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Citing and referencing
using Harvard: A quick guide
Detailed information on all aspects of citation and referencing using the Harvard system, including examples of
difcult to reference sources, can be found in the UHI Student Referencing Guide
What, when and why must I ‘cite’
and ‘reference’?
What?
You must cite and reference all images, tables,
illustrations and graphs taken from printed or
internet sources, as well as blogs, e-mails, wikis,
conversations, TV and radio broadcasts, plus all
statements, opinions, conclusions, etc. taken from
another writer’s work, whether the work is directly
quoted, paraphrased or summarised.
When?
• When quoting directly from someone else’s
work (using an author’s exact words within
quotation marks)
• When summarising a piece of writing (briefly
stating an author’s overall argument or
viewpoint in your own words)
• When paraphrasing an author’s thoughts or
views (putting them into your own words)
• When using images or data produced
by another
These instances refer to the work of others,
whether published or unpublished. They include
the written word, spoken word, visual sources,
works of art, graphs and charts, music, maps
and diagrams.
Why?
• The ideas and words you are using are
not yours, but the intellectual property of
someone else, and you must acknowledge this.
• Failure to acknowledge someone else’s
intellectual property in your work is regarded
as plagiarism, which is penalised by tutors,
markers and examiners.
• It shows the academic backing for your
arguments, with evidence of the breadth and
depth of your reading.
• It enables the reader to identify and trace the
sources you have used for your ideas.
• Exposing the ideas of others in your feld to
critical examination is an integral part of the
academic method. Citing and referencing
provides the necessary structure for this process.
This is intended to be a quick introduction to referencing using Harvard. The UHI Student Referencing
Guide provides comprehensive coverage of the subject and will help you tackle referencing some of
the more complex or unusual sources.
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Detailed information on all aspects of citation and referencing using the Harvard system,
including examples of difcult to reference sources, can be found in the UHI Student Referencing Guide
How do I do it?
1. In-text
citations
In-text citations occur within
the main body of your essay,
report or assignment.
An in-text citation gives brief
information about your source;
the author, the date, and the
page number (if appropriate).
2. List of
references
A list of references is included
on a separate page at the
end of your essay, report or
assignment.
The list of references gives
full details of your source and
provides enough information
for readers to locate it.
Where do they go? What info is included?
How to create in-text citations
Within your text, within brackets:
• Give the author’s surname, or the corporate author, organisation, artist, or editor if there is no author
(e.g. Smith, Microsoft, Scottish Government).
• Give the year the source was produced (e.g. 2006).
• Give the page numbers if you QUOTE, PARAPHRASE or SUMMARISE words or ideas on a specifc page of
the source. However, if you are summarising what an author has argued in an entire book or article, you
do not need to give page numbers.
• If you have used the author’s name in the sentence, there is no need to put in the brackets; just the year
and page number, if appropriate.
Examples
Quoting directly:
Aitken argues that land fll sites are “not cost
efcient” (2006: 48).
Paraphrasing:
Aitken argues that land fll sites are expensive
and inefcient (2006: 48).
Summarising an entire book or article:
A recent study reveals new information about
child poverty in Scotland (Weir 2007).
Resources with three authors
There is some opposition to Britain’s future
adoption of the euro (Cox, Patel, and
Pavliotis 2004).
Resources with more than three authors:
Fletcher et al. (2006: 88) suggest that in this
century global climate change has caused
billions of dollars’ worth of damage.
There are several referencing systems in existence: the approved UHI system is the standard Harvard
system. There are two elements to the Harvard system:
How to create a list of references
Sometimes sources are produced by an
organisation, not an individual. This is known as
a corporate author. You cite and reference these
as usual but give the organisation as the author
rather than an individual’s name.
Your list of references should contain all of the sources that you have cited in your work and should
appear on a separate page at the end of your essay or assignment. The list of references is organised
alphabetically according to the surname of the author or corporate author. Guidance is given below
on how to reference the most common resource types. Detailed information on all aspects of citation
and referencing using the Harvard system, including referencing electronic journals, Twitter posts
and difcult-to-reference sources, can be found in the UHI Student Referencing Guide.
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• Surname and initial of author or editor
• Year that the work was published
• Title and edition number
• Place of publication
• Publisher
Ball, M. (1997) Consulting
with Parents: Guidance
for practice 2nd edn.
Edinburgh: National Press
Book
Website
or web
resource
• Surname and initial of author or corporate author
• Year site was published / last updated
• Title of website or resource
• Full web address (the URL)
• Date you accessed the site/resource
Holland, M. (1996) Using the Harvard system [online]. Available
from <http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/servicesdepts/lis/LISpub/harvardsyst.htm> [16th Dec 2009]
Information to include Examples
David, T. (ed.) (1993)
Educating our Children:
European Perspectives.
London: Chapman
Publishing
Journal
article
• Author(s) in the order they are given in the journal
• Year the journal was published
• Title of article
• Title of journal
• Journal volume and issue number
• Page numbers of the article
Potter, F. (2005) ‘White
noise and particle
behaviour’. Journal of
Mathematics and Physics 2
(1), 67-81
Valentine, S., Varca, P.,
Godkin, L. and Barnett,
T. (2010) ‘Positive Job
Response and Ethical
Job Performance’.
Journal of Business Ethics
91 (2), 195-206
Author, A. (year of publication)
Book Title Nth edition. Place of
publication: Publisher
Author, A. (year of publication/
update) Website or Resource
Title [online]. Available from
<URL> [Day Month Year]
Format
Author, A. , Author, B. (year
of publication) ‘Article Title’.
Journal Title volume number
(issue number), page numberpage number
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