A CONCISE GUIDE TO THE HARVARD REFERENCE SYSTEM INTRODUCTION In the vast majority of your academic work you are asked to discuss a topic. In order to present your thoughts on the specific topic you need to consult a series of sources (studies that other scholars have written on the same or a similar topic before you), which will help you contextualise your discussion and (hopefully) organise your thoughts. Lectures, seminars and workshops are only indicators for further reading and research, which will eventually help you go in depth on a subject and present through your own voice and interpretation one or more arguments in a clear way. An integral part of this process is the referencing of the sources. In fact, referencing is such an integral part of any academic work that failure to do it can be construed as an attempt to cheat. Additionally, inability to reference your sources in an appropriate way spells also trouble as any mark given to any piece of work takes into consideration the degree to which your referencing complies with specific rules. Each academic institution follows a specific reference system. Two of the most influential reference systems that have been adopted by the majority of universities are The Harvard Reference System (which originated at Harvard University) and the MLA system, which was agreed upon by the members of the Modern Language Association (probably the biggest research organisation in the domain of the Humanities). Communication and Media prefer the Harvard system. This means that all the work submitted for marking must follow its rules and guidelines. Failure to observe all the rules constitutes a problem with the essay, for which of course the author is penalised, while your essay might also be referred to for suspicion of plagiarism which, if prove, can mean a lot of trouble. This short document, which contains examples of the most frequent cases of referencing, aims to become a quick guide. So keep it at close range and refer to it when you write essays or, even better, try to learn the rules of the system from your first year. FORMS OF REFERENCING In any academic essay referencing takes two forms: a) within the body of the text of your assignment (called 'in-text' referencing). In this case it appears in brackets in the following form (author's surname, year of publication, page number). e.g.(tzioumakis, 2006, p 122) or when you are referring to info that appears in more than one page (Tzioumakis, 2006, pp 122-3) b) a list at the end of your assignment (called a 'Reference List or a Bibliography).
The presentation of source information needs to be in a PARTICULAR order Tzioumakis, Yannis (2006) American Independent Cinema: An Introduction, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press If there are more than one authors (as is the case with one of the most often cited books in the field of film studies, Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson's The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960), then the rule states that you select the first surname in the cover of the study followed by the Latin et al (short for et altero = and others). The reference therefore becomes (Bordwell et al, 1985, p 51) In the bibliography it will appear as: Bordwell, David, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson (1985) Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, London: Routledge. _ If the book you use is a volume edited by one or more authors and containing several articles by various authors (such as another often cited book in film studies, Steve Neale and Murray Smith's Contemporary Hollywood Cinema) then you reference the article you use and NOT the actual book (unless you want to make a reference to the book as a whole). Say you quote a paragraph from the book s first chapter, Murray Smith's Theses on the Philosophy of Film History which appears in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. The reference must read (Cowie, 1998, p 172) In the bibliography it will appear as Cowie, Elizabeth (1998) "Classical Narrative and Classical Narration" in Neale, Steve and Murray Smith (eds) Contemporary Hollywood Cinema, London: Routledge, pp 172-190. _ If you use an article from a journal, the process of referencing within the text remains the same. Say you use one of Laura Mulvey's arguments from her famous article 'Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema', which appeared in Screen Vol. 16, No 3 in 1975; all you need to write is: (Mulvey, 1975, p 23) In the bibliography it appears as:
Mulvey, Laura (1975) "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" in Screen, Vol. 16, No 3, pp 15-27. The same process can be observed when you reference a work from a popular magazine. Say you need to reference a sentence that you read in the review section of Sight and Sound. The reference is put together in the same way (author's surname, year of publication, page number). e.g. (Turner, 1993, pp 52-3) In the bibliography it will appear as Turner, Jenny (1993) "Sleepless in Seattle: A Review" in Sight and Sound, Vol. 3, No 10, pp 52-3. Things somewhat change when we reference from newspapers (The Guardian, The Sunday Times) and trade publications such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Screen International. The change however has to do with the fact that in many occasions articles in newspapers and trade publications can appear unsigned. Thus say you use an article from The Guardian and you know the author, for example Colin Brown's 'Down the drain with the Ninja Turtles: Hollywood's Last Creative Sanctuary Has Fallen to the Vultures' which appeared in the newspaper on 6 Feb 1992, the reference should be as follows: (Brown, 6 Feb 1992, p 29) In the bibliography it will appear as: Brown, Colin (1992) Down the drain with the Ninja Turtles: Hollywood's Last Creative Sanctuary Has Fallen to the Vultures in The Guardian, 6 Feb, pp 29-30. If however the article was unsigned and you were not familiar with the author s name, then the above reference would have read as (The Guardian, 6 Feb 1992, p 29) Anon (1992) Down the drain with the Ninja Turtles: Hollywood's Last Creative Sanctuary Has Fallen to the Vultures in The Guardian, 6 Feb, pp 29-30.
As you can see in these circumstances we use the name of the publication (always underlined or italicised), instead of the name of the author, the date of publication instead of the year of publication, whereas the page entry remains the same. Quite often in newspapers and trade publications, a piece can start in one page and continue in other random pages. If such an article is also unsigned (such as 'Orion Awash In Red In 4th Quarter, Year' in Variety, 14 May 1986, pp 3 and 37) the correct reference should be (Variety, 14 May 1986, pp 3 and 37). If you use a passage from an article or a book which is itself originally a quote then you need to reference both the name of the person whom the quote is attributed to and the author of the text in the following fashion: High concept film is a film that can be explained in 25 words (Spielberg, quoted in Wyatt, 1994, p 21) Wyatt, Justin (1994) High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood, Austin: University of Texas Press. Internet referencing Due to the fact that the use of internet has been constantly redefined, there has been little agreement between scholars about the mode of referencing. As a rule, however, referencing within the text should provide specific information: the surname of the author, the year of publication and the word internet to suggest that it is an online source. Thus in the case you need to reference a review by Roger Ebert from http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebertser.html your reference should have the following format: (Ebert, 1997, internet) Ebert, Roger (1997) "Titanic: A Review", The Sun Times [online], at http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1997/12/121904.html (accessed on 21 May 2004) PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ALWAYS NEED TO PROVIDE A DATE OF ACCESS FOR YOUR SOURCE AS WEBSITES TEND TO BE UPDATED AND INFORMATION THAT WAS AVAILABLE IN 2004 MIGHT NOT BE AVAILABLE IN 2005.
If you are referencing journals that are available on line the process is very similar. (Zarli and Richaud, 1999, internet) In the bibliography: Zarli, Anthony and Richaud, Oliver (1999) Requirements and Technology Integration for IT-based Business-oriented Frameworks in Building and Construction in Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction, No. 4, December [online] at http://www.itcon.org/1999/4 (Accessed: 21 May 2004). When you are referencing websites, blogs, etc. the process is also very similar. Say you refer to information available on the Fox Searchlight website. Your in text reference, if there is no author, will be: (Fox Searchlight, 2007, internet) In bibliography it would appear as: Anon (2008) About Fox Searchlight Pictures [online] http://content.foxsearchlight.com/studio/node/218 (accessed on 21 May 2004) INTERVIEWS In the likely case that you need to reference an interview that you have conducted for a specific project the reference within the text is as follows: (surname of the interviewee, date of the interview) (Medavoy, 1989) In the bibliography it would appear Medavoy, Mike (1989) Personal Interview with the Author, Los Angeles, California, 14 May 1989, 1 hour. VISUAL MATERIAL
When you refer to a film in your essays, it needs to be underlined and followed by the director and the year of its release: Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996) In the bibliography it will appear as: Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996, Fox, US, 122 min) Films on DVD must be referenced as always: Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996) In bibliography: Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996, Fox, US, DVD Special Edition, Region 2, 2000,122 min) As far as TV programmes are concerned you need to include the following information: channel and date of transmission). The standard reference then is as follows: The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin, 1999-2006) The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin creator, 1999-2006, NBC, US) TV programmes and specific episodes can be referenced to as: The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin, 1999-2006, S3, Ep. 1) In bibliography it would appear as The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin creator, 1999-2006, Series 3, Episode 1, Manchester, NBC, US, 21 May 2002 (date of airing) TV programmes from DVDs can be referenced to as: The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin, 1999-2006, S3, Episode 1)
In bibliography The West Wing (Aaron Sorkin creator, 1999-2006, S3, Episode 1, Manchester, NBC, US, Series 3 DVD Box Set, Region 2, Warner Bros, 2004) DVD extras (Foley cited in Special Features: Anatomy of a Scene, 2003) In bibliography Confidence (James Foley, 2003, Lions Gate Films, US, 94 min, DVD, Region 1, Special features: Anatomy of a Scene, 23 min)