University of Plymouth

Plymouth Business School

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Social Science Modules O
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Style Manual I
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Referencing N
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(Harvard Referencing System) E

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2009/2010 Y
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Faculty Support Office
Level 3 M
Cookworthy Building A
Tel: (01752) 585650
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(Version Eleven)
 SOCIAL SCIENCE STYLE MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. References 2

2. Citing Sources 5

3. Harvard Reference System 8

If you require any part of this publication in larger print, or in an

alternative format, please contact the Faculty Support Office, who will
then liaise with Disability Assist Services.

NB You should consult the module specifications for the different

elements of your programme for specific instructions concerning
referencing. You may also find it helpful to look at the resources from
Learning Development available via the Student Portal.

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REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
There are many systems for the presentation of references in academic work.
Which system a writer adopts depends upon many things, including what his or her
subject area is, what part of the world he or she is working in, and who is receiving
the work and for what purpose. Broadly speaking however, these systems fall into
three general formats:

 Citing sources using brackets within the text of the work. Included in this
category is the Harvard Reference System.
 Citing sources at the bottom of the page. This is often referred to as the
Footnote Reference System.
 Citing sources at the end of the work. This is usually called the Endnote
Reference System.

Module Leaders will specify which system you should use in your assignments. As a
general rule, the Harvard System is used by most social science programmes,
although Law programmes require the use of the Footnote Reference System. If in
doubt, ask! Whichever system you use, there are some rules that are common to all
reference systems. At this point, there is one simple rule - do not use more than one
system in any assignment.

WHY REFERENCE ANYWAY?

The primary purpose of a reference is to enable a reader to go to the library and
obtain a copy of the original text to which you refer in your analysis, in order to check
the validity of the claims you make about established theories in support of your
argument, or your empirical material. It also enables readers, or students, to follow
up scholarly work to which you refer for their own use, just as the references you find
in published material provide a good basis for your own literature surveys.

Last, but by no means least, accurate referencing also guards you against an
allegation of committing an academic offence, which is covered under the
University‟s „Examination and Assessment Offences‟ regulations.

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HOW MANY REFERENCES?

This is a difficult question to answer, as the number of references required will vary
according to the nature of the issues under consideration. However, it is unlikely that
a student could produce meaningful work with less than the following number of
references: Stage 1: around 5 or 6; Stage 2: around 6 or 7; and, Stage 3: around 8
or 9. These should be sources you have cited in the actual text of your essay.

ALL REFERENCES MUST CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION

For books:
Author surname, Initials or forename, Year of publication, Book title, Publisher and
Place of publication.

For chapters in edited books:

Author surname, Initials or forename, Year of publication, Chapter title, Book editor,
Book title, Publisher and Place of publication.

For journal articles:

Author surname, Initials or forename, Year of publication, Article title, Journal title,
volume number, part number and pages.

For newspapers and magazine articles:

If you are using newspapers, magazines and so on, references should follow the
same basic pattern. When there is a named author this is straightforward:

Brainless, Bob (1998) „Vicar Naked in Bath‟, The Daily Tabloid, 14 August, p. 12.

However, often the material in newspapers is not attributed to a named author.

When this occurs, use the name of the paper or magazine in place of the author
name:

The Star, (1992) „Thatcher snatched by aliens‟, The Star, 1 April, p 1.

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For Internet sources:

The use of references from the World Wide Web (www) is increasing. However,
these are of variable quality and for your academic work you should check carefully
the veracity and reliability of these sources. You are advised to cite the author name
(if available), title of material and Website (as publisher). However, dating Internet
pages is difficult, if not impossible - the best compromise is to cite the Internet
address and the date on which you accessed the site:

Jones, Tom (1998) „Census Evaluation‟, Department of Statistics, University of

Poppleton Website at http://www.poppleton.ac.uk/soc/cens/cass, accessed 13
September 1998.

Other Sources
You may refer to other sources, such as government publications, pamphlets,
speeches and reports from private organisations. Many of these will not be
„authored‟ in the sense that there is no author‟s name attached to them. In these
cases, we treat the organisation or publisher as the „author‟ in the first instance. For
example, in this case, we use the „University of Plymouth‟ as the author:

University of Plymouth (2001) Research Report 2000. University of Plymouth:

Plymouth.

Other requirements
Another general rule is that book titles and journal titles should be emphasised,
either by italics or underlined:

Harvey, David. (1989) The Urban Experience. Blackwell: Oxford.

Turner, B.S. (ed.) (1996) The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. Blackwell:
Oxford

Zukin, S. (1990. „Socio-Spatial Prototypes of a New Organisation of Consumption:

The role of real cultural capital‟, Sociology, 24, 1, 37-56.

Harvey, David. (1989) The Urban Experience. Blackwell: Oxford.

Turner, B.S. (ed.) (1996) The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory Blackwell:
Oxford.

Zukin, S. (1990) „Socio-Spatial Prototypes of a New Organisation of Consumption:

The role of real cultural capital‟, Sociology, 24, 1, 37-561

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Another variation you might come across involves the order of the information.
While in the Harvard system, the sequence of author (year) title is set, in some
publications you will notice that the publisher and the place of publication are
reversed, so Harvey‟s book above is referenced as

Harvey, David (1989) The Urban Experience. Oxford: Blackwell.

Often there are slight variations to this, sometimes, the part number of a journal is
put in brackets: Sociology, 24, (1), 37 - 56, or the page numbers are prefixed with pp.
(which means pages): Sociology, 24,1, pp. 37 – 56

CITING SOURCES

One of the things that many people find difficult about citing sources is
understanding what needs to be cited. This is a crucial aspect to grasp, not least to
ensure that you do not commit an academic offence such as plagiarism (i.e.
presenting someone else‟s work as your own). As a general rule, you should cite all
of the following things:

 Direct quotes
 Paraphrases
 Ideas and interpretations that are not your own
 Statistics and research results
 Facts that are not common knowledge

This last one is probably the least straightforward, as it is not altogether clear what
constitutes something that is not „common knowledge‟. For instance, the name of
the Prime Minister is common knowledge – this does not have to be cited. What
might not be common knowledge is which university he attended - this probably
should be cited.

Another „factual‟ area where citations are necessary is where facts are in dispute.
As a general rule, if you find a factual statement in at least 4 different publications,
and that factual statement is not challenged anywhere, you can take it as '„common

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knowledge” and don‟t need to cite it. If it is mentioned in less than 3 sources, or
sources contradict each other, highlight the discrepancy and cite it.

QUOTES VS. PARAPHRASES: USING QUOTATION MARKS

The difference between a quote and a paraphrase is an important one. A quote
occurs when you use the author‟s words within the body of your own work; a
paraphrase occurs when you substantially alter what the author has said and present
it in your own words. Changing one or two words here and there is not adequate;
you still need to put quotes around close paraphrases (signalling where you have
changed the text as appropriate).

It is very important that quotation marks are used when quoting directly from material
produced by another person or persons:

Donath (2000: 52) suggests that identity deceptions on the Internet are “acts of
omission rather than commission”.

This compares to a paraphrase, which still needs to be cited but does not need
quotes:

Donath (2000: 52) suggests that people do not necessarily lie about who they are on
the Internet; instead, they simply forget to tell the truth about it.

If you are using very long quotes – those that run for more than three lines of text
when you are typing your essay – the quote should be separated from the rest of the
text in some way. Normally this is done by single spacing the quote and indenting it
from both the left and right margins:

Discussions around the relationship between exposure to media violence and

adopting violent behaviour emerged first in the United States.

With its tradition of film-making, and the fact that widespread usage
of television first occurred there, it is not surprising that it was in
America that researchers conducted the first major investigations into
possible links between the visual depiction and subsequent commission
of violence.
(Jones, 2000: 54)

You do not have to use quotation marks in this context, as the offsetting of the text
signals to the reader that you are quoting.

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You should avoid using too many long quotes of this nature. While technically you
are not plagiarising, you are being very highly derivative, and will be marked down as
a result.

You must cite both quotes and paraphrases. Using quotes or close paraphrasing
without the use of quotation marks will result in a breach of University Regulations.
(See Academic Regulations Examination and Assessment Offences in your Student
Handbook or information on the Student Portal for details)

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HARVARD REFERENCE SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
Under the Harvard Reference System references are given in brackets within the
text and identified by author surname and year of publication. All references are then
listed at the end of the work, and ordered alphabetically by author surname: this is
list of references is referred to as either the „bibliography‟ or „references‟. Below are
examples of references for different types of sources

Bibliography

Brainless, Bob. (1998), „Vicar Naked in Bath!‟, The Daily Tabloid, 14 August 1998, p.
3.

Butler, R., Hall, G.M. and Jenkins, F. (eds) (1998) Tourism and Recreation in Rural
Areas. Wiley: Chichester.

Smith, John Antony (1998) lntroduction to Modem China: A Guide to Official

Statistics of the Republic of China, Routledge, London.

Tiger, Timothy T. (1989) Caring for Stuffed Toys, UCLA Press, San Diego

Wilson, Hubert (1967) „Power in Bognor Regis‟, Political Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.
34-56.

With this system you also add the page number if using direct quotes, or if referring
to information that is to be found on a particular page:

Nisbet (1967:120) regards de Tocqueville‟s work as providing “the first systematic

and empirical study of the effects of political power on modern society”.

Alternatively, it could be written like this:

Sometimes de Tocqueville‟s work is regarded as providing “the first systematic and

empirical study of the effects of political power on modern society” (Nisbet, 1967:
120).

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A common mistake that many students make is to put all the details in the brackets:
This is unnecessary, as all the information that is required is contained in the
reference list at the back.

MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR

Sometimes there is more than one author for a book or article. If there are two, the
general rule is to name them both:

According to Rojek and Urry (1997).

If there are more than two, this is indicated by the use of et al in brackets:

According to Butler (et al, eds) (1998)

Note, also, that in this example, the inclusion of eds in the brackets indicates that this
is a collection of edited papers, and not a joint-authored book.

When this is written up in the bibliography (see below) all names must be included:

Butler, R., Hall, C.M. and Jenkins, J. (eds) (1998) Tourism and Recreation in Rural
Areas Wiley: Chichester.

The advantage of the Harvard Reference System is that it does not clutter up the
bottom of the pages of assignments, articles or books, as does the Footnote
Reference System. Another advantage is that it is easier to compile and check the
bibliography. Also, it allows you to use footnotes and endnotes - but not for
references - if necessary. The disadvantage is that in order to follow up these
references, your reader must keep turning to the bibliography at the end of the
book/article.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES FOR THE HARVARD SYSTEM

The Harvard System requires a bibliography. All works referred to in the text must
be in the bibliography. Compile the bibliography as you go along - do not leave it to
the end, it is not something that can be added as an afterthought. A proper
bibliography proves that you have done the reading and organised the material.
Work that does not have an adequate bibliography and is poorly referenced can lose

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you marks.

MORE THAN ONE ARTICLE/BOOK WITH THE SAME DATE

Occasionally you may find that authors have two or more papers or books published
in the same year. These should be referenced as a, b, c, and so on, the order
determined by the alphabetical order of the titles:

Urry, J (1990a) Conclusion: places and policies, in Harloe, M.; Pickvance, C. and
Urry J. (eds) Place, Policy and Politics: Do localities matter? Unwin Hyman: London.

Urry, J. (1990b) „The Consumption of Tourism‟, Sociology, 24,1, 23-35.

SECONDARY SOURCES

A secondary source is where you have referred to a source quoted in another work.
Ideally you should try to find the original source. However, if this is not possible, you
need to cite both in the text of your assignment:

Research by Becker (1963: 45-6, cited in Newburn 2007: 914) suggests that…

In the list bibliography or list of references at the end you should then give the full
details:

Becker, H. (1963) Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. London:

Macmillan, cited in Newburn, T. (2007). Criminology. Cullompton: Willan.

Finally, this is not an exhaustive list. If you have any further queries you may find it
helpful to look at the Guide to Referencing on the Learning Development part of the
Student Portal:

http://intranet.plymouth.ac.uk/refman/

You could also arrange an appointment with a Learning Development Advisor and /
or ask for advice from your module or seminar leader.

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SUMMARY
In short, for the bibliography the following rules must be observed

DO:
 put all references in the bibliography.
 compile the bibliography as you go along - not as an afterthought
 arrange it alphabetically by author
 check that all references are correct and in the bibliography

DO NOT:
 reference lecture notes or course handbooks (readings in handbooks are
acceptable - but reference the original source)
 divide the bibliography into sections such as „books‟, „chapters in books‟,
„journals'.
 list any books you have not referred to
 arrange it in the order the references appear in your assignment - to do so is to
confuse this system with endnote referencing.

It is important to get used to doing this now. A bibliography is not counted as part of
the word total for assignments.

Originally prepared by Rhys Dugan and Kevin Meehan

11th Edition updated by Jill Annison
 University of Plymouth, 2009

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