REFERENCING IN ACADEMIC WRITING

 

Explicit indication of the contribution of other authors to shaping one's writing is one of the characteristics of academic writing in Britain and in many other countries. Explicit referencing of sources distinguishes academic writing from other types of writing, including newspapers, fiction, and other types of professional writing. All sources of information, including ideas, images, or numerical data must be documented using an established referencing system.

 

CU Guide to referencing in Harvard Style: key elements

 

This referencing style requires acknowledgement of sources in two ways:

 

1. An in-text citation every time you use information from a source in the body of your document;

2. A single entry for each source in a List of References at the end of your document.

 

1. In-text citations

 

The key principle is to acknowledge a source in the main body of your writing by providing the author’s surname and the year of publication.

 

• Add the page number/s (if available) whenever you do not refer to the source as a whole, but rather to information that can be retrieved on a single page or a specific number of pages.

 

You have two options to apply this principle in your writing, and you may vary the practice or choose the option that best fits your purpose:

 

Option 1 (integral in-text citations)

 

If you mention the author’s name in your own writing, just give the date (and page number/s if you refer to information that can be retrieved on a specific page or page range) in your in-text citation.

 

Examples

Shah (2005: 66-8) maintains that in recent years Coventry has become Britain’s most important industrial city.

According to Shah (2005:66-8), in recent years Coventry has become Britain's most important industrial city.

 

Option 2 (non-integral in-text citations)

 

If you do not mention the author’s name in your writing, give the author’s surname and date (and the page number if you refer to information that can be retrieved on a specific page or page range) in your in-text citation.

 

Example

Wavelets are an effective means of disease detection (Qureshi 2006: 95).

 

2. List of References

 

Enter the source in the List of References at the end of your document by providing all the publication or internet details in the appropriate format (see appropriate guidance for your source).

 

• The List of References is organised alphabetically according to the surname of the author or corporate author.

• Every line after the first should be indented so that the author stands out.

• There is a line of space between entries and the text is double-spaced.

• The List of References should be placed on a separate page at the end of your document.

 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IN-TEXT CITATIONS AND THE LIST OF REFERENCES

 

For each in-text citation, provide an appropriate entry in the List of References:

 

• Only sources that have at least one in-text citation should be included in the List of References.

• A source should only appear once in the List of References even if there are many in-text citations for that source in your paper.