University of Southampton

The ability to cite references correctly is an important part of every student’s stock-in-trade. Correct citation should be a standard technique used automatically in the preparation and presentation of essays, seminar papers, dissertations, research project reports and theses. It is in the interests of both the writer and the readers of such pieces of work that references should be cited correctly, systematically and in full, so that they form a useful integral part of the work as a whole. For student work in the School of Geography we use the Harvard referencing system. Here the authors' names and dates are given in parentheses in the body of the text, e.g. (Postlethwaite, 1934), and the references listed alphabetically in full at the end of the paper. References in the text to specific pages are needed in the case of quotations (e.g. Roberts, 1967, pp. 21-22). Where reference is made to more than one publication by the same author(s) in a single year, items should be differentiated by using the letters a, b, c, etc. (e.g. Gregory, 1979a; Walker, 1974c). This document provides a brief guide to citation using the Harvard system. It seeks to describe the principles involved in referencing different sorts of works (books, journal articles, web pages) and to give illustrative examples of such references.1 The precise form of punctuation for referencing, such as whether or not to places dates in brackets, tends to differ by publisher. The best strategy is simply to adopt one form of accepted punctuation and to consistently apply it. Have at a look at a contemporary journal article or book chapter for guidance. For further information, see chapter 14 in Kneale P (1999) Study Skills for Geography Students (London, Arnold). A. CITATIONS IN THE TEXT When citing a work in the text of an essay or project, the basic principle is to give the name of the author(s) and year of publication. You should then list the full references of cited works at the end of your assignment in alphabetical order by author. • Larsen (1995) observed that… When directly quoting from a source, ensure that quotation marks are used and the relevant page numbers are given. • Larsen (1995, p. 25) observed that “the sample sizes were not…” When a work has no author (including legal materials) or the author is anonymous, cite the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use italics for the title as follows: • This was apparently not the case in seventeenth-century England (On travelling to London 1683). • or: On travelling to London (1683) reveals that this was not true.