Harvard Referencing online tutorial script
This tutorial will explain why you need to reference your work and introduce you to the
LSBU Harvard referencing system.
You need to reference your work in order: To prove that substantial research has been
done to support your analysis To give credit to other people's work
To enable others to follow up on your work And also...
To avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the work or ideas of another as your own. This is cheating
and degrades academic standards. You can avoid plagiarism by referencing your work using
the LSBU Harvard system.
There are two elements to referencing. First is the use of in-text citations and second
is the reference list.
The in-text citation is when you refer to someone's work in your essay. This is normally
the surname of the author and the year their work was published.
The reference list comes at the end of your work and details all the resources you've
referred to in your essay.
Let's look at in-text citation. This can be done in two ways.
You can start the sentence with the citation details i.e. Smith, brackets, 2011 close brackets. Or, you can end your
sentence with the citation details i.e. Brackets Smith comma 2011 close brackets.
If you directly quote from an author, you'll need to put the words in quotation marks and
add the page number to the citation details i.e. brackets Smith comma 2011 comma p. 17
close brackets.
For this tutorial, we will look at how to reference a book, a journal article and a
website. In ways, they are very similar in terms of
the details you need about each item, but each are presented in a different way in your
reference list.
Let's start with a book. In order to successfully reference a book, you will need:
The authors name. The year the book was published.
The title of the book. The place the book was published.
And the name of the publisher.
These details can usually be found on the title page and imprint page of a book.
So you can see, the author is Mike Cardwell, the year of publication is 2010,
the title of the book is A-Z Handbook Psychology, the edition is 4th edition, the place of publication
is Deddington and the publisher is Philip Alan Updates.
So, the reference would like this........ You have the author's surname and initial,
the year in brackets, the title in italics, the edition of the book, the place of publication
and the publisher.
Let's move on to referencing a journal article. In order to successfully reference a journal
article you will need: The author's name
The year the article was published The title of the article
The title of the journal The volume and issue number
and the page range of the article This information can usually be found on the
front page of the article and sometimes on the front cover of the journal.
In this case, you can find all the details you need on the front cover of the article:
You can see, the authors are Fred Bronner and Robert de Hoog, the year of publication
is 2013, the title of the article is Social Media and Consumer Choice, the title of the
journal is International Journal of Market Research, the volume number is 56, the issue
number is 1 and the page range is 51-71.
So the reference would look like this.......
You have the author's surnames and initials, the year in brackets, the title of the article,
the journal title in italics, the volume and issue number and the page range of the article.
Lastly, let's look at referencing a website.
In order to do this you will need:
The author's name (when there isn't an author, you can use the corporate author,
for example the BBC) Year the page was created/ updated
Title of the webpage The full URL which is the link in the address
bar at the top The date you accessed the webpage
So, in this case, you can see the author is the BBC, the year the page was created is
2014, the title of the article is Children 'influenced by parents' screen-viewing habits'.
Then the full URL taken from the address bar and the date you accessed the site.
So, if you accessed the website on the 7th May 2014, your reference would look like this:
You have the corporate author's name followed by the year the page was updated. You then
have title of the website in italics. This is followed by the full URL and then the date
you accessed the article.
Here are a few tips to help you when you're referencing your work.
Keep track of everything you have used -- you could start compiling your reference list
as soon as you start reading a document Make accurate notes to distinguish your own
words between ideas from the work of other people
Be consistent It is better to reference too much than not
enough If you are unsure, ask!
The library has produced a Harvard Referencing Helpsheet which can be found under our "How
to" guides. We also have copies of this in the library for you to take.
If you'd like a one-to-one appointment with your Information Skills Adviser, you can contact
them for an appointment. Details will be on the next slide.
Don't forget the Research helpdesk. This is on Level 3 Bridge of the Perry library
and is open during term time between, 11am -- 4.30pm.
Look out for our Skills Days or Assignment Surgeries -- these are advertised online
and in the library. You can come along for support with referencing.
Here are the contact details for the Skills Advisers should you require further help.
We hope you have found this tutorial useful.