When writing up your assignment, it is important for you to provide details of various books, journals, articles etc. that you have consulted. To do this, a formal referencing system is required – Harvard is the preferred method for the Cambridge Management and Leadership School. It is an expected academic practice that you will refer to (or cite) the sources of ideas, data and other evidence in written assignments or projects. Referencing in the practice of acknowledging in your own writing the intellectual work of others; work that has been presented in some way into the public domain

Seven knowledge-related reasons for referencing

1. Facilitate the tracing of the origin of ideas.
2. Helps you to build a web of ideas.
3. Supports your own voice in academic writing.
4. Validates arguments.
5. Helps to spread knowledge.
6. Acknowledges the work of others.
7. Abide by the Copyright Law.

List of References

Full details of sources must be listed at the end of your work in section called “References”.

Important Terms

• Citing – the formal recognition of the sources within your text.
• Citation – is the passage of words / quote used within your text.
• Bibliography (Works Consulted) – a list of resources used/consulted during your research or for further reading.
• Reference list (Works cited) – list of resources referred to in your work.

Primary and Secondary sources

The important points to bear in mind in selecting evidence to use in coursework are about their creditability, reliability and distinguishing between primary and secondary sources.

When to reference:  Six scenarios

Learners should reference evidence in assignments in the following situations:

1. To inform the reader of the source of tables, statistics, diagrams, photographs and other illustrations included in your assignment.
2. When describing or discussing a theory, model, practice or example associated with a particular writer; or using their work to illustrate examples in your text (this link specifically to the next two items).
3. To give weight or creditability to an argument supported by you in your assignment.
4. When giving emphasis to a particular theory, model or practice that has found a measure of agreement and support amongst commentators.
5. To inform the reader of the sources of direct quotations or definitions in your assignment.
6. When paraphrasing another person’s work, which is outside the realm of common knowledge, and that you feel is particularly significant, or likely to be a subject of debate.

When you do not need to reference

1. When presenting historical overviews
2. When presenting your own experiences
3. In conclusion, when you are repeating ideas previously referenced.
4. When summarising what is regarded as ‘common knowledge’

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Plagiarism

In general, plagiarism is one of the numbers of practices deemed by universities to constitute cheating, or in university-speak: ‘a lack of academic integrity’. These include:

• Collusion without official approval between two or more students, with the result that identical, or near identical work, is presented by all those involved.
• Falsification: where the content of assignments, e.g. statistics, has been invented or falsely presented by a student as their own work.
• Replication: Where a student submits the same, or very similar piece of work, on more than one occasion to gain academic credit.
• Taking unauthorised notes into an examination.
• Obtaining an unauthorised copy of an examination paper.
• Communicate with other students in an examination in order to help, or be helped, with answers.
• Impersonation of another person in an examination (Jones et al. 2005).

Three forms of plagiarism

• Copying another persons’ work, including the work of another student (with or without their consent), and claiming or pretending it to be your own.
• Presenting arguments that use a blend of your own and a significant percentage of copied words of the original author without acknowledging the source.
• Paraphrasing another person’s own work, but not giving due acknowledgement to the original writer or organisation publishing the writing, including internet sites.

How to avoid plagiarism

Applying, analysing, criticising or quoting other people’s work is perfectly reasonable and acceptable providing you always:

• Attempt to summarize or restate another person’s work, theories or ideas and give acknowledgement to that person. This is usually done by citing your sources and presenting a list of references.

OR

• By always using quotation marks (or indenting lengthy quotations in your text) to distinguish between the actual of the writer and your own words. Once again, you should cite all sources and present full details of these in your list of references.

Summarizing and paraphrasing

The way to avoid accusations of plagiarism is to try to summarize or paraphrase what you read, choosing words that seem to do this best for you. You will need to ask your course tutor what styles of writing is expected of you. Can you use the first person for the more analytical parts of it? If not, why not?

Collection of details for accurate referencing

In order to have an accurate record of what you have researched and therefore an accurate reference, it is important that you write down the details of your sources as you study. When taking notes, use a separate page for each new book, journal article, or electronic source.

For books, record:

• The author’s or editor’s name (or names)
• The year the book was published
• The title of the book
• If it is an edition other than the first
• The city the book was published in
• The name of the publisher

For journals articles record:

• The author’s name or names
• The year in which the journal was published
• The title of the article
• The title of the journal
• The page number/s of the article in the journal
• As much other information as you can find about the journal, for example volume and issue numbers

For electronic resources

• The date you accessed the source
• The electronic address or email
• The type of electronic sources (email, discussion forum, www page, etc.)

Checklist to reference your work

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Harvard Referencing: In-Text Citation Guidelines

1. Basic Format

The basic Harvard in-text citation format is:

(Author’s Surname, Year)

Example:

The theory was supported by further research (Smith, 2020).

If the author is mentioned in the sentence, only the year appears in brackets:

Smith (2020) argued that…

2. Multiple Authors

• Two authors: List both surnames with “and”.

  Example: (Taylor and Francis, 2018)

• Three or more authors: Use the first author’s surname followed by et al.

  Example: (Khan et al., 2021)

3. Multiple Sources in One Citation

Cite sources alphabetically and separate them with semicolons:

Example:

Several studies support this view (Brown, 2015; Clark, 2018; Jones, 2020).

4. Page Numbers (Quotations or Specific Info)

When quoting or referring to specific pages, include the page number:

Example:

“Strategic planning is essential” (Mintzberg, 1994, p. 67).

Use p. for a single page, and pp. for a page range:

(Dawkins, 2006, pp. 123–125)

5. No Author

Use the title in italics if there’s no author. Use quotation marks for shorter works (e.g., articles):

Example (book):

( Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2012)

Example (article):

(“How AI is Changing Work”, 2023)

6. No Date

Use n.d. to indicate “no date”:

Example:

(Williams, n.d.)

7. Citing a Website

If there is an individual author, cite as usual:

(Lee, 2021)

If the author is an organization:

(World Health Organization, 2022)

8. Citing Secondary Sources

If you read a source cited in another work (secondary referencing):

Format: (Original Author, Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year)

Example:

(Freud, 1900, as cited in Barker, 2017)

Note: Always try to consult the original source if possible.

9. Repeated Citations of the Same Source

If you’re citing the same source multiple times in one paragraph, you don’t need to repeat the year after the first citation:

Example:

According to Rogers (2012), … Rogers also noted…

10. Multiple Works by the Same Author and Year

Distinguish them using letters:

Example:

(Johnson, 2020a), (Johnson, 2020b)

These letters must match the entries in the reference list.

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Harvard Referencing: Format and Examples

Book

Author. Year. Book title. Place: Publisher.

Example:

Potts, D. 2002. Project planning and analysis for development. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reinner.

If there are three or more authors include all their names or just write the first author’s name and then write et al. If the book is in its second edition or beyond, you also need to include this information in the reference:

Seifert, K. L. et al. 2000. Lifespan development. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Seifert, K. L., Hoffnung, R.J. and Hoffnung, M. 2000. Lifespan development. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Chapter in an edited book or reader

Edited books contain collections of chapters which are written by different authors and collated by an editor or editors. To reference a chapter in an edited book you need to record the following details:

Chapter Author(s). Year. Title of chapter. In: Book Editor ed/eds. Book title. Place: Publisher, chapter page numbers.

Example:

Cooke, D.J. and Philip, L. 2001. To treat or not to treat? An empirical perspective. In: Hollin, C.R. ed. Handbook of offender assessment and treatment. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 3-15.

Journal article

To cite a journal article you will need to record the following information:

Author. Year. Article title. Journal Title volume(issue), pages.

Example:

Waterson, M. 2003. The role of consumers in competition and competition policy. International Journal of Industrial Organization 21(2), pp. 129-50.

Electronic journal article

If the electronic journal article is also available in paper format and if the layout, page numbers, text and images are exactly the same, you can just reference it as you would a print journal article.

For a journal article which is only available online or differs from its print version you will need to include the date when you found it and the URL:

Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal Title [Online] volume. Available at: URL [Accessed: day Month year].

Example:

Merchent, A.T. 2007. Diet, physical activity, and adiposity in children in poor and rich neighbourhoods: a cross-sectional comparison. Nutrition Journal [Online] 6.

Available at: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-6-1.pdf

[Accessed: 27 February 2007].

Web document

For a web page that is not an electronic journal you should record the following information in the reference:

Author or Editor (if available). Year (if available). Title [Online]. Place: Publisher (if available). Available at: web address of document [Accessed: day Month year].

Example:

Lane, C. et al. 2003. The future of professionalised work: UK and Germany compared [Online]. London: Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society. Available at: http://www.agf.org.uk/pubs/pdfs/1232web.pdf [Accessed: 10 May 2007].