Harvard Style Referencing

For the following different types of sources use the appropriate referencing style:

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.

Journal 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, e.g. the volume and issue numbers.

Electronic Resources

Record:

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

Also record the following if available:

  • The author’s name (or names);
  • The date the resource was created;
  • The title of the resource.

References in Computing

Computing assignments often involve writing programs. It is common for students (and programmers in general) to use code found online in their assignments. If the code is simple and general (e.g. iterating through a linked list, performing Quicksort) no reference needs to be made. However, if the code is more complex and unique (e.g. A program that creates a staff directory) a reference should be included. If you are not sure, it is always best to include a reference, just in case.

In general the reference should be made in a comment directly above the code in question.

E.g.

/*******************************************************************/
//Program: Staff Directory
//Description: Creates a directory of all staff from a .csv file
//Created on: 16/9/09
//Author: Awesome Programmer
//Author URI: http://www.awesomeprogrammerwebsite.com/
//Accessed from: http://www.awesomeprogrammerwebsite.com/staff_directory.php
//Last Accessed: 21/4/10
/*******************************************************************/

Often the original programmer will put most of the information needed at the top of their code themselves. Make sure to record:

  • The date you accessed the code;
  • The URL of the code;
  • The author of the code (if available);
  • The date the code was created (if available);

If a document is also to be submitted explaining the code, references to all code written by others should be included in this document.

Creating a reference list


Source: Referencing - The Harvard System. Available at http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm