Harvard is a referencing style using an author date system.
Why reference?
- To acknowledge someone else's work.
- To allow the reader to identify the sources cited, and the location of the information.
- To communicate your knowledge and analysis of the sources to the reader or marker. Referencing is often in the marking criteria.
- To place yourself in scholarly communication with the experts in your field.
- To practice the expected and required academic honesty and to avoid plagiarism.
When reference?
- Every time you use words, ideas, data, images or content not your own or taken from another source.
- Common knowledge does not require reference. For example, 'the capital of France is Paris'.
The author date system
Every reference is made up of two corresponding parts.
- The in text citation. Used in the text where sourced information is used. It provides basic information only, such as the author, year and the page number, if appropriate. The in text citation allows the reader to go to and locate the full reference in the reference list.
- The reference list entry. It gives the full details of the source used, sufficient to uniquely identify and locate the source.
A referencing style provides rules of consistency so that a reader is able to interpret the citation and end referencing without confusion.
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