In this blog post, we will be looking at the correct way to reference a website using the Harvard referencing system. We will start by considering why referencing is so important and why you need to do it, then move on to look at the method for referencing a website. We will also consider how to cite a website in the main text of your work. Finally, although websites can be a useful source, there is the risk that they aren’t reliable, so we will look at ways to evaluate your sources before you include them.
So, why do you need to reference the sources you have used? There are two main reasons. Firstly, if you have not correctly referenced every source that you used, you could be guilty of plagiarism, as every author (including yourself) has the right to be acknowledged as the creator of that work. Plagiarism is when you take someone else’s writing and ideas and present them as your own. If it is found that you have committed plagiarism, the impact can be severe for you, from having to completely retake the assessment to being asked to leave your course.
It is important to remember that plagiarism isn’t only an issue where you have copied work word-for-word. It is also a problem if you just take ideas, thoughts or conclusions from someone else’s work and include these in your own work without a reference. If you do take anything word-for-word from a source, remember that this is a quote and that you should make this clear in your work.
The second reason to reference is to help your readers. By looking at how completely you have referenced and the sources you have used, they can evaluate your work for reliability. This is useful if they plan to reference you as a source in their own work. In addition, references can also make your work clearer. If you state a point, giving a reference to back this up, your readers can then go and check this reference to ensure that they are understanding your work correctly and clear up any confusion.
In the Reference List
The basic format to reference a website using the Harvard system is:
Author or source, Year. Title of webpage. (updated) Available at: Full URL [Accessed Date].
For example:
Crown Prosecution Service, 2020. DPP speech to the Bar Council – 14 July 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/dpp-speech-bar-council-14-july-2020> [Accessed 27 September 2020].
We will now look at each part of this in turn.
Author or Source
In some cases when referencing a website, an individual author will be obvious – their name appears at the top or bottom of the article, or it is their own website and they have written all the text. In this case, you would write the author’s name in the same format as you would for any other reference, with the surname first followed by their initial(s). For example:
Terry, K.
If there are multiple authors, list them all, separated by commas and the word “and” as appropriate:
Terry, K., Nasiri, W. and Paver, N.
However, sometimes there will not be an individual author you can reference. In this case, you would need to reference the corporate author, such as a company, organisation or government body. For example, in the reference above, the author is the Crown Prosecution Service. Write out any abbreviations in full in your reference list, so don’t just put (for example) CPS.
Year
This should be the year the webpage was created, not the year you accessed it – this comes later. Write the year as four digits, i.e. 2020 not just 20.
Title of webpage.
Include the full title of the webpage in italics but remove all capitalisation except on the first word and proper nouns. For example, “A Walk Through Berlin” would become “A walk through Berlin”.
Follow this with the type of medium in square brackets; in this case, [online].
Updated
If the webpage includes information about an update, write this inside brackets. This makes sure that your readers are directed to the right version.
Available at
Include the full URL inside angle brackets.
Accessed date
This should be the date that you actually accessed the document, not the date it was created. Write it in the format DD Month YYYY, for example, 23 August 2017.
It is important that you include the accessed date, as webpages can be updated and your readers will need to know if they are looking at the right version. Your references should accurately reflect the sources you have used to ensure your work is itself reliable.
In-Text Citation
To cite a website within the body of your writing, you need the author’s name and the year it was created. You can do this citation directly by mentioning the author in the text and then including the year in brackets, for example:
Crown Prosecution Service (2020)
Alternatively, you can cite it indirectly by having both the author’s name and the year in brackets, separated by a comma:
(Crown Prosecution Service, 2020)
If there is a well-known abbreviation (such as CPS), you can give this in brackets at the first mention in the text and just use the abbreviation after. Remember that you still need to write the full name in the reference list.
Evaluating Sources
Before you include a source, there are a few things you can consider to determine how reliable it is. Firstly, what do you know about the author? Are they generally considered to be trustworthy? Secondly, what is the purpose of the webpage? One that is written to persuade is less reliable than one aiming to inform.
In addition, how recently was the source written? The more recent it is, the more likely it is to be accurate and relevant to what you are writing. It can also be helpful to look at any references included at the end of the webpage and consider how reliable these seem.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to use and reference webpages in your work. In my next blog post, we will be looking at how to reference images in your work, so come back in two weeks for that!
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