Referencing is the academic practice of acknowledging the sources you have used in your work. Sources may be other people's words and ideas.
Referencing demonstrates your ethical use of information, the range of your research and reading, provides authority to your arguments, enables others to find materials cited, and avoids accusations of plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the use of another person's work without proper acknowledgment. Most plagiarism is unintentional and the result of poor academic practice. It's is important to reference when directly quoting or paraphrasing another person's work.
Referencing styles are sets of rules governing referencing practice. They prescribe the type, order and format of information in a reference. There are 3 main types of referencing style: in-text, footnote and endnote. Always check what referencing style is required by your department or assessment, as there may be local interpretations.
An introduction to the general principles of referencing, including why, when and how to reference.
Your Research & Academic Support Librarian is available for 1-2-1 appointments, both on-campus and online, and can advise on all library, research and referencing matters.
Harvard is the referencing style used by the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick. Harvard is a term given to describe Author (Date) referencing styles. There is no definitive version of Harvard. Most universities and/or schools/departments have their own local version of Harvard, and you should use the referencing style approved by your school/department.
At the University of Warwick, the Department of Economics has their own Harvard (Warwick Economics) referencing style, which is available on the library website. It covers the referencing rules for the main resource types. For resources not covered in the Harvard (Warwick Economics) Quick Guide, you are advised to consult Cite Them Right: The Essential Guide to Referencing, which is available as a print and ebook in the library.
Online library tutorials introducing the general principles of referencing and plagiarism:
Avoiding Plagiarism - an introduction to plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarism for students.
Introduction to Referencing - an introduction to referencing using the Harvard referencing style.
This tutorial follows the Harvard (Warwick Medical) referencing style, but is suitable for Department of Economics students.
The following sections provide an introduction to the Harvard (Warwick Economics) referencing style. It introduces the basic principles of Harvard referencing, including in-text citations and the bibliography, and provides examples for key sources of information.
Harvard is an Author (Date) referencing style commonly used in the social sciences. Sources are briefly acknowledged with an in-text citation (Author, Year, Page), and the full reference is given in a bibliography at the end of the text.
In the main text of your work, sources are briefly acknowledged with an in-text citation. This should include the author(s) surname, the year of publication, and the page number where appropriate.
In-text citations are given in the format Author (Year, p. Page) or (Author, Year, p. Page). You should use the option that works best with the sentence structure in your academic writing. For example:
If you are citing more than one source, simply separate your in-text citations with a semi-colon (;). You should cite the sources in chronological order, with the earliest source first. If more than one source is published in the same year, you should then cite them alphabetically by author's surname.
Personal authors (a person) should be presented as surname only in the in-text citations e.g. Hanes; and Surname, Initials in the bibliography e.g. Hanes, J.
Corporate authors (an organisation) should be presented as the full name of the organisation, or the organisation's initials (if well known), in both in-text citations and the bibliography e.g. University of Warwick.
If citing 1 or 2 authors, you should list all authors names, in the order listed on the source, in both the in-text citations and the bibliography.
If citing 3 or more authors names, you should list only the first author's name, followed by the abbreviation et al, which is Latin for 'and others' in the in-text citation. Include all authors' names in the bibliography.
Some sources have an editor instead of, or as well as, an author. If citing an editor, include the abbreviation ed (for a single editor) or eds (for multiple editors) in round brackets, after the editor(s) name(s) e.g. Hanes, J. (ed) or Hanes, J. and Lloyd, N. (eds).
At the end of your work, you should provide the full reference of all sources cited in the text. The list of sources is known as a bibliography or reference list. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but some regard a reference list as containing only those sources cited in the text, and a bibliography as also including sources read but not cited in the text.
In the bibliography, references are listed alphabetically (A-Z order) by author's surname.
If citing multiple sources by the same author, list them chronologically, with the earliest first. If citing multiple sources by the same author in the same year, then distinguish between sources with a letter after the year i.e. Hanes (2022A) and Hanes (2022B).
You do not need to organise the bibliography into sections by resource type unless otherwise instructed in your assessment guidance.
When citing references in the bibliography, follow the referencing rules for each resource type (see next section).
You should include a page number in the in-text citation for all quotations and paraphrases e.g. (Hanes, 2022, p. 1). You do not need to include the page number for the quotation in the bibliography.
If a source does not have page number, try to identify the position of the quotation by another means e.g. paragraph (para.), section (s.), chapter (ch.), part (pt.), or minutes (min).
Occasionally, you may be unable to find an author or date for a source. If this occurs, first evaluate the source to determine if it is a reliable source of academic information. You may prefer to find an alternative source which does have an author and/or date.
If you are happy to proceed, then follow the rules for citing sources with no author and/or no year.
If a source has no personal author (person), first see if you can cite a corporate author (organisation) instead.
If the source is anonymous, then you should cite the source by title, in both the in-text citation and the bibliography, with the year being stated after the title e.g. A Guide to Referencing (2022).
Do not replace the authors name with anon or anonymous.
If a source has no year of publication, then you should replace the year with the words 'no date' in both the in-text citation and the bibliography.
This guide assumes that author names follow an English naming convention. If you are citing non-English names, which may express first name (given name) and surname (family name) differently, then you should follow advice in Cite Them Right.
If you are citing sources written in a foreign language, it is helpful to provide an English language translation of the title in your bibliography. Give the title in the original language first, and then include an English language translation afterwards, in [square brackets]. Again, there is further advice in Cite Them Right.
If you are directly quoting foreign language material, it should be given in the original language, so do consider if it would be understood by your readership. If you wish to translate the quotation yourself, present the quotation as a paraphrase rather than a direct quotation. Remember to include a page number in your in-text citation.
Author of Secondary Source (Year of Secondary Source, quoted/cited in Author of Primary Source, Year of Primary Source, p. Page of Primary Source).
If you are reading a source, and it mentions another source, you may wish to cite the other source in your work.
The best academic practice is to find and read the original source and then cite it directly. If you are unable to find the original source, you can cite it indirectly, either 'as quoted in' or 'as cited in', another source. This practice of indirect citation is known as secondary referencing.
The primary source is the one you have read; the secondary source is the one you have read about. You should cite both sources in your in-text citation, but only the primary source in your bibliography.
Author (Year) Title of Book. Edition edn. Place: Publisher.
The edition statement is only required for second or later editions. For first editions, or books without an edition statement, do not include '1st edn' in the reference.
For ebooks, follow the general rules for referencing print books. It is not normally necessary to include the ebook platform or web address. If you do include the web address, state the DOI if available, otherwise the URL, and the date of access at the end of the reference e.g. Available at: DOI (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Author (Year) ‘Title of Chapter’, in Editor ed, Title of Book. Edition edn. Place: Publisher, pp. Pages.
Author (Year) ‘Title of Article’, Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), pp. Pages.
The last example is of a journal article without an author. Here the reference follows the title and year rule.
Author (Year) ‘Title of Article’, Title of Journal, Volume(Issue). Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
For most ejournals, follow the general rules for referencing print journal articles. Some journals are published online only, and articles do not have page numbers. For online only journals, include the web address (DOI if available, otherwise the URL) and accessed date at the end of the reference e.g. Available at: DOI (Accessed: Day Month Year).
It can be difficult to know if a journal article is published online only, and if a web address is required in your reference. You will not be penalised if you include or exclude the wrong information. However do ensure that you properly acknowledge the rest of the journal article.
Author (Year) ‘Title of Article’. To be published in Title of Journal [Preprint]. Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
Author (Year) Title of Paper, Title of Working Paper Series, Paper Number . Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
Author (Year) ‘Title of Article’, Title of Newspaper, Date, p. Page.
Title of Newspaper (Year) ‘Title of Article’, Date, p. Page.
If the newspaper article has no author (byeline), then you should start the reference with the newspaper title.
Author (Year) ‘Title of Article’, Title of Newspaper, Date. Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
Author (Date) Title of Report/Website. Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
Author (Date) ‘Title of Blog Post’, Title of Blog, Date. Available at: web address (Accessed: Date).
Referencing software allows you to manage references, insert citations and create a bibliography, in your referencing style.
EndNote
EndNote is referencing software from Clarivate. EndNote Desktop supports many Harvard referencing styles. EndNote is available from Warwick IT Services, and is supported by Warwick Library. Please see the EndNote LibGuide for further information.
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Discover how to avoid plagiarism, how to use the Harvard referencing style, and how to manage references with EndNote referencing software.
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