In this blog post, we will be finishing the Harvard referencing series by looking at how to organise your reference list and how to deal with multiple sources by the same author. This should help you to make your reference list complete and as useful as possible. However, we will start by asking why you need a reference list and the benefits of it.
A reference list should be a complete and accurate list of all the citations you have made in your work. This means that the main body of your work can be checked against the reference list to easily find the sources you have used. Your readers can then follow up on particular points you have made; for example, you may discuss a topic that they want to know more about. They can look at the in-text citations you have made, then find the full details of the source in your reference list.
Having a reference list also helps if your readers want to understand your arguments or line of reasoning. Provided you have put in-text citations in the relevant places, they can check these against the reference list and read the source in full. This can then help them to understand the points you are making in the context of the sources you have used.
The other reason to have a reference list is to make sure you are not committing plagiarism. This occurs when you use other people’s research and ideas and present them as your own. Everyone has the right to be credited as the author of their work (including you) so failing to acknowledge the original creators is unethical.
The consequences of plagiarism can be severe, so do pay attention to your referencing. At the least, you will have to add in the correct references, but you could also be asked to redo that section or the whole piece of work. If you repeatedly use sources without adding them to the reference list, you may be forced to leave your course. Plagiarism can also damage your professional reputation, which would be a problem if you plan to write academically.
Structure of the Reference List
As the aim of the reference list is to let your readers quickly and easily find sources that you have used, it needs to be arranged in a logical order. References are given in alphabetical order of the last name of the source’s author. In your main text, you should have an in-text citation for every source you have used, which will include the author’s last name and the year the source was created. Your readers should be able to use this information to quickly find the correct source in your reference list.
So, what sort of information do you need in your reference list? This will depend on what type of source you are citing, but as a minimum, you will need an author (even if this is an organisation rather than a person), the year the source was published and the title of the source. Different sources will then need different things added to complete the reference. For example, a book will need details of a publisher, journal articles need the title of the journal they appear in and web sources will need a full URL and date of access.
The Harvard system does also set out a particular format to follow, which you can read more about in my earlier blog posts. The most important thing is consistency, so some universities or institutions might allow you to slightly adapt the system, provided it is consistent. Make sure you ask first, though, as it is generally expected that you will stick to the set format. However, the main reason to decide on your own referencing system is if you find a type of source that doesn’t have a particular format. In this case, use the closest type and adapt the format as necessary.
Multiple Sources by One Author
Often, you will have more than one source created by the same author or organisation, which will fall at the same place in your alphabetical reference list. To deal with this, put sources from the same author in order of the publication date, starting with the earliest one.
Sometimes, you will have sources with the same year as well as the same author. In this case, add a lower-case letter after the year to distinguish them, for example:
Lorey, F., 2014a.
Lorey, F., 2014b.
Remember to make sure your in-text citations match your reference list so that your readers can still cross-reference.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to build your reference list. This blog post concludes my series focusing on the Harvard referencing system, so I hope you found it useful! Next time, we will be looking at how the Law Commission works, so come back in two weeks for that.
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