This guide has been produced by the ASU in response to questions from Business School students about the important subject of accurate referencing.  It is essential for you to reference your work thoroughly because everything you write for the Business School is 'evidenced' - your discussion and arguments should consist mainly of academic theory and 'expert' practitioner experience. These two main sources (theory and practice) MUST be referenced throughout your writing.  Readers must be able to see which words are your own words and what sources you have used as evidence to back up your assertions.

 

It is essential to remember that:

1) Your tutor must be able to check your source.

2) Other readers might want to follow up your work.

3) If you do not reference, you can be accused of stealing the work and ideas of others, and this is the serious offence of Plagiarism.

 

The UH Business School uses a Harvard referencing system. ASU have produced a 'standard' version from the many different variations available because it is important to be consistent with all your references. ASU has worked with LIS to produce this standard referencing format for the Business School.   Harvard is a modern 'author-date' system and should not be used in the same document with the older footnote system ('historical' system) which contains numbers in the text and footnotes. The complete reference consists of two parts - an in-text citation and a final reference in the list of References, which has the following order:

   

 

HARVARD BASIC ORDER OF INFORMATION   Harvard is an 'AUTHOR DATE' system, and (if known), you must record the information in this order: Author (Year) Title. Place of publication: Name of publisher.

 

 

If you do not have any part of the information, you will have to leave it out or indicate you do not have it with 'date unknown' for example. Very rarely is the 'author unknown' although it may be a 'corporate' author. You can reference ANY sources using Harvard - the rule is keep the same order of information as above.

 

WHO WROTE THE WORK?

WHEN DID THEY WRITE IT?

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE WORK?

WHERE CAN IT BE FOUND?

 

 

References and Bibliography

 

References are NOT the same as a Bibliography. Your lecturer may ask you to put either one of these, or both at the end of your assignment.  Whichever you use, the Harvard style is the same and it must be arranged alphabetically. Here are the differences:

 

References

 

References contain a list of all the sources you actually used and 'cited' in the text.  

 

Bibliography

 

A Bibliography contains all the sources of information that you used as 'background' reading for the assignment but you did not actually cite these sources in the text.  A Bibliography should not only include books, but any background sources that you think should be mentioned. Do not make a long Bibliography to impress. Only include items that you think provide useful information for the reader.  

 

Remember:

 

1. References / Bibliography must be arranged alphabetically, according to author.
2. A Reference list must contain an entry for each in-text citation. 
3. Other sources, not cited in the text, should go in a separate Bibliography.
4. Always note the full details of your references and quotes as you read and write, so that you do not forget your sources. It will then be easier to make the final list of References. 
5. Include a page number if your citation is a direct quotation from your source.
6. Make a final check when editing your work that each in-text citation also appears in the References.
7. Do not mix Harvard with other referencing systems (i.e. do not use 'ibid', 'op.cit', etc.)
8. UHBS Harvard Referencing does not use numbering, footnotes and endnotes.  
9. Even though there are slight variations of the Harvard format in use worldwide, the key issue is that you must be CONSISTENT and use the same style throughout.  The format in this guide has been agreed by the ASU, LIS and interested UHBS staff.
10. Only reference the sources you actually use (see primary and secondary sources below).
11. Take careful note of the different use of italics, inverted commas, etc. between different types of sources (e.g. books and journals). Generally, the titles of books, journals and newspapers are put in italics. The titles of articles in journals are put in inverted commas.
12. If your source is an electronic version, rather than a paper copy of a journal, book, newspaper or report, then you need to state [Online] to show that you read it online instead of hard copy.
13. Use ‘Available at’ for URL (uniform resource locator) to identify a web address.
14. Always include the date (day, month and year) that you 'accessed' your web reference source.

 

 

Primary and secondary sources

 

Primary sources are the 'original' sources. Secondary sources are the primary sources referred to by other authors. This guide gives examples of both types of sources. Remember that wherever possible, you should always consult the primary source.  However, whatever type of source you use, the golden rule is to only cite and reference the source that you actually use.  

 

 

Attribution tense

 

As a general rule, use the present tense. For example, "Brown (1987) suggests…". You are stating that Brown held this opinion in 1987 and implies he still does so today.

 

Final list of References

Consistent punctuation and spacing are necessary in the References. Some general rules apply:

       Authors' names:

       Use only the initials of the authors' given names.

       No full stops and no spaces are used between initials.

       Titles of works:

       Use minimal capitalisation for the titles of books, book chapters and journal articles.

       In the titles of journals, magazines and newspapers, capital letters should be used as they appear normally.

       Use italics for the titles of books, journals, and newspapers.

       Enclose titles of book chapters and journal articles in inverted commas (single quotation marks).

       Page numbering:

       Books: page numbers are not usually needed in the References.

       Journal articles: page numbers appear as the final item of the citation, followed by a full        stop.

       Use the abbreviations p. for a single page, and pp. for a page range, e.g. pp.11-12

       Whole citation:

       The different details, or elements, of each citation are separated by full stops.

       The whole citation finishes with a full stop.

 

 

Contents

 

Books

1 One author

2 Two authors

3 Several authors

4 Edited book

5 More than one book by the same author in the same year

 

Journals

6 Author unknown

7 One author

8 Two authors

9 Author citing another author

 

Electronic Information

10 Electronic book

11 Electronic journal

12 Internet page - author known

13 Organisation website

14 Information databases – citing a journal article

15 Information databases – citing a report

16 Discussion group/Bulletin board

17 Virtual Learning Environments (StudyNet)

18 Conference proceedings (published)

19 Electronic magazine or newsletter

20 Online images (graphs, diagrams)

21 Multiple references to the same website

22 Using acronyms (short forms of organisation/institution names)

 

Other sources

23 Two articles by same author in same year

24 Reference material (dictionary, encyclopaedia)

25 Images( graphs, photographs)

26 Newspaper or magazine article - unspecified author

27 Newspaper or magazine article – author known

28 Corporate author

29 Lecture notes(PowerPoint slides, handouts)

30 Personal communication (letter, fax, conversation)

31 Research reports

32 CD-ROM bibliographical database

33 Film (DVD / Videocassette / film)

34 Full conference proceedings

35 Government/EU publication

36 Reports

37 In house publications

38 Thesis / dissertation

39 Translation (by translator)

40 Translation (by student)

41 Encyclopaedia entries

42 Exhibition catalogues

43 Photographs

44 Graphs and tables

45 Legislation

46 Case law

47 Television

48 Radio

49 Quotations

50 Quoting other students

 

（待续）