Citing references and creating bibliographies Print only

Please note: This guide is intended to provide general information for applying the Harvard Referencing System. Some details, including punctuation, may differ from your department's guidelines. Always consult your lecturer for advice relating to the specific requirements of referencing assignments. 

There are many different styles for citing references and compiling bibliographies. Often, the style varies according to the subject area. The social sciences and applied sciences tend to use different styles. The Harvard System, an author-date style, is recommended for students. This style of referencing is widely accepted in academic publications, although you may see a number of variations in the way it is used.

Following a recommended style ensures that:

• your references and bibliography are compiled in a consistent format
• it is possible for the reader to clearly identify and locate resources listed in your reference list and bibliography.

Bibliography

You may be required to create a bibliography at the end of a written assignment. Include all the books, articles and other sources of information that you found useful for the writing of the assignment.

Your bibliography should be included with your assignment but on a separate page.

Reference list

This is a list of books, articles and other resources to which you have referred directly (cited) in the text of your essay or report. No additional items are included, even those you found broadly relevant to your research.

Sometimes, you may be asked to provide a reference list and a bibliography with your essay or report.

Referencing - explanations and examples

Below are samples of entries students should make when constructing a bibliography or a reference list.

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Books

The correct format is set out below.

Author's surname, author's initial. Year of Publication, Book Title, Publisher, Place of Publication.

Anderson, J. and Poole, M. 2001, Assignment and Thesis Writing, 4th edn, John Wiley and Sons, Brisbane.

Saunders, C. 2000, Women and Stress, Crescent Books, New York.

If the book has an editor, list it like this:

Healey, J. (ed) 2006, Natural Disasters, The Spinney Press, Thirroul, NSW.

If there are two or more editors, list the book like this:

Stewart, J. & Cranshaw, K. (eds) 1996, Mexican Cooking: Exciting Ideas for Delicious Meals, Godalming, Bramley Books, Surrey.

If there are multiple authors, list them all:

Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. & Schaefer, S. 2003, Economics of Strategy, 3rd edn, J.Wiley, New York.

If the book has no author, begin with the title:

Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 2002, 6th edn, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

If the book is one of a number of editions, make sure you list the edition you used:

Robbins, S.P. 2003, Management, 3rd edn, Pearson Education, French's Forest, NSW.

If the book is one of a number of volumes, make sure you list the one you used: 

                   Encyclopedia of Family Health, vol. 12, 2004, 3rd edn, Marshall Cavendish, Tarrytown, NY.

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Journal entries

Below is an example of the standard bibliography format for a journal article.

Ellison, K. 2007, ‘Keeping the beat’, Step Inside Design, vol. 23, iss. 1, pp. 48-55

Newspaper articles

Below is an example of the standard bibliography format for a newspaper article.

Steger, J. 2007, ‘Literary peers mourn death of the mistress of black humour’, The Age, 20 February, p. 3.

List of illustrations

This is a list of visual works (pictures, photographs, cartoons) to which you have referred both directly and indirectly in your essay or report. The list is attached to your report or essay after your bibliography and/or reference list.

"Illustrations" can include original artworks, reprints of artwork in books, cartoons in newspapers, photocopies and scans, photographs and other visual resources.

Sometimes, you may be asked to provide copies of the artwork itself. In this case, scans or photocopies are acceptable. Always make sure your list has the correct details of the artist.

All illustrations, no matter what format, should be given a figure number.

eg.
Figure 1
“The cardboard commandos”, 2007
Cartoonist: Michael Leunig in The Age Newspaper, p. 16, February 21

An interview

Use the following format: Name of person interviewed. Date. Description of interview with day, month and year. Location of interview. [format]

King, M. 2007. Interview with Holmesglen Institute of TAFE Information Commons Manager, 16 February 2007. Holmesglen Institute of TAFE Information Commons, Melbourne. [MP3 recording]

Motion picture or video recordings

These citations should contain the title and date of production, and an indication of the format. The date is often not visible on the video itself. You may have to check the catalogue entry or watch for the date to appear on the screen when you are viewing the video.

Below is an example of the standard bibliography format for a video recording.

The naked chef (video recording), 2001, London, UK, BBC Worldwide.

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Legislation

These citations should include the Name of Act, Year and Jurisdiction

                      Copyright Act 1968, (Commonwealth)

Electronic resources

Follow the same general form as for citations of printed material. Provide as much information as possible concerning the authorship and availability of the sources. Be sure to get the web address (URL) correct. If necessary, cut and paste the URL from the browser to your document to avoid making typographical mistakes.

World Wide Web resources (WWW)

If possible, list the author of the Web information that you used, then the date when the information was last updated. The author is not always available and you may have to list the organisation that produced the web page or website.

Examples

McKie, R. 2007, The drugs do work (Online). Available from  http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,2002942,00.html. (Accessed: February 20, 2007).

Orchard, J., Fricker, A. & White, S. 2006, 'The use and misuse of performance enhancing substances in sport', Medical Journal of Australia (Online). Available from: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/184_03_060206/orc10359_fm.html. (Accessed: February 21, 2007).

Australian Institute of Sport, 2004, Anti-doping policy (Online). Available from: http://www.ausport.gov.au/publications/ascantidope04.asp. (Accessed: February 21, 2007).

Australian Sports Commission, 2006, Ethics in sport unit (Online). Available from: http://www.ausport.gov.au/ethics/issues.asp. (Accessed: February 20, 2007).

The cost of the Troubles survey: Final Report, 1999. Available from: http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/home/publication/research/cott/index.html (accessed April 20, 2006).

Note: the date at the end represents the date you visited the site.

Email, discussion lists and groups

Examples

Crump, E. 21 February, 2007, '2007 trends', GreenYes (Online). Available from: acw-@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu (Accessed: 14 February, 2007).

Saunders, J. February 21, 2007, 'Water saving measures', SLF - Sustainable living foundation,  (Online). Available from: biggs@holmesglen.vic.edu.au  (Accessed: January 21, 2007).

Please note: E-mail addresses should never be cited without the permission of the owner of the address.

Articles from an electronic encyclopedia

Example

Hancock, Ian 2001  "Howard, John Winston"  in The Oxford Companion to Australian History, Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online.  Available from:   http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t127.e755
(Viewed March 14 2007)

Articles from an electronic database

Examples

Robbins, T 2007, 'English: ticket to the world', The Age, Jan 27, p.20. Available from:
http://search.ebscohost.com (Viewed March 14, 2007)

Burkhardt, J 2007, 'Assessing Library Skills: a first step to Information Literacy', Portal: Libraries and the Academy, vol. 7, iss. 1, pp. 25-42. Available from: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=341 (Viewed March 14, 2007)

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In text referencing

These are also called textual references and appear in the body of your assignment. When you use ideas from other sources, you need to give brief details acknowledging the source. The surname of the author and the date of publication is all that is necessary. If you are referring to the general theme of the item, you don't need page numbers. Where you are quoting or referring to figures or data, page numbers must be included.

Examples

One author

Saunders (2000) has found that...

Robbins (2003, p. 26) argues that lack of information results in ....

A recent thesis (Stanton 2005)..

Two or three authors

Maddison & Hogan (1997)

More than three authors

Use the first author only followed by 'et al.'

King et al. (2006) discussed library glossary of terms.

An article in a book with an editor ( eg Issues in Society )

Castles (in ed.Healey 2005, p.5) explains.....

Sponsored by a corporate body

(CSIRO 2007) .....

Newspapers - as for a book, unless there is no author

(The Herald Sun 24-25 Jan. 2005, p.19)....

Video

Dead Letter Office (videorecording) 1998....

Database

AustLit (database).................

Interview

Marion King, Holmesglen Institute of TAFE Information Commons Manager, stated in a personal interview on February 16, 2007 that................

Online sources

When referring to an idea that came from a document that you found on the Web, follow the usual citation format

'There are many aspects of lifelong learning' (Smith 2006, p. 2)

Secondary source of an idea

Holcomb (1998, p. 10, cited in Stewart 2006, p. 19)

Direct quotations

Brief quotations (about 30 words or less) can be included in text. Use single quotation marks.

Shackett (2005, p. 23) said: 'Librarians are vital to the survival of students'. or 'Librarians are vital to the survival of students' (Shackett 2005, p. 23).

Longer quotations (more than 30 words) should begin on a new line. Introduce the quotation in your own words, use single spacing and indent from the left margin. Quotation marks are not used. Use a smaller font size for the quotation (eg from font size 10, change to font size 8). Remember to change back to the original font size for the author, date and page number as this is not part of the actual quotation. 

For example:

The subject of a painting does not necessarily reflect their station in life:

If Breugal had been a peasant himself he could not have painted then as he did. He certainly was a townsman and his attitude towards the rustic life of the village was very likely similar to that of Shakespeare, for whom Quince the Carpenter and Bottom the Weaver were a species of "clown". (Gombrich 1972, p.79)

Illustrations/Visual Works

For these, just put the figure number that you gave the visual work in your list of illustrations. For example:

'Illustrating the futility of war is Leunig's cartoon, Happy Handover' (Fig. 1)

There are many other formulas for the different types of publications that may appear in a bibliography. You may wish to consult one of the following:

Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 2002, 6th edn, John Wiley, Australia.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 2003, 6th edn, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Example of a Reference List or Bibliography
 

Bibliography

 ‘Harry Potter’, in Wikipedia (Online). c2006 Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter (Accessed October 11, 2006)

 Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (video recording), 2006, Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

BBC News, c2003, JK Rowling richer than Queen, (Online). Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2979033.stm (Accessed October 16, 2006)

 Kephart, B. 2003,  ‘As her son creates his story, a mother waits for the ending’, in Writers on Writing, Volume II: More collected essays from The New York Times, Henry Holt, New York, pp. 133-136.

 Lackey, M. &  Wilson, L. (eds) 2006, Mapping the world of Harry Potter: science fiction and fantasy writers explore the bestselling fantasy series of all time, Benballa Books, Dallas.

 Rowling, J. K. 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

 Savill, R. 2000, ‘Harry Potter and the mystery of J K's lost initial’. The Daily Telegraph, 19 July, p. 13.

 Smith, S. 2006, ‘Exclusive: Harry Potter and the Wavering Costar’, Newsweek, October 2, vol.148, issue12, p.10, Viewed: October 11, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com/.

 Spartz, E.c2005, MuggleNet and the Leaky Cauldron interview with Joanne Kathleen Rowling,  July 16 (Online). Available from http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview.shtml (Accessed October 14, 2006)

 Waters, Galadriel (ed) 2004, The plot thickens…Harry Potter investigated by fans for fans. Wizarding World Press, London

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