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

Welcome to the online version of the Glucksman Library's Cite It Right: Guide to Harvard Referencing Style. Click on the link below to access the PDF of the 4th edition of the guide.

Referencing acknowledges the books, articles, websites, and any other material used in the writing of a paper, essay or thesis.

1. Essential Elements of Referencing

• Citing: referring to sources you quote within your document. This brief citation refers the reader to the exact place in your reference list or bibliography where you will provide the extended details of the source.
• Reference list: the detailed list of sources that have been cited within the text. Every reference must have enough information for the reader to find the source again.
• Bibliography: a list of all references consulted in preparing the document, whether cited or not.

This is an example of in-text citing (citations are in bold for demonstration only):

The early 21st century has seen the development of a global epidemic of obesity, as emphasised by a growing body of articles, popular books, and most recently the movie Supersize Me (Spurlock 2004). To prevent obesity, habits need to be changed and dietary education as part of the school curriculum is key (MacDonald 1997, p.78). It is clear that to decrease obesity levels in populations, significant sociological changes will need to take place.

This is how the entries would look in your reference list:

Macdonald, G. (1997) ‘Innovation diffusion and health education in schools’, in Sidell, M., Jones, L., Katz, J. and Peberdy, A., eds., Debates and dilemmas in promoting health, London: Open University, 55-83.

Spurlock, M. (2004) Supersize me: a film of epic proportions [film], Beverly Hills: Roadside Attractions.

2. Plagiarism

Passing off another scholar’s work as your own is plagiarism and is considered a major disciplinary offence.

Turnitin.com is used at the University of Limerick to check for instances of plagiarism in students’ work. Check with your department with any questions about the use of Turnitin.

3. Harvard (Name-Date) referencing style

Many departments in the University of Limerick recommend a style based on the Harvard (Name-Date) referencing style. There are variations and interpretations within the Harvard referencing style. This guide gives you a version of Harvard based on ISO 690:2010 and BS 5605:1990 approved by UL, hereafter called Harvard UL. However, you should check which style or variation your department or thesis supervisor recommends. Whatever referencing style you are required to follow you must ensure:

• Consistent application of the rules of whatever variation you are following;
• Acknowledgement of all sources;
• Sufficient bibliographic detail to enable your reader to locate the item to which you are referring.

4. Referencing styles by discipline or subject

In addition to the Harvard UL style, there are several other styles used in the University of Limerick as other styles are more appropriate to specific disciplines or subjects such as:

• History – The Irish Historical Society (IHS). See the Rules for Contributors on http://irishhistoricalstudies.ie/.
• Law – OSCOLA Ireland based on the OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) standard. See http://www.legalcitation.ie/ for more information.
• Culture and communication – MLA Style (Modern Language Association)
• Psychology – APA Style (American Psychological Association)

There are thousands of other referencing styles including:

• ASME Citation Style (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
• Chicago Manual of Style / Turabian Citation Style
• IEEE Citation Style (Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers)
• Vancouver Citation Style

If submitting a paper to a publisher, you should check with them to see if there is a particular style that they would like you to use.

The Glucksman Library’s Referencing & EndNote LibGuide provides more information on the different referencing styles and EndNote bibliographic management software at https://libguides.ul.ie/referencing-endnote.

You can direct referencing queries or comments to the Information Desk, your Faculty Librarian or via Ask Us – Tell Us on the library website: www.ul.ie/library.

Reference management software can help you:

The Harvard UL EndNote style has been updated to reflect the changes made to the Harvard style that UL uses as laid out in the 2016 edition of Cite It Right 4th Edition.

• To install Harvard UL_2016, download Harvard UL_2016 style above.
• Browse to the location on your computer where you downloaded the style.
• Double-click on the style file to open it.
• The style should open in EndNote.
• In EndNote, go to the File menu and select Save as.
• Click on the Save button.
• You should then be able to select your style by going back to Word and using the drop-down Style menu to Select another style. You should now be able to see your style in the list and to select it.

The PDF document above details some additional instructions on how to use the different reference types in EndNote Harvard UL_2016 style in order to match exactly the item types included in the Cite It Right 4th Edition.

In EndNote Online, Harvard UL_2016 should be available as a style in the drop-down list in Word (or by choosing "Select Another Style"). If it is not listed then go to EndNote Online and select Format > Bibliography and click on "Select Favorites". Then select Harvard UL_2016 and copy to "My Favorites". Harvard UL_2016 will now be available in the drop-down list in Word.

This short video includes real queries the library received about referencing. If the answer you need isn't here, please consult Cite it Right or send us a query to libinfo@ul.ie

In addition to Cite It Right there are several other referencing guides available in the Library and these can be found at shelfmark 808+. Some examples are shown below:

Stíl Tí an Ghúim / An Gúm Irish Language Style Guide

This style guide to the Irish language draws from New Hart’s Rules and the MHRA Style Guide.