Referencing using the author-date or Harvard system

One of the three referencing systems commonly used is the author-date or Harvard system. The others are the traditional note system and the Vancouver system.

• Users of this Guide please note:
  While we have used italics to indicate the titles of works, underlining of the title may also acceptable
  Some Schools require a different style from the one outlined here. Use the citation style required by your School or Faculty

The Harvard system works by providing, within the text, a precise yet brief indication of the source, the details of which may be found in the list of references at the end of the assignment. It  is used by many (but not all) University of Tasmania  Schools.

The author's name, the year of publication of the source appear in brackets within or, preferably, at the end of the sentence. Note: Page, chapter or section numbers may be included if the cited work is long and the information helps the reader locate the relevant information. Always include this information when citing a quotation.  
If the author's name occurs naturally within the sentence it is not necessary to repeat it in the brackets.

A full list of references follows at the end of the assignment. A list of references is a very important feature of an assignment because it enables the reader to locate the original source of your information.

If you are referring to more than one work written by the same author in the same year, put a lower case letter after the date to indicate the different works, for example:

Kneller (1963a, p. 99) to distinguish it from Kneller (1963b)

Examples shown in this section follow the recommendations of the Australian Government Publishing Service, stipulated in the publication: 
Snooks & Co. 2002, Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edn. John Wiley & Sons, Milton, Qld.

The Library has also produced a Sample Essay. This covers the similar material to this guide, but is in the form of an essay and is in PDF format so you can how an assignment might look, complete with formatted Harvard refences. In addition, the essay has even more examples than this guide.

Back to Contents

Examples of references made within the text

Book or serial with one author

The point made by an analytic philosopher (O'Connor 1969, p. 32) is that values cannot be justified in this way. However Kneller (1963b) insists that the theorist will inevitably be involved in value claims.

Book or serial article with two authors

The point is made by some educationists that schools are entering a new phase (Reynolds & Skilbeck 1976, p. 126).

Book or serial article with more than two authors

Anatomical landmarks have been described in detail (Dumoulin et al. 2000).

Encyclopedia, dictionary or newspaper article (anonymous)

A population pyramid is a 'Graphic means of showing the age and sex distribution of a population' (The Pontiac modern encyclopedia 1973, p. 1177).

According to a recent newspaper article (Advocate 12 October 1988, p. 1),...

If there is no author the citation can be in-text only with no entry in the list of references.

Secondary sources

When an author refers to or quotes another author (a secondary source), this must be clearly indicated in the text.

Chambers (1983, p. 25) gives Whiteley's (1979) definition of emotion as 'a response to situations of one specific type ...'.

In this example, the reference actually used was Chambers (1983), not Whiteley (1979).

A reference list entry must be made for Chambers, but can be made for both items if it is useful to your reader.

Personal communication

This is a communication that is not formal or published, but written or spoken. This includes telephone and fax messages.

(P Keating 1994, pers. comm., 2 May).

Personal communications are not included in the list of references.

Back to Contents

List of references

The  list of references is the final section of any assignment and lists all the works to which you have referred in the body of that assignment.  Note that a bibliography is different in that it lists all the works that you have consulted during the research for the assignment whether you have actually referred to them or not. Normally a list of references is used unless a bibliography is specifically required by your lecturer.

The list of references is arranged alphabetically by author/title and not numbered. The definite article ('The') is omitted from the beginning of titles in the list of references. Sufficient information should be provided in the list of references to enable the reader to find a copy of the work to which you have referred.

Examples for books monographs, reports

References for books usually adhere to the following format and punctuation:

• author's last name
• author's initials
• date,
• title,
• edition (if not the first),
• publisher,
• place of publication.
• viewed date, (electronic sources only)
• URL. (electronic sources only)

Book with one author

O'Connor, DJ 1957, An introduction to the philosophy of education, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Book with two or three authors

Reynolds, J & Skilbeck, M 1976, Culture and the classroom, Open Books, London.

Zikmund, WG & D'Amico, M 1989, Marketing, 3rd edn, Wiley, New York.

Edited book

Douglas, N, Douglas, G & Derrett, R (eds) 2001, Special interest groups : context and cases, John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane, Qld.
Note: cite intext as (eds Douglas et al.  2001)

Exhibition catalogue

Murray, K 2003, Haven: the art and craft of refuge in Tasmania, exhibition catalogue, 27 March-10May 2003, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas.

Corporate author

(that is, publication by a group or committee or government department with no identifiable author or editor.)

Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission 1986, Review of TAFE funding, AGPS, Canberra.

Note: After defining what it means, you could cite this in-text as (CTEC 2003) and refer to CTEC in your text if you will be referring to that body a number of times in your document. List it in the references as above, with a see reference as shown in the sample references below.

Book with no author

In this case the title is given first.

Guidebook to Australian social security law 1983, CCH Australia, North Ryde, NSW.

Encyclopedia article (signed)

Lazarus, AA  2001,’Multimodal therapy’ in WE Craighead & CB Nemeroff (eds.) The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioural science, 3rd edn, Wiley, New York, vol. 3, pp. 993-4.

Thesis or dissertation

MacFarlane, I 2002, 'Aboriginal society in North West Tasmania : dispossession and genocide', PhD thesis, University of Tasmania.

Report

Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education 1995, Report on 1995 quality reviews, 2 vols, AGPS, Canberra.

Report - electronic version from web

Rathbun, AH, West, J & Hausken, EG 2003, Young children's access to computers in the home and at school in 1999 and 2000, NCES-2003-036, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC, viewed 4 November 2003, <http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003036.pdf>.

Patent

Bean, CT 1975, Stringed musical instrument with aluminum made integral unit, US Patent 3,915,049, filed 21 October 1974, and issued 28 October 1975.

Translated work

Inhelder, B & Piaget, J 1958, The growth of logical thinking, trans. A Parsons & S Milgram, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Chapter in an edited book

O'Regan, T 2002, 'A national cinema', in G Turner (ed.), The film cultures reader, Routledge, London, pp. 139-64.

Conference paper

Ward, JM 1972, 'The library and its social significance', Progress and poverty, Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference, Library Association of Australia, Sydney, pp. 112-18.

Legislation

Rules for citing various types of legislation can are complex. See the style manual by Snooks & Co (2002), pp. 224-228 for detailed guidance.

Back to Contents

Examples for serial articles: journals, magazines, or other periodicals

References for serials usually adhere to the following format and punctuation:

• author's last name,
• author's initials
• year,
• 'article title',
• serial title,
• volume,
• issue number,
• page(s).
• viewed date, (electronic sources only)
• URL. (electronic sources only)

Journal articles

Meindl, D 1987, 'Chips for advanced computing', Scientific American, vol. 257, no. 4, pp. 54-62.

You may streamline the entry by omitting the abbreviations
for volume, number, and page(s).
This is how you do it: Scientific American, 257(4), 54-62.

In this style, capital letters are only used for the first word of the article title and subtitle (if any) and for proper names. However, the serial title is written in uppercase and lower case letters (unlike book titles).

Journal articles with more than three authors

List all authors in the reference list entry

Dumoulin, SO, Bittar, RG, Kabani, NJ, Baker, CL, Jr, Le Goualher, G, Pike, GB & Evans, AC 2000, 'A new anatomical landmark for reliable identification of human area V5/MT: a quantitative analysis of sulcal patterning', Cerebral Cortex, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 454-63.

Journal articles - web version of a printed journal

McDougall, KL, Summerell, BA, Coburn, D & Newton, M 2003, 'Phytophthora cinnamomi causing disease in subalpine vegetation in New South Wales', Australasian Plant Pathology, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 113-5, viewed 20 November, 2003, <http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AP02074.pdf>.

Journal articles - web only, no printed version

Wallis, C 1992, 'Asymmetric dependence and mental representation', Psycoloquy, vol. 3, no. 70, viewed 18 November 2003, <http://psycprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00000294/>.

Magazine articles

Magazines are non-scholarly or popular periodicals, but may still contain useful information.

Callister, F 2003, 'Liberia's child soldiers', The Tablet, 4 October, pp. 7-8.

Authored newspaper article

Provide an in-text citation as well as a reference list entry.

Harmon, A 2002, 'A call for partnership, a hint of regulation', New York Times, 30 December, p. C.3.

Authored newspaper article - web version

Ker, P & Shiell, A 2003, 'Port lacks respect: Malthouse', The Age, 18 September, viewed 20 September 2003, <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/17/1063625091530.html>.

If there is no obvious author, the full details should be provided in-text only and not in the list of references. 

"It was stated in the Mercury (11 July 1999, p2) that..."

Examples for other types of media and material

Media release

Cameron, B (Minister for Corrections, Victoria) 2007, Construction begins on high security unit, media release, Victoria, 28 March, viewed 16 April 2007, < http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au>

Web page

University of Tasmania Library 2003, Management subject guide, University of Tasmania Library, viewed 10 September 2003, <http://www.utas.edu.au/library/info/subj/management.html>.

Email

Treat as personal communications. Have an in-text citation with no entry in the list of references. 

 "P Richardson confirmed this by email on 24 November 2001" 
or 
(P Richardson 2001, email, 24 November, <prich@crockmail.com>)

Newsgroup  or listserv  posting

Aton, Max <liberty@post.com>, 2002, Easilix freeware download, viewed 12 September 2003, <http://groups.google.com.au/groups/>.

CD-ROM

Dr Brain thinking games 1998, CD-ROM, Knowledge Adventure Inc., Torrance, California.

Film, DVD, Video

Man with the movie camera 1998, video recording, Chatsworth, CA. Distributed by Image Entertainment. Directed by Dziga Vertov.

Radio and TV programs

The search for meaning 1998, radio program, ABC Radio, Sydney, 24 March.

Note how this title is filed alphabetically in the list of references (See below). Ignore The and file it by search...

Your References List

The list below contains all references used above as examples, in alphabetical order. Make sure you carefully  proof-read your references along with the rest of the text  before you submit your assignment.

References:

Aton, Max <liberty@post.com>, 2002, Easilix freeware download, viewed 12 September 2003, <http://groups.google.com.au/groups/>.

Bean, CT 1975, Stringed musical instrument with aluminum made integral unit, US Patent 3,915,049, filed 21 October 1974, and issued 28 October 1975.

Cameron, B (Minister for Corrections, Victoria) 2007, Construction begins on high security unit, media release, Victoria, 28 March, viewed 16 April 2007, < http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au>

Chambers, PK 1983, Your emotions revealed, Lacrima and Ductule, New York.

Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education 1995, Report on 1995 quality reviews, 2 vols, AGPS, Canberra.

Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission 1986, Review of TAFE funding, AGPS, Canberra.

CTEC---- see Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission

Dr Brain thinking games 1998, CD-ROM, Knowledge Adventure Inc., Torrance, California.

Dumoulin, SO, Bittar, RG, Kabani, NJ, Baker, CL, Jr, Le Goualher, G, Pike, GB & Evans, AC 2000, 'A new anatomical landmark for reliable identification of human area V5/MT: a quantitative analysis of sulcal patterning', Cerebral Cortex, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 454-63.

Guidebook to Australian social security law 1983, CCH Australia, North Ryde.

Harmon, A 2002, 'A call for partnership, a hint of regulation', New York Times, 30 December, p. C.3.

Inhelder, B & Piaget, J 1958, The growth of logical thinking, trans. A Parsons & S Milgram, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Ker, P & Shiell, A 2003, 'Port lacks respect: Malthouse', The Age, 18 September, viewed 20 September 2003, <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/17/1063625091530.html>.

Kneller, JP 1963a, Is logical thinking logical?, Ponsonby & Partridge, Dubbo.

----- 1963b, 'Thinking and logical interaction', Brain Logic, vol. 257, no. 4, pp. 54-62.

Lazarus, AA  2001,’Multimodal therapy’ in WE Craighead & CB Nemeroff (eds.) The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioural science, 3rd edn, Wiley, New York, vol. 3, pp. 993-4.

MacFarlane, I 2002, 'Aboriginal society in North West Tasmania : dispossession and genocide', PhD thesis, University of Tasmania.

McDougall, KL, Summerell, BA, Coburn, D & Newton, M 2003, 'Phytophthora cinnamomi causing disease in subalpine vegetation in New South Wales', Australasian Plant Pathology, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 113-5, viewed 20 November, 2003, <http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AP02074.pdf>.

Man with the movie camera 1998, video recording, Chatsworth, CA. Distributed by Image Entertainment. Directed by Dziga Vertov.

Murray, K 2003, Haven: the art and craft of refuge in Tasmania, exhibition catalogue, 27 March-10May 2003, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas.

O'Connor, DJ 1969, An introduction to the philosophy of education, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Rathbun, AH, West, J & Hausken, EG 2003, Young children's access to computers in the home and at school in 1999 and 2000, NCES-2003-036, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC, viewed 4 November 2003, <http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003036.pdf>.

Reynolds, J & Skilbeck, M 1976, Culture and the classroom, Open Books, London.

The search for meaning 1998, radio program, ABC Radio, Sydney, 24 March.

Snooks & Co. 2002, Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edn. John Wiley & Sons, Milton, Qld.

Ward, JM 1972, 'The library and its social significance', Progress and poverty, Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference, Library Association of Australia, Sydney, pp. 112-18.

Whiteley, BC 1979, 'Emotional response', Brain Talk, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 234-235.

Zikmund, WG & D'Amico, M 1989, Marketing, 3rd edn, Wiley, New York.

Back to Contents

Quotations

Many problems in presenting assignments are related to the misuse of quotations from secondary sources (that is material presenting critical interpretations of primary texts). It is acceptable to refer to secondary material to gain knowledge or find different interpretations that may stimulate your own thinking and, sometimes, confirm ideas you already hold. Whether you quote your source directly or simply paraphrase the idea, you must always acknowledge the source you used.

If you are unsure whether to quote directly or completely rephrase, use quotation marks so as to avoid plagiarism.

The total word count in an assignment refers to your own words and
usually excludes direct quotations and paraphrasing.
Don't overuse quotations - use them only to support your argument.

Every time you use the words of others they should be acknowledged by either:

• quotation marks, or
• indenting.

Quotation marks for quotes under three lines in length

If a quotation is short, from a couple of words to approximately three lines, it should be marked by single quotation marks and incorporated as part of the sentence.

Dennis Lawton (1994 p. 90) argues that these proposals 'have much in common with John White's idea of a friendly interface'.

When you need to show a quote within a quote, use double quotation marks inside the single ones.

Greene (1993, p. 108) also notes that 'according to Garp, "completeness and finality" were out of the question where editing was concerned and the potential for rapid change was great.'

Indenting quotations over three lines in length

A quotation over three lines in length should be separated from the sentence that supports it by indenting the quoted passage.

In typed or word processed assignments, these quotations should be either single spaced or one and a half spaced. When you need to show a quote within a quote, use double quotation marks. Indent quotations about eight spaces or 3 cm from the margin. Introduce indented quotes so that they follow on from the preceding sentences.

Developments have been rapid or as Ed Krol (1992, p. xix) says:

the information resources that visionaries talked about in the early 80s are not just "research realities" that a few advanced thinkers can play with in some lab - they're "real life" realities that you can tap into from your home. Once you're connected to the Internet, you have instant access to an almost indescribable wealth of information.

Omissions of words from quoted material

If you leave out a word or words from a quote, you must ensure that the meaning of the quoted passage stays the same. You should always indicate you have left out a word or words by inserting three trailing dots instead of the omitted words.

Dutton (1992, p. 86), in reply to his critics, unashamedly remarks that 'the truth of the matter can only be resolved ... with close attention to detail'.

If you leave out words at the end of the quote remember to put a full-stop after the three trailing dots and close of single quote marks.

that 'such assumptions have long been accepted by most universities ...'.

If you leave out a whole sentence or more within your quotation, you should indicate this by using FOUR trailing dots instead of three.

If you change a quote or adjust it to make it read sensibly in the context of your sentence, you should use square brackets to designate the alteration, for example:

The comparison drawn between Colt and an executioner and the mention of his odorous skin incongruously recall details from Leon Hunnybun's sombre meditations upon 'the world's malignity : [Leon] is brooding over the lion's mouth that swallowed citizens whole, Venice'.

Note: the bracketed Leon displaces the pronoun He.

Back to Contents