Harvard System of Referencing October 2009

For BSc Biomedical Science students

(Adapted from the Library guide “FHSCS – a guide to the Harvard System of Referencing Sept 09”)

This is a brief guide to the Harvard system for citing and referencing the most commonly
used sources. It is very important that you cite and reference your sources accurately.
Each reference should contain the information needed to trace an item you have cited in
your assignment.

What does citing and referencing mean?

Citing: Acknowledging the contribution of a specific individual or organisation as a source

of a particular fact, piece of evidence or opinion.

You ‘cite’ the author and year of publication for any source you use whether you are
directly quoting from the text or paraphrasing. You do this at the point where you
use the source within the text of your essay (in-text citation). See section below
on Citing references in your text.

Referencing: Ensuring that what has been cited can be identified precisely.

The references will normally appear at the end of your essay or assignment. The
same format, including punctuation and abbreviation, should be followed every time
you write a reference. All the references should be listed in alphabetical order of
author’s surname, under the heading References. This allows your reader to trace
your sources for interest or further examination and also credits the original
author(s). A reference only needs to appear once, even if it is cited more than once
in the text. See section below on “How to cite specific sources using the
Harvard style”.

Why should I do this?

You cite and reference your work in order to avoid the charge of plagiarism, which means
using the work of others without acknowledging your source of information or inspiration.
Plagiarism is treated very seriously, and plagiarised work is normally disqualified.

About this guide

This guide is based on:

Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2008) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Newcastle
upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books. You should refer to it for the full range of examples you
need, especially for sources that are not covered in this guide. The publication also
contains useful information about plagiarism.

Multiple copies of this publication are available for loan from St George’s Library.
Copies may also be purchased from the bookshop at St. George’s.

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CITING REFERENCES IN YOUR TEXT (IN-TEXT CITATION)
You cite sources in your text by giving the author’s name and the year of publication. You
should always do this, whether you are summarising the author’s words or including a
direct quotation.

You should include page number(s) if you are referring to a particular section of the text -
for example a table illustration or direct quotation.

If the author’s surname occurs naturally in the text, the year follows in round brackets. If
not, insert the surname and year in round brackets at the end of the sentence.

Examples:

Smith and Jones (2007) found that ….

A review of the literature has revealed that there is no conclusive evidence as to the
efficacy of this particular treatment (Williams, 2006).

LISTING REFERENCES AT THE END OF THE TEXT

References should be listed at the end of your assignment in alphabetical order by
author’s surname, title or web address and then by date (earliest first), and then if more
than one item has been published by the same author during a specific year, by letter
(1995a, 1995b etc.). You will usually find the details somewhere on the first page of a
paper, but occasionally you may have to check the page numbers directly.

Full references are made up in different ways, depending on the type of material you have
used. The examples in this guide show what to include in the references for most
commonly used types of material, including when to use italics and abbreviations.
If an example you require is not included below you should refer to the following
publication:

Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2008) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Newcastle
upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books.

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HOW TO CITE SPECIFIC SOURCES USING THE HARVARD STYLE

1. Journal articles
• Article in a printed journal:
Author's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round brackets) ‘Title of article in
single quotation marks’, Title of journal in italics, volume number (issue number in
brackets), page numbers (prefixed by pp.).

Example:
In-text citation:
The purpose of the study (Roh and Park, 2008) was to assess…

Reference list:
Roh, J. and Park, C. (2008) ‘Treatment of benign thyroid cysts by intracystic
injection of OK-432’, Surgery, 144(5), pp.775-779.

• Article accessed online (electronic journal):

Author's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round brackets) ‘Title of article in
single quotation marks’, Title of journal in italics, volume number (issue number in
brackets), page numbers (prefixed by pp.) [Online].
Available at: URL for article (Accessed: date).

Example:
In-text citation:
Kaul and Diamond (2006) discuss …

Reference list:
Kaul, S. and Diamond, G. A. (2006) ‘Good enough: a primer on the analysis and
interpretation of noninferiority trials’, Annals of Internal Medicine, 145(1), pp. 62-9.
[Online]. Available at: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/145/1/62.pdf
(Accessed: 12 Dec 2008)

Please note:

Articles available online only – no print edition

There are now some journals which are only published electronically and do not have a
paper equivalent. These do not usually have page numbers, but will usually have an
identifier of the form e12345. There will often be a link on the website giving an exact
citation including a D.O.I. number (Digital Object Identifier – a unique ID system).

Example:
Reference list:
McIntyre JA, Hopley M, Moodley D, Eklund M, Gray GE, et al. (2009) ‘Efficacy of
Short-Course AZT Plus 3TC to Reduce Nevirapine Resistance in the Prevention
of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission: A Randomized Clinical Trial’. PLoS Med 6
(10): e1000172. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000172

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2. Books
• Book by a single author:
Author's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round brackets) Title of book in
italics. Edition if it is not the 1st edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Example:
In-text citation:
According to Begg (2006) abdominal X-rays…

Reference list:
Begg, J.D. (2006) Abdominal X-rays made easy. 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone.

• Book by two authors:

Author's Surname, Initial. and Author's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round
brackets) Title of book in italics. Edition if it is not the 1st edition. Place of publication:
Publisher.

Example:
In-text citation:
Milner and Hull (1997) argue that….

Reference list:
Milner, A. and Hull, D. (1997) Hospital Paediatrics. 3rd edn. Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingstone.

• Book by four or more authors:

Note: When you are referring to a work by four or more authors, cite the first
author listed in the work followed by et al. All authors names are given in the
reference list at the end, no matter how many there are, so that each author or
editor receives credit for their research and published work.

List all Author's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round brackets) Title of
book in italics. Edition if it is not the 1st edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Example:
In-text citation:
Ward et al. (2006) describe…

Reference list:
Ward, J. P.T, Ward, J., Wiener, C. M. and Leach, R.M (2006) The
respiratory system at a glance. 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell

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• Book by a corporate author (for example a government department or
organisation):
Name of corporate author (Year of publication in round brackets) Title of book in
italics. Edition if it is not the 1st edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Example:
In-text citation:
The Intercollegiate Working Party for Stroke (2000) established guidelines
for……

Reference list:
Intercollegiate Working Party for Stroke (2000) National Clinical Guidelines for
Stroke. London: Royal College of Physicians.

• Edited book:
Editor's Surname, Initial. (ed.) (Year of publication in round brackets) Title of book in
italics. Edition if it is not the 1st edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Example:
In-text citation:
It has been proposed (Messer, 1999) ….

Reference list:
Messer, D. (ed.) (1999) Psychology and social care. London: Jessica Kingsley.
.
• Chapter/section of an edited book:
Author of the chapter/section's Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round
brackets) ‘Title of chapter/section in single quotation marks’, in Author/Editor's
Surname, Initial. (ed.) Title of book in italics. Place of publication: Publisher, page
numbers of chapter (prefixed by pp.).

Example:
In-text citation:
Bosma (2006, p.163) states that “…control beliefs are an important mediator in
socio-economic differences in health.”

Reference list:
Bosma, H. (2006) ‘Soci-economic differences in health’, in Siegrist, J. (ed.)
Social inequalities in health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 153-166.

• Electronic books (E-books) :

Author’s Surname, Initial. (Year of publication in round brackets) Title of book in
italics. Name of ebook collection in italics [Online]. Available at: URL of ebook
(Accessed: date)

Example:
In-text citation:
Faiz (2002) posed some questions about …

Reference list:
Faiz, O. (2002) Anatomy at a glance. Dawsonera [Online]. Available at:
http://www.dawsonera.com (Accessed: 8 September 2009).
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3. Websites
Please remember that websites are rarely considered appropriate references for scientific
information, particularly in relation to primary data. There are exceptions of course eg
government sites providing statistics.

• Organisational Internet site or web page:

Organisational name (Year that the site was published / last updated in round
brackets) Title of Internet site in italics. Available at: URL in full (Accessed: date).

Example:
In-text citation:
Diabetes UK (2006) highlights the effect that delays in ….

Reference list:
Diabetes UK (2006) Flu jab shortage fears. Available at:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/News_Landing_Page/Flu_jab_shortage_f
ears (Accessed: 4 June 2007).

• Personal Internet site or web document:

Author's Surname, Initial. (Year that the document was published) Title of document
in italics. [Online]. Available at: URL in full (Accessed: date).

Example:
In-text citation:
Changes in life expectancy (Philp, 2004, p.12)…

Reference list:
Philp, I. (2004) Better health in old age. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/09/32/15/04093215.pdf (Accessed: 4 June
2007).

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• Images:

If the image you want to use is contained within a journal article, then you would
reference it using the article reference.

For images from a website, use the following format. Bear in mind that all web content
is covered by copyright and you should not use an image unless the website indicates
that the image is in the public domain i.e. free from copyright.

Author/artist. (Year of publication) Title of image. [Online image]. Available at: URL in
full (Accessed: date).

Example:
In-text citation:
Wood’s beautiful photographs (Wood, 2003)…

Reference list:
Wood, N. (2003) London eye [Online image]. Available at:
http://www.nickwoodphoto.com/html/ALL-LONDON-EYE/wheel-photos-p4/LE-L-
091.html (Accessed: 4 June 2007).

• Clip Art:
Limited information is available about Clip Art images. To find this information, right
click on the image and select Preview/Properties. This will open a preview screen
which will show you the filename and the date the image was created. The
information should then be used in the format displayed below:

Provider of image (Date image created) File name [Electronic image]. (Accessed:
date)

Example:
In-text citation:
The heart is protected by the lungs (Microsoft ClipArt, 2008).

Reference list:
Microsoft ClipArt (2008) j0438737.jpg [Electronic image]. (Accessed: 1 July 2008).

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4. SECONDARY REFERENCING
In some cases you may wish to quote a piece of work that has been referred to in a book
that you have read. This is called “secondary referencing” as you have not read the
original piece of work. Wherever possible, you should read the original work but if you are
not able to do so and you wish to refer to it, your text must make it clear that you have not
read the original but are referring to it from a secondary source. For example:

Macdonald, L. (2005) refers to Figley’s concept of compassion fatigue.

In your list of references at the end of your assignment you should only include the
reference to the work you have read, in this case the book by Macdonald, L. You do not
include details of the work you have not read - the book by Figley. Your reference would
therefore be:

Macdonald, L. (2005) Palliative medicine: a case-based manual. 2nd edn. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

For more information

These are just a few examples. You should refer to Cite them right (Pears & Shields,
2008) for the full range of examples.

Reference

Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2008) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. Newcastle
upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books.

St. George’s, University of London. Library Services – October 2009

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