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Research Toolkit: Intext referencing (Harvard author/date)

In-text Referencing...Its that easy!

Use the information and examples on this page to help construct your in-text references using the Harvard author date system of referencing. In-text references are used to support and substantiate your work, avoid copying other people's ideas and findings without giving them credit and it enables your teacher to follow up your information sources. Have a look at the slideshow and then download and save the guide from this page How to create in-text references using the Harvard Referencing System which includes excerpts from an essay highlighting intext references. If your are using graphics in your assignment also download and save the guide How to create graphic in-text references using the Harvard Referencing System.  The Online Referencing Generator has examples of in-text references for all the different types of information sources it lists.

Referencing Guidelines Slideshow

SACE research advice

How to create your references using the Online Referencing Generator

  • A bibliography is a list of information sources known as references which you have used in your research.
  • The Online Referencing Generator (ORG) is a web tool that automatically creates your references for your bibliography in a style known as the Harvard Author-Date System.
  • The following five steps show you how to use the ORG and step six shows you what your bibliography should look like.
  • Click on ORG once you have looked at the five steps.
  • The link to the ORG is always available from the library webpage in the Quick Links box along with other web based research tools or in the libguides that you are using for your research.
  • Once you click on the link you need to type in the password in the upper right hand corner and click enter. The password is available from the library staff.
  • Click on the Let's begin tab on the Middle School Bibliography option as shown below.

 

  • From the nine major types of information sources, look for the type of information source you are using and click on the correct link for that source.

 

 

  • For example : If you have a printed book with one author click on the first choice from the Book - printed source OR if you have a website without a author click on the fifth choice from the Website source.

 

  • Once you have clicked on your information source the screen below comes up with fields based on your choice of information source.
  • In this example you would fill in the following fields with the information from a printed book with an author.
  • You will always need to use capital letters as this is the only formatting the ORG does not automatically do.
  • If you choose a website as your information source you will need to fill in a field called Source. Look at your website and locate the publisher of the page as your source.
  • Click on Create citation once all the fields are filled in.

  • The citation will appear similar to the example below.
  • Highlight, copy and paste your reference into your own file either on your USB or on your student drive on the public share.
  • Notice the ORG formats and punctuates your reference automatically.
  • The Note: information always appears when you create your citation to remind you to arrange your references into alphabetical order by the first word when you are completing your bibliography.

  • Your bibliography is usually handed up as a separate page or slide (in a powerpoint) and attached to your assignment.
  • Click here to go to the ORG.
  • This is an example of a completed bibliography. Notice the heading and the references are in alphabetical order by the first word :

Bibliography

Eastwood, K 2004, Women and girls in the Middle Ages, Crabtree, New York.

Medieval Lords 2014, Medieval Life and Times, accessed 3 May 2015, <http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-life/medieval-lords.htm>.

 

What is in text referencing?

  • Within the text of your assignment you must acknowledge the author/authoring body or the title of the information source, the date it was published and the page numbers (if known) you are using.

Why do you need to reference?

  • Referencing is used to acknowledge that an idea, image (or the exact words) used within a piece of writing (or non-written text) is that of another person.
  • Referencing shows respect for other people’s intellectual rights and avoids plagiarism.
  • In-text referencing is used to support the information you use in your assignments.

What are the two types of in-text references?

  • You can either use the author's direct words (direct quote) written within quotation marks OR a summary of their ideas (indirect quote).

What is included in a in-text reference?

  • For either a quote or a indirect quote you use the author's surname or authoring body or title of the information source, date and page number (from where you have obtained the quote or the idea if you can) in round brackets. For example (Smith 2016) or (Smith 2016, pg. 5). Notice there isn't a comma between the name and the date and if there is a page number, follow the date by a comma pg. number and close the round bracket followed by a full stop.

What is a reference list?

  • A reference list includes the quotes and indirect quotes you have used in your assignment and is created on a separate sheet and attached to your assignment.
  • Use the Online Referencing Generator to generate your references which are put into alphabetical order under the title Reference List.

Use the word document below In text reference table to organise and keep track of your in text references.

The included PDF What technological devices are used to detect volcanoes has several in-text reference examples and a Reference List to help you use and understand in-text referencing.

  • Intext references highlighted in yellow are indirect quotes (summary of the author's idea)
  • The intext reference highlighted in blue is a direct quote (the ... (three dots) are used if you do not want to include the entire sentence)
  • The intext reference highlighted in grey is a reference to a figure (diagram) (start from figure 1 and continue numerically)

 

Why use In-text Referencing?

Whenever you write a assignment and use any information that is not common knowledge in the subject area you must give credit to the original author/s via in-text references.

Referencing is acknowledging where you have quoted someone else or used their ideas in your work. Avoiding plagiarism (when someone copies another person’s work and takes credit for it themselves) doesn't mean you can't use other people's work to support your ideas. It just means that you need to record any quotes or ideas that aren't your own, and reference them in the body of your work, and in your reference list.

There are two types of referencing:

Direct quotes: written within double quotation marks. Direct quotes must be the exact words of the author/article and their use must be kept to a minimum.

Indirect quotes: summarising or paraphrasing an author’s ideas but not the exact words.

Check the guide How to create in-text references using the Harvard Referencing System on this page for an example of in-text references within an essay.

The "in-text referencing system"

The Harvard author date system requires two elements: in-text citations throughout your assignment, and a list of references at the end.

1. In-text citations

Include three pieces of information about a source within the text of your work:

  • the author or author's surname OR the creator OR the title
  • the year of publication
  • the page number (when the information/idea can be located on a particular page, or when directly quoted)

As the name suggests, the author or author's surname OR creator OR title is included in round brackets with the year (date) of publication followed by a comma and the page number if applicable.

There are two main ways to present an in-text reference as shown below. One way gives prominence to the information by placing the reference at the end of your sentence in brackets. For example:

DNA has a double-helical structure (Watson and Crick 1953, p. 17).

Another way gives prominence to the author OR creator OR title by placing the reference in the body of your sentence, with the author OR creator OR title incorporated into the sentence structure and the year and date in brackets. For example:

Watson and Crick (1953, p. 17) discovered the double-helical structure. OR

DNA's double helical structure was discovered by Watson and Crick (1953, p. 17).

2. List of references

At the end of your text, you must include a List of References, a list of all the sources of information you have used to research your assignment and have included as in-text references in alphabetical order.

As well as a list of references, for some subjects (for example the Research Project) you may need to provide a bibliography which includes all the other information sources you used in your research.

For further examples check the guide How to create in-text references using the Harvard Referencing System.