harvardreferencingguide

Harvard referencing: a guide for SoM students Introduction
Academic work demands that you consider the work of other writers and researchers. To use their work without acknowledgement is to steal the ideas of other people and is called plagiarism.
You should acknowledge the sources which have informed your work by citing them in the text of your work, and referencing them at the end of your essay, project report, dissertation or thesis. Otherwise, you run the risk of being accused of academic misconduct.
There are several widely used methods for writing references. The School of Management uses the Harvard system. If you do not use this method properly you will lose marks. What sources of information should I be reading?
Before you use any document, you should consider the quality of the information it provides. Articles published in refereed academic journals are the most authoritative, because they have been through a thorough checking process known as peer review. Books may not have been checked so rigorously by their publishers. Articles in newspapers and trade magazines are not checked as carefully as those in refereed academic journals so may not be as reliable. And information found on the Internet needs to be treated with caution, as anyone can put material there, accurate or otherwise!
How do I put a citation in my text?
To avoid being accused of plagiarism, you need to put a citation in the text you are writing whenever you mention another person’s work. This applies whether you are summarising or paraphrasing their ideas or quoting their words directly.
Basically, all you need to do is to write the author’s or editor’s surname and the year of publication like this (Hales, 1986) or like this as discussed by Hales (1986). You may sometimes have a corporate author, rather than a personal author, like this (British Retail Consortium, 2007). If you have used two documents by the same author published in the same year, distinguish them by adding a suffix like this (Lowe, 2005a; Lowe, 2005b). If there are two or more authors or editors for a document, put them all in your citation like this (Riley, Ladkin and Szivas, 2002). If you want to cite several works together, because they all support your argument about a particular point, list them chronologically, and if there is more than one for a particular year put those in alphabetical order, like this (Hales, 1986; Wrigley and Lowe, 1996; Howard, 2001; Sigala, Lockwood and Jones, 2001; Riley, Ladkin and Szivas, 2002; Lowe, 2005b; Key Note, 2006; Lee-Kelley, 2006; Sadler-Smith, 2006).
If you are quoting another author’s words, it is important that you make this clear by using quotation marks and including the page numbers in your citation like this “Many businesses now operate in a knowledge economy that is networked, digital, virtual, fast-moving, global and uncertain.” (Sadler-Smith, 2006, p.30).
How do I write a reference?
The full reference for each of the documents you have cited in your text should be put in a list of references at the end of your work.
For a journal article, you need to include the author or authors (surname followed by initials), the year of publication (and suffix if used) (in brackets), the title of the article (in quotation marks), the name of the journal (in italics), the volume number, the part or issue number (in brackets), and the page numbers (use p. for one page, pp. for more than one page).
Grewal, D., Baker, J., Levy, M. and Voss, G.B. (2003a) "The effects of wait
expectations and store atmosphere evaluations on patronage intentions in service-
intensive retail stores", Journal of Retailing, 79(4), pp.259-268.
For some journals, you may have to put the date instead of the volume and part numbers.
Howard, M. (2001) "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", Financial Management, May, p.14.
Pettit, L. (2005) "Forte at sixty", Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 8 December, pp.26-30.
For a book, you need to include the authors or editors (use ed. in brackets for one editor, eds. for more than one editor), the year of publication, the title of the book (in italics), the edition (except for the 1st edition; use edn. for edition), the place of publication, and the publisher.
Bender, D.A. and Bender, A.E. (1999) Bender's dictionary of nutrition and food
technology. 7th edn. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing.
Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M.S. (eds.) (1996) Retailing, consumption and capital:
towards the new retail geography. Harlow: Longman.
For a chapter in an edited book, you need to include the author of the chapter, the date of publication, the title of the chapter (in quotation marks), the word in, the editor of the book, the title of the book (in italics), the edition, the place of publication, the publisher, and the page numbers of the chapter.
Baxter, I. and Chippindale, C. (2005) "Managing Stonehenge: the tourism impact and the impact on tourism", in Sigala, M. and Leslie, D. (eds.) International cultural
tourism: management, implications and cases. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-
Heinemann, pp.137-150.
If you used an electronic version of a journal article or a book, you should also include the name of the online database (in italics), the word Online [in square brackets], the phrase Available at followed by the URL, and the word Accessed followed by the date you read the document (in brackets).
Grewal, D., Baker, J., Levy, M. and Voss, G.B. (2003b) "The effects of wait
expectations and store atmosphere evaluations on patronage intentions in service-
intensive retail stores", Journal of Retailing, 79(4), pp.259-268. ScienceDirect
[Online]. Available at: (Accessed: 26 November 2007).
Sadler-Smith, E. (2006) Learning and development for managers: perspectives from research and practice. Oxford: Blackwell. NetLibrary [Online]. Available at:
(Accessed: 22 November 2007).
For a web page, you need to include the author, the date of publication (or last updated), the title, the URL, and the date you read the document.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007) Whistleblowing. Available at: /subjects/empreltns/whistleblw/whistle.htm?IsSrchRes=1
(Accessed: 30 November 2007).
What should my list of references look like?
Something like this. Note that all types of publication are included in a single list, and that the list is arranged alphabetically.
Baxter, I. and Chippindale, C. (2005) "Managing Stonehenge: the tourism impact and the impact on tourism", in Sigala, M. and Leslie, D. (eds.) International cultural tourism: management, implications and cases. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.137-150.
Bender, D.A. and Bender, A.E. (1999) Bender's dictionary of nutrition and food technology. 7th edn. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing.
British Retail Consortium (2007) British Retail Consortium 2007. Norwich: The Stationery Office.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007) Whistleblowing. Available at: /subjects/empreltns/whistleblw/whistle.htm?IsSrchRes=1 (Accessed: 30 November 2007).
Chef2Chef Culinary Portal (2007) Available at: / (Accessed: 4 December 2007).
Egmond, T. van (1999) Het verschijnsel toerisme: verleden, heden, toekomst. Leiden: Toerboek.
Grewal, D., Baker, J., Levy, M. and Voss, G.B. (2003a) "The effects of wait expectations and store atmosphere evaluations on patronage intentions in service-intensive retail stores", Journal of Retailing, 79(4), pp.259-268.
Grewal, D., Baker, J., Levy, M. and Voss, G.B. (2003b) "The effects of wait expectations and store atmosphere evaluations on patronage intentions in service-intensive retail stores", Journal of Retailing, 79(4), pp.259-268. ScienceDirect [Online]. Available at:
(Accessed: 26 November 2007).
Hales, C.P. (1986) "What do managers do?: a critical review of the evidence", Journal of Management Studies, 23(1), pp.88-115.
Howard, M. (2001) "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", Financial Management, May, p.14.
Key Note (2006) Mobile telecommunications: market report. Hampton: Key Note. Leatherhead Food International (no date) FoodlineWeb. Available at:
/FoodWeb/ (Accessed: 4 December 2007).
Lee-Kelley, E. (2006) Trust and identification in the virtual team : exploring the bases of trust and the processes of intra-group identification. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Surrey.
Lowe, M.S. (2005a) "The regional shopping centre in the inner city: a study of retail-led urban regeneration", Urban Studies, 42(3), pp.449-470.
Lowe, M.S. (2005b), "Revitalizing inner city retail?: the impact of the West Quay development on Southampton", International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 33(9), pp.658-668.
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2005) Cite them right: the essential guide to referencing and plagiarism. Newcastle upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books.
Pettit, L. (2005) "Forte at sixty", Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 8 December, pp.26-30.
Riley, M., Ladkin, A. and Szivas, E. (2002) Tourism employment: analysis and planning. Clevedon: Channel View.
Sadler-Smith, E. (2006) Learning and development for managers: perspectives from research and practice. Oxford: Blackwell. NetLibrary [Online]. Available at:
(Accessed: 22 November 2007).
Sigala, M., Lockwood, A. and Jones, P. (2001) "Strategic implementation and IT: gaining competitive advantage from the hotel reservations process", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 13(7), pp.364-371.
Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M.S. (eds.) (1996) Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography. Harlow: Longman.
What do I do if there is no author?
If there is no obvious personal author or corporate author, the title can be used instead, both as the citation in your text (Chef2Chef Culinary Portal, 2007) and in your reference list.
Chef2Chef Culinary Portal (2007) Available at: / (Accessed: 4
December 2007).
What do I do if there is no date of publication?
If there is no obvious date of publication, you should put (no date).
Leatherhead Food International (no date) FoodlineWeb. Available at:
/FoodWeb/ (Accessed: 4 December 2007).
Can I include documents in languages other than English?
Yes, these should be included in their original language.
Egmond, T. van (1999) Het verschijnsel toerisme: verleden, heden, toekomst. Leiden: Toerboek.
What about other types of publication, such as newspaper articles, company reports, and market research reports?
There is a longer list of examples of references at
/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/LIBRARY/FINDING/BIBREFS/HARVARD %20REFERENCING%20SOM.PDF. This covers all the types of publication that are likely to be used by management students, including custom textbooks, conference papers, law reports, and theses and dissertations. For further information, see a book by Pears and Shields (2005).
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2005) Cite them right: the essential guide to referencing and plagiarism. Newcastle upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books.
What is secondary referencing?
There may be occasions when you want to mention someone’s work which has been referred to in a document you have read, even though you haven’t actually read the original piece of work yourself. This is known as secondary referencing.
In your text you might say something like this. Barney in 1999, quoted by Sadler-Smith (2006, p.30), said that ... . In your list of references you should include Sadler-Smith but not Barney. If anyone wants to read Barney’s document, they will be able to find the details of it in Sadler-Smith’s list of references.
What is a bibliography? And how does it differ from a list of references?
A bibliography is a comprehensive list of all the documents published on a particular subject. The list of references that you put at the end of your academic work should only include the documents that you have read for that particular piece of work. Check that everything you have cited in your text (except secondary references) is included in your list of references, and that everything in your list of references has been cited in your text.
I’m worried that I haven’t done my references properly. Do you have any further advice?
The purpose of writing a reference for a document you have read is to enable someone else to find a copy of the same document. So check that the details you have given are correct and complete. In particular, double check the spelling of the author’s name and the accuracy of volume numbers, page numbers, dates and URLs. And make sure you have made a note of all the details you need for the reference, while you have the original document in front of you - if you photocopy a chapter from a book and forget to write down which book it came from, you could waste a lot of time later trying to find out which book it was!。