Citing & Referencing

Harvard Style

Citing and referencing accurately in the required style is an integral aspect of academic integrity and acknowledging your sources in your work. This session will focus on the Harvard style, which at Monash is based on the Australian Government Style Manual (Australian Government 2020).

Referencing is a system used in assignments to acknowledge where evidence, ideas, theories, facts, or any other information came from that is not your own original work. It is used in both spoken and written formats.

Harvard is an author-date style that requires you to reference every source you have used in your assignment, including ideas, theories, definitions, images, tables, graphs, and maps. However, it does not require you to reference sources you may have consulted but not used.

This site covers:

Why we reference
The elements of referencing
Constructing in-text citations and reference list entries

A recording of the Harvard workshop is available here. You must log into Panopto through your Monash account to access the class recording video.

Elements of referencing

There are two places that you need to write references in your assignments.

The first is where you actually cite the material, which is in the body of your assignment.
The second is in a reference list at the end of your assignment where you provide all the bibliographic details.

All in-text citations must have a corresponding reference list entry, and all items in the reference list must be referred to in the body of the work.

Harvard citing & referencing

In-text citations

Appear in the body of your assignment where you have used the reference
May be author or information prominent
For direct quotes, must include page or paragraph number
All resources cited in your assignment must appear in full in your reference list

Reference list entries

Start on a new page
Must be in alphabetical order based on the first author's family name
Where there are multiple authors for one resource they must be in the order they appear in the resource
Only include sources that you have cited or referred to in your assignment
Check your unit guide for line spacing requirements

Test your knowledge

Try out the quizzes below to check your understanding of Harvard citing and referencing.

In-text citations quiz

Reference list quiz

Additional resources

Online consultations

Meet with a Librarian appointments
Book a short appointment to meet with a librarian online via Zoom. Librarians can help you find and evaluate sources and provide assistance regarding citing and referencing.

Helpful websites

Harvard Citing and Referencing Subject guide. Your one-stop definitive resource on Harvard referencing from the Monash University Library;
The Student Academic Success LearnHQ site. Through this site you can access self-paced resources on writing, understanding assessment tasks and academic integrity, and you can also book online consultations with a learning adviser;
The Australian Government Style Manual. The style manual for the Commonwealth Public Service which forms the basis of the Monash Harvard style.

Page updated

Report abuse