References are necessary to identify sources of information used in written work. When producing academic writing, you are required to acknowledge the work of others by citing the text and creating a list of references and bibliographies at the end of your assignment. Citations, references, and bibliographies demonstrate that you have knowledge of what has already been written about the subject. It also allows your tutor to check your research.
At South Bank Colleges, we use the Harvard style, which is outlined in this guide to provide you with handy advice and examples on how you can cite and reference the information sources you use to write your assignment.
Note: You must never use someone else’s idea without acknowledgement; this is called plagiarism.
The references list contains the full details of all sources you have summarised or quoted, plus any sources you use in your writing, in alphabetical order by the author's surname.
Whereas the bibliographies include the full details of all sources you have read in preparation to write your assignments, which appear in your bibliography in alphabetical order by the author's surname.
Use the title or the name of the institution for any source that does not have an author. It is important to be consistent in your reference and bibliography, so always include the same information about your information sources in the same order, using the same font and punctuation.
When you refer to the work of an author in an assignment, you must always mention (cite) the author(s) in the text. This is called citing the author. Citing within the text refers the reader to your reference list for all the sources you have used to write your assignment. This is written at the end of your assignment. From there, the reader can locate the original source.
Below is an example of what a citation looks like in an essay or a report.
Management theories have been investigated in many business studies courses since they were devised (Hemingway, 2006).
A direct quotation should be written with quotation marks and the author’s name, date of publication, and page number(s) in brackets and must be written in a separate, indented paragraph.
Below is an example of a direct quotation.
"In academic writing it is essential to state the sources of ideas and information” (Cottrell, 2008, p. 130).
Use the title page and its reverse of the book to find the following information.
Author Surname, Initial.,
(year of publication).
Title: subtitle written in italics.
Edition (if not the 1st edition).
Place of publication:
Publisher.
e.g.Cottrell, S., (2008). The study skills handbook. 3rd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Use the front cover and the page with the publishing details to find the following information.
Author Surname, Initial.,
(year of publication).
Title: subtitle of the article.
Title of the journal in italics.
Volume number
(Issue or part number),
page numbers.
e.g.Longfield, A., (2010). Families and social policy. Sociology Review. 20 (1), pp. 17-19.
The exact URL (Internet address) is available in the address field at the top of the your browser. The year the site was last updated is available at the bottom of the page. Also include the date you accessed the web page.
Author Surname, Initial., or
Organization,
(year the web page was last updated).
Title: subtitle written in italics.
Available on-line then the full URL address
(Accessed date, month ,year).
e.g. BBC, (2010). Government to scrap M4 bus lane [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11451350 (Accessed 01/02/2022).
A list of references or bibliographies should be included at the end of your assignment. The bibliographies or references should look like the illustration below.
A brief Guide to Harverd Style Citation, referencing and Bibliography
South Bank University Guide to Harvard Referencing System
Anglia Ruskin Guide to Harvard Referencing System
Lambeth College Library and Learning Resources, (2023). A brief Guide to Harvard Style Citation, Referencing and bibliography [Online]. Available at: A Brief Guide to Harverd Style Citation, Referencing and Bibliography.pdf (Accessed 19/07/2023).
LSBU Library and Learning Resources, (2023). Harvard Referencing Guide [Online]. Available at: https://library.lsbu.ac.uk/harvardreferencing (Accessed 19/07/2023).
University of Derby, (2012). A guide to Harvard Referencing [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDgqqPvMn0U (Accessed 19/07/2023).