Cite It Right: Guide to Harvard Referencing Style: How to Cite

Author(s) name: Use surname only.

Use both authors’ surnames linked by ‘and’ for 2 authors. Use first author’s surname and et al. for 3 or more authors. If citing multiple sources at same time, list in chronological order and alphabetically thereafter for sources sharing the same year. (See examples in the table below).

Year: Give full four digits for year.

Pages/Point: Abbreviate to p. for single page and pp. for page range. Give full numbers for page range.

You will see all of the following variations when page numbers are cited. All are valid.

• Quote from a single page: (Critser 2003, p.31)
• Quote from multiple pages: (Critser 2003, pp.31-32)
• Quote generally: (Critser 2003)
• Structure your sentence to include the in-text citation: Critser said in 2003 (p.31)
• No page numbers: Count your paragraphs and refer if possible to the paragraph number and/or section heading: (Critser 2003, para. 11) or (Critser 2003, Introduction, para. 2)

You should cite album tracks or times, video frames or times, or other specific points on a larger piece of work in the same way: (Ryan 2012, track 23). Time should be in the 24-hour clock in the format hh:mm:ss. Use the time to an appropriate granularity i.e. the seconds value may not be needed or available: (McCarthy 2011, 01:22).

In some disciplines page numbers are required, for example, only for long works and not for articles. The Harvard UL style recommends giving page numbers if you are quoting directly. However, if you are paraphrasing it is not essential to give page numbers.

You must quote or paraphrase correctly to avoid plagiarism.

• To quote is to directly use another’s words and to acknowledge the source:

The rise in obesity grew from a “boundary-free culture of American food consumption” (Critser 2003, p.31), …

• To paraphrase is to express the author’s work in your own words and to acknowledge the source:

Increasing obesity levels in the United States grew from a food consumption culture that was boundary-free (Critser 2003), …

• To summarise is to describe broadly the findings of a study without directly quoting from it:

In a popular study, Critser (2003) argues that our culture is now without boundaries…

• To plagiarise is to present another’s work as your own and not acknowledge the source:

In the United States the rise in obesity grew from a boundary-free culture of American food consumption.

• Common knowledge refers to a statement so well known that there is no need to reference it:

As Albert Einstein said, “Science is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”…

Rule for short quotations:

Put short quotations (around twenty words or less) in inverted commas within the text:

Society has developed a “boundary-free culture” (Critser 2003, p.31), which has affected our food consumption.

Rule for long quotations:

Long quotations should be indented in a separate paragraph, in a smaller font. Cite the author and date in the same font and in brackets at the right margin of the page, under the quotation:

Nowhere did this new boundary-free culture of American food consumption thrive better than in the traditional American family, which by the ’80s was undergoing rapid change.

(Critser 2003, p.31)

This is how the entry for Critser would look in your reference list:

Critser, G. (2003) Fat land, London: Allan Lane.