Cite Them Right is a book in the library which tells you how to create references in your assignments and coursework. There is now an online version of this guide.
When you use information or ideas created by other people in your essays or assignments, you need to let readers know you have done this.
Copying something written by another person and putting it into your assignment as if it is your own work is known as PLAGIARISM. You are not allowed to do this in college.
The Harvard Referencing System is a way of showing anyone reading your assignment where each piece of other peoples’ information you use came from.
The HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM has three parts:
It is easier to see how the system works in the following example in the Harvard Style. (Please note the studies referred to are not real and are for demonstration purposes only)
SAMPLE TEXT WITH CITATIONS
A study has shown that the majority of Irish people prefer vanilla ice cream to chocolate ice cream (Bloggs, 2012). However, another study has shown that vanilla is not as popular as strawberry ice cream in the north west of Ireland (Doe, 2013).
Reference List
Bloggs, J. (2012) Study on ice cream eating in Ireland. Dublin: Ice Cream Study Group.
Doe, J. (2013) North West desert choice survey. Sligo: Eating Habits Research Body.
Bibliography
Other, A.N. (2011) Implementing food surveys. London: Survey Institute.
The information for each item on the reference list and bibliography usually begins with the author followed by the publication date, the title in italics, the place of publication and the publisher.
The basic system is simple. However, since you will use information from many different sources it is sometimes difficult to know how to create your citations and reference list. You can use Cite Them Right Online to guide you in how to lay out your citations and references.
Harvard (Author, Date) is a referencing style. There are other styles. Some of these use numbers in the text to indicate a citation and a numbered list of references at the end of the text. An example of a numbered system is the Vancouver Referencing Style.
You should always check with your lecturer or the staff member supervising your assignment to find out what referencing style to use for your assignment.