-8.

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Recommended to always cite an article as a print copy except when pages clearly indicate e3-e5.

Main elements of a journal reference:
Author's surname, Initials., Author's surname, Initials. Year. Title of article. Title of Journal. Volume number (issue number): page numbers.

**Give the first six names in full and add "et al". The authors are listed in the order in which they appear on the title page.

Supplement and/or parts

OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

Elements of a reference to a conference paper:

Editor's/Authors surname Initials, editor. Title of the Paper. Number and Name of Conference; Date of conference; City where conference took place: Place of publication.

(if available include additional information eg place of production, printer)

Note: Include the definition looked up - in this case "Filamin"

INTERNET:

Elements of a citation:

Author/Editor/Organisation's name [Internet]. Title of the page. Place of publication: Publisher's name; [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: URL