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Referencing with Harvard

Types of in-text references

Types

There are four types of in-text references. You can use a: 

  1. Small quotation (up to 30 words)
  2. Long quotation (30 words or over)
  3. Paraphrase
  4. Summary

The first two get a page number, the bottom two don't.

 

Basic recipe of an in-text reference

Name of author + year of publication. Depending on the type of in-text reference, add a page number.

About quotations

  • repeating someone's exact words, no changes made;
  • don't use it often in an assignment;
  • paraphrasing is preferred over quotations;
  • use quotations if by paraphrasing you lose the essence of the quote;

 

Types of quotations

Small quotations are included in your sentence with the text in double quotation marks ("").

Long quotations are presented differently than small quotations. Points to remember for longer quotes:

  • place a colon (:) at the end of your writing before the quote;
  • leave a space of one line before and after the quotation;
  • do not use quotation marks around the quotation;
  • use a smaller font for the quote;
  • indent the quote on the first line;
  • if your assignment is in double spacing, keep the quote in single spacing. (Box Hill Institute, 2021)
  • the "period at the end of the sentence" is placed after the quote and before the source information. Look at the first reference in the list of examples of long quotations. 

 

Direct or indirect use of in-text references 

All types of in-text references can be used directly or indirectly. 

Indirect means that you put the name of the author at the end of a sentence (example 1). Direct means that you put the name of the author in the beginning (example 2-4 ).

 

Examples of direct or indirect use of a small quotation (author, date, page)

"In the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place" (Walker, 2011, p. 222).

Walker (2011, p. 222) states that "in the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place.

In his 2011 text, Walker states that "in the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place" (p.222).

As Nutt (2000) explains “at a national level, the strategic objective of facility management is to provide better infrastructure and logistic support to business and public endeavours of all kinds and across all sectors” (p.124).

 

Examples of direct or indirect use of a long quotation (author, date, page)

The post-war years were not a time of great innovation:

    To get back to normal, which meant to order and stability, was the general longing and fashion voiced this conservative mood in a series of smooth, well-balanced lines, embodied in clothes of notable elegance, carefully designed, well-made and flattering.  (Ewing, 2001, p. 167) 

 

The post-war years were not a time of great innovation. As Ewing (2001, p. 167) states:

   To get back to normal, which meant to order and stability, was the general longing and fashion voiced this conservative mood in a series of smooth, well-balanced lines, embodied in clothes of notable elegance, carefully designed, well-made and flattering.

 

(Box Hill Institute, 2021)(Brokke, 2021, p.13)

About paraphrases & summaries

Paraphrasing means rewriting the words of another author in your own words.

“Summarising involves repeating the main ideas of a passage in your own words.  A summary concentrates on the important points rather than the details” (Box Hill Institute, 2021).

For this you never use a page number.

 

Example

Facilities management seeks to contribute to an organization’s success by improving the way its workplace is managed (Alexander, 2003).  

(Brokke, 2021, p.13)

About secondary sources

In some cases you are reading a quote or paraphrase of another author in the source that you are using. And you want to use this in your thesis or essay. This kind of reference is called a secondary reference.

 

Example

In this example, Brown is the work which you wish to refer to, but have not read directly for yourself. Bassett is the secondary source, where you found the summary of Brown's work.

It is important to realise that Bassett may have taken Brown's ideas forward, and altered their original meaning. If you need to cite a secondary reference it is recommended that, where possible, you read the original source for yourself rather than rely on someone else's interpretation of a work. For this reason it is best to avoid using secondary referencing.

The reference list at the end of your document should only contain works that you have read. In the above example you would only list the work by Bassett.

 

A direct in-text reference
Research recently carried out in the Greater Manchester area by Brown (1966 cited in Bassett, 1986, p.142) found that ...


An indirect in-text citation 
(Brown, 1966 cited in Bassett, 1986, p.142)

(Anglia Ruskin University Library, n.d.)

In some cases you paraphrase more than one author in your text. 

Direct use

Where reference is made they are all cited:
Bergs (2002) and Brokke (2011) have both shown ...


Indirect use

List the reference at the relevant point in the sentence or at the end of the sentence. General guideline for this:

  • Name of author + year of publication
  • Separated by a semi-colon and within brackets ; ()
  • In chronological order (i.e. earliest first)

Further research in the late nineties(Berlo, 1996; Mutsaerts, 1998) led to major developments .....
Recent research (Del Prado, 2004; Brokke, 2011; Brugel, 2008) shows that .....