Introduction

The activities which follow aim to show you how to find the information you need to take a reference from a book, a journal or a website. You will also see how to construct and format the reference properly so that you can use it in your bibliography. As explained in the Introduction, you will be using the Harvard system of in-text citation with a full description of the particular source at the end of the piece of writing, in a section called References. This is very much the standard for academic writing today. However, there are quite a few different referencing styles.

Styles of end-of-text-referencing

We are using this general style for a book - author, year of publication, title in italics, edition (if not the first edition), place of publication, publisher. For a journal - author, date of publication, title of article, name of journal in italics, volume, number within the volume, page numbers for the whole article. Punctuation can also vary between styles. Many universities provide a style-sheet for most types of reference. Sometimes tutors require you use a particular style. A very well known style within the Harvard system, sometimes requested by journal editors, has been developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) What matters is that you are consistent in whatever style you use, or are requested to use. Be very attentive to consistent punctuation.

First, choose an option from How to reference a BOOK, a JOURNAL or a WEBSITE (links on the left). If you are new to referencing you may find it easier to start with BOOK. You will see some animated sequences; at certain points in the animation you will be asked to enter information in a typing space on the screen. The text you enter will then be displayed on screen for you to view; at the end of the exercise you can compare what you have done with the correct Harvard format. You can repeat the exercise as many times as you find helpful.