Library, Academic Skills
Harvard Referencing Quick Guide
What is referencing?
Referencing is a system used in the academic community to indicate where ideas, theories,
quotes, facts and any other evidence and information used to undertake an assignment, can be
found.
Why do I need to reference my work?
• To avoid plagiarism, a form of academic theft.
• Referencing your work correctly ensures that you give appropriate credit to the
sources and authors that you have used to complete your assignment.
• Referencing the sources that you have used for your assignment demonstrates that you
have undertaken wide-ranging research in order to create your work.
• Referencing your work enables the reader to consult for themselves the same
materials that you used.
What do I need to reference?
All the information that you have used in your assignment will need to be acknowledged. It is
essential to make a note of all the details of the sources that you use for your assignment as you
go along. Harvard examples in this guide are based on guidance in:
Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2016) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 10th edn.
London: Palgrave.
The basics
Harvard is known as the Author & Date system:
1. Citations in the text of your assignment should be made following the in-text
guidelines given in the examples on the following pages.
2. A complete list of all the citations used in your text will need to be provided at the end of
your assignment. This is called your reference list or bibliography and needs to be
presented in alphabetical author/originator order.
Italics
Only the title of the source of information is italicised,
Punctuation
Harvard has no one true style of punctuation so the generally accepted rule is to be
consistent with your style of punctuation throughout the whole of yourassignment.
How to reference sources
Examples of how to reference commonly used materials are included below. If you need more
guidance, please ask the Academic Skills Tutors/Librarians for help
(academicskills@staffs.ac.uk
| Type of Resource |
Format | Bibliography Example | In text example |
| Book (1 author) |
Family/Surname, Initials. (Publication year in brackets) Book title in italics. Edition – only include if not the first. Place of publication: Publisher. |
Hatfield, A. (2014) The complete recovery room book. 5th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
Hatfield (2014) argues that…’ ‘quotation’ (Hatfield, 2014, p. 23) |
| Book (2 or 3 authors) |
Family/Surname, Initials. and Family/Surname, Initials. (Publication year in brackets) Book title in italics. Edition – only include if not the first. Place of publication: Publisher. |
Allman, K. and Wilson, I. (2011) Oxford handbook of anaesthesia. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
Allman and Wilson (2011) argue that… ‘quotation’ (Allman and Wilson, 2011, p. 74) |
| Book (4 or more authors) |
Family/Surname, Initials et al. (Publication year in brackets) Book title in italics. Edition – only include if not the first. Place of publication: Publisher. |
Conway, N et al. (2013) Operating department practice – clinical pocket reference. 2nd edn. Oxford: Pennant Health Publishing. |
As suggested by Conway et al (2013) ‘quotation’ (Conway et al, 2013, p. 72) |
| Book (Editor/s) |
Family/Surname, Initials. (ed.) or(eds.) – in brackets for editor/s (Publication year in brackets) Book title in italics. Place of publication: Publisher. |
Abbott, H. and Booth, H. (eds.) (2014) Foundation for operating department practice: essential theory for practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press. |
It has been argued that… (Abbott and Booth, 2014) ‘quotation’ (Abbott and Booth, 2014, p. 7) |
| Type of Resource |
Format | Bibliography Example | In text example |
| Book Chapter of an edited book |
Family/Surname, Initials. (Publication year in brackets)’Title of chapter in single quotation marks’, in Family/Surname, Initials. (ed.) Title of the book in italics. Place of publication: Publisher, pp.XX-XX. |
Joyce, P. (2014) ‘Reflections for Operating Department Practitioners’ in Abbott, H. and Booth, H. (eds.) Foundation for operating department practice: essential theory for practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 129-145. |
It has been suggested that… (Joyce, 2014) ‘quotation’ (Joyce, 2014, p. 137) |
| E-book (If we have the printed copy reference as a book) |
Family/Surname, Initials. (Publication year in brackets) Title in italics. Available at: website URL (date downloaded in brackets). |
Smith, B., Rawling, P. and Wicker, P. (2007) Core topics in operating department practice: anaesthesia and critical care. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com /lib/staffordshire/detail.action?docID=288619 (Downloaded: 24th February 2017) |
Analysis has shown that… (Smith, Rawling and Wicker, 2007) ‘quotation’ (Smith, Rawling and Wicker, 2007, p. 216) |
| Journal Article (Printed) |
Family/Surname, Initials. (Year of publication in brackets) ‘Title of article in single quotation marks’, Title of Journal – capitalisation on every word, except linking words such as and, Issue Information (number or season in round brackets), pp. page numbers. |
Wicker, P. (2010) ‘Shifting operating department practice to a graduate workforce’, Journal of Perioperative Practice, 20(7), pp. 230-233. |
Analysis has shown that… (Wicker, 2010) ‘quotation’ (Wicker, 2010, p. 231) |
| Type of Resource |
Format | Bibliography Example | In text example |
| Journal Article (Online) |
Family/Surname, Initials. (Year of publication in brackets) ‘Title of article in single quotation marks’, Title of Journal in Italics – capitalisation on every word, except linking words such as and, Issue Information (number or season in round brackets), pp. pages. Available at URL (Accessed: date) OR doi |
Wright, K. (2013) ‘How do nurses solve drug calculation problems?’, Nurse education today, 33(5), pp. 450-457. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691712001141 (Accessed: 20th April 2017) Wright, K. (2013) ‘How do nurses solve drug calculation problems?’, Nurse education today, 33(5), pp. 450-457. doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2012.04.009 |
Analysis has shown that… (Wright, 2013) ‘quotation’ (Wright, 2013, p. 452) |
| Newspaper | Family/Surname, Initials. (Year of publication in brackets) ‘Title in single quotation marks’, Title of newspaper in italics capitalise first letter of each word in title except for linking words such as and (edition if required in round brackets), day month, p.x. |
Gibbons, K. (2016) ‘Nurse helpers will be able to give out drugs’, The Times, 1 November, p. 1. |
New nursing associate roles will be created across England. (Gibbons, 2016) ‘quotation’ (Gibbons, 2016, p. 2) |
| Website | Family/Surname, Initials. – or organisation name (Year of publication in brackets) Title of webpage in italics. Available at: URL (Accessed: date of access in brackets). |
Department of Health (2017) Recovering the cost of NHS treatments given to overseas visitors. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ /recovering-the-cost-of-nhs-treatments-given-to-overseas-visitors (Accessed: 24th February 2017). |
After Identifying treatments given to overseas visitors… (Department of Health, 2017)… ‘quotation’ (Department of Health, 2017, p. 4) |
| Type of Resource |
Format | Bibliography Example | In text example |
| Television Programs (viewed online) |
‘Title of episode in single quotation marks’ (Year of broadcast in round brackets) Title of program series in italics, series number ,episode number, Name of channel, Broadcast date day month. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). |
‘NHS: The Perfect Storm’ (2015) Panorama, Series 63, episode 26, BBC One, 13 July. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05y3fcb (Accessed: 24th February 2017) |
The difficulties for the NHS were broadcast on Panorama (NHS:The Perfect Storm, 2015) |
| UK Statutes (Acts of Parliament POST 1963) |
Short title of the act and year in italics. Country/jurisdiction (only if referencing more than one country’s legislation) Available at: URL (Accessed: date) |
Mental Health Act 1983, Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga /1983/20/contents (Accessed: 23rd February 2017) |
In part two of legislation on mental health (Mental Health Act, 1983) ‘Quotation’ (Mental Health Act, 1983, p. 12) |
| Films (VHS, DVD and Blu ray) |
Title of film in italics (Year of distribution in round brackets) Directed by name [DVD/Blu-ray] Place of distribution: distribution company |
Student Paramedics (2001) Directed by James Lin [DVD].London: Mindon Gate Films |
Documentaries have been used to undermine the NHS (Student Paramedics, 2001) |
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