Level 3 and HND Harvard Referencing

When you do research, you read other people’s work and may use their ideas in your own assignments. If you do this, you must acknowledge the fact that it is their work or you could be found guilty of plagiarism. When you start taking notes, make sure you are:

• Collecting the correct information about your sources (author, date, title, publisher etc.);

• Considering whether the source is relevant, reliable and credible;

• Checking the author’s words are supported by citations and references;

• Referencing the primary or original source where possible. For example, look at there references your lecturers have provided in class and investigate the original source. 

Citation/citing-Using the author(s) surname and year of publication in the text of your assignment to show that the information is not your own.

Paraphrase- putting someone else's writing in your own words.  A good way to show your understanding of what they are saying.

Reference–the detailed description of the source that has been used (author, date, title, publisher etc.).

Reference List–a list of the full detailed references of each of the sources you have cited. This is presented in alphabetical order of the author’s surname and helps the reader to find each cited source. 

Bibliography–the list of all the sources you have consulted in your research. 

When you mention someone else’s idea, theory, viewpoint, or argument you must include a citation in your assignment. You can do this either:

• As a direct quotation e.g. Smith (2007, p.47) has argued that "...

  • Or you can place all the citation information in brackets at the end of the quotation e.g. (Smith, 2007, p.47). 

• As a paraphrase (putting it into your own words) e.g. Kirby (2008) statess that quantitative data can be analysed using standard statistical techniques. 

  • Or you can place all the citation information in brackets at the end of the quotation e.g. (Kirby, 2008). 

Each citation in the text should match to a full reference, containing all the information about the source in the reference list at the end