Write it Right - A guide to Harvard referencing style

The Harvard referencing style (also known as ‘author-date’) is commonly used at TUS Midwest.
There are two elements to the Harvard referencing style. This means when you reference using the Harvard system, you have to do two things: 

1. Include an author-date citation each time you refer to a source in the body of your essay.
   Note: also, include the page number if it is a direct quotation.
2. Compile a complete reference list of all the sources that you cited throughout your essay on a separate page at the end of your essay.
   Note: this list must be in alphabetical order according to the first author's surname.

In summary, when you are writing up your college projects, you must remember to acknowledge the other authors you are using in two places:

• in the text of your assignment (in-text citations), and,
• at the end of your assignment (reference list).

If you have used the author’s exact words (direct quotation) or the author’s ideas (paraphrasing) from a book, journal article, etc. you must acknowledge this in your text. This is referred to as in-text citing:

In-text citations give the brief (abbreviated) details of the work that you are quoting from, or to which you are referring in your text. These citations will then link to the full reference in the reference list at the end of your work, which is arranged in alphabetical order by author (Pears and Shields, 2019, p.7).

Author prominent citing 
This citation method gives prominence to the author’s surname (family name) as part of your sentence with the date and page number in parentheses (round brackets). 
Note: The page number is necessary if you are quoting directly. 

Information prominent citing
This citation method gives prominence to the information with the required referencing details in parentheses at the end of the citation.

Author(s) name

• For one author, use surname of author only. There is no need to include initials.
  Example - (Barr, 2016, p. 22)
• For two authors, use both authors’ surnames linked by ‘and’. 
  Example - (Tabrizi and Rahmani, 2021, p. 13).
• For three or more authors, use the first author’s surname and et al. 
  Example - (O'Neill et al., 2019, p. 120). 

Year:

• Give full four digits for the year.

Pages:

• Give page numbers if you are quoting directly. Abbreviate to p. for a single page and pp. for a page range.
  

  Examples ‘Ireland has contributed to, and being affected by, global warming’ (Robbins, 2020, p. 3).  ‘It has implemented a carbon tax and encouraged renewable energy development’ (Robbins, 2020, pp. 3-4).

• Structure your sentence to include the in-text citation. 

  Example According to Williams (2020, p. 12) ‘among the treasures to be collected from the woods are pine cones’.

• If you are paraphrasing, it is not essential to give page numbers. 

  Example Williams (2020) inspires readers to experience the natural world for themselves.

Quotations should be used sparingly, selected carefully, used in context, integrated into your text, and reproduced exactly (including the words, spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and paraphrasing of the original writer). 

Short quotations
Short quotations (fewer than 30 words) should:

• be incorporated into your sentence without disrupting the flow of your paragraph,
• have single quotation marks,
• have the full stop after the citation, and,
• keep the same font size.

Long quotations 
Long quotations (more than 30 words) should:

• be introduced in your own words,
• begin on a new line,
• be fully indented by default (i.e. 1.27 cm) from the left margin,
• be in single line spacing.

Separate the quotation from the lead-in statement with one blank line. The lead-in statement ends with a colon(:). Separate the quotation from the text that follows it with one blank line.

Quotation marks

• Quotation marks are not used for longer quotations.
• When using an information prominent long quotation, the full stop is included after the last sentence of the quotation after the citation.

Words omitted from quotations

• To omit unnecessary words from quotations, use an ellipsis … (3 dots).
  Note: Make sure the quotation still has the same meaning.

• If the quotation does not begin at the start of a sentence, an ellipsis should be used to convey this.

When you cite someone else’s work, you must state the author/editor and the date of publication. If the work has two authors/editors, you must cite both names. Don't forget to include page numbers for direct quotations. 
There is no need to include the title, place of publication etc. These details are listed in the reference list at the end of your essay.  

For a work that has three or more authors/editors, the abbreviation, et al. is used after the first author’s name. 

For a work that has the same author/editor, and was written in the same year as an earlier citation, you must use a lower case letter after the date to differentiate between the two. 

Citing from books with chapters written by different authors 
Some books may contain chapters written by several different authors. In this case the author who wrote the chapter should be cited not the editor of the book.

If you are reading a source by one author, for example, Garvey (2019) and he cites or quotes the work of another author, for example, Taylor (1996) you may cite or quote the original work, Taylor (1996) as a secondary reference.
Note: It is always best practice to try and locate the original reference and secondary references should only be used if it is difficult to access the original work

Charts, images, figures etc. should be treated as direct quotations in that the author/editor, year and page number should be acknowledged in-text, and the full reference to the item should be listed in the reference list.