REFERENCING GUIDE
In your written assignments, referencing is important to show that you have read widely on a
topic, and that you are supporting the points you make with comments from expert authors.
This lends credibility to your work.
Referencing is vital wherever you use someone else’s ideas or words. Claiming someone
else’s words or work as your own without giving credit to the original source is plagiarism
and is unacceptable.
Whereas a bibliography contains all the reading you have done around a particular subject
or for the purposes of a particular assignment, the reference list relates purely to those
words or ideas of another you have used within your assignment, either in support of or in
contrast to the points you are making. You are only required to provide a list of
references.
Information needed
As you find material (whether in books, articles or online) that is pertinent and you might
wish to use in your assignment, you need to note the details required for accurate
referencing under the Harvard system:
Books:
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The author’s or editor’s name (s)
The year the book was published
The title of the book
Whether it is an edition other than the first
The city the book was published in
The name of the publisher
Articles in journals:
 The author’s name(s)
 The year in which the journal was published
 The title of the article
 The title of the journal
 The page number/s of the article in the journal
 Other identifying information (e.g. volume and issue numbers)
Online:
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The date you accessed the source
The electronic address or email
The type of electronic resource (email, discussion forum, WWW page, etc)
Child Bereavement UK Modular Course: Working with bereaved children and young people
Adapted from http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm
and http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_referencing_examples_tcm44-39847.pdf
AC March 2014
Referencing within the body of your assignment
In all references, you will need to list the author/editor name/s and the year of publication,
which can be found on the first couple of pages of the book, along with the other
bibliographic information. Look for the author’s name, a copyright symbol and then a
date. This will be the date of publication. In most references you will also need to list the
page number/s where you found the specific information. The only type of reference where
this is not required is when you paraphrase a summary of an entire piece of work.
Paraphrasing is when you take another author’s thoughts or ideas and put them into your
own words. When you paraphrase, you do not use inverted commas but you must clearly
show the original source of your information in a reference. You should try to paraphrase
wherever possible, and not over-use direct quotations, and lengthy quotations should be
avoided.
For example:
Randall (2004) suggests that developmental age is perhaps the most significant factor.
Pre-school children may have difficulty in accepting the permanence of death (Child
Bereavement UK, 2010)
Multiple authors:
Developmental age is considered to be one of the most significant factors (Randall, 2004;
Rowland, 2007)
In using a direct quotation, you are using another author’s material word for word. This must
be shown in inverted commas, and the precise page number where the quote has been
sourced must be given. When you use a direct quotation, you must reproduce the author’s
words exactly, including all spelling, capitalisation and punctuation.
Smith and Lawrance (2013: 21) state that ‘cultivation of the internal supervisor is essential to
effective practice’.
OR
For practice to be effective ‘cultivation of the internal supervisor is essential’ (Smith and
Lawrance, 2013:21)
Reference List
All of the sources you refer to in the main body of your assignment need to be listed at the
end of the assignment in a reference list. In this list, you only need to list those sources from
which you have either quoted or paraphrased. (You do not have to list books you used for
background reading purposes but from which you have not actually used words or ideas in
your assignment).
In creating your reference list, the sources should be listed alphabetically by author’s
surname.
Where the author is anonymous or unknown for any one source, insert that source in the
alphabetical list using the title of the source instead of the author’s name.
All sources should be listed together; there should not be separate lists for books, articles
and electronic sources.
The reference list should be on a separate page from the rest of the assignment and should
be simply titled ‘References’ and the title should be in the same font and size as the other
headings in your assignment.
Child Bereavement UK Modular Course: Working with bereaved children and young people
Adapted from http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm
and http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_referencing_examples_tcm44-39847.pdf
AC March 2014
Examples (fictitious!):
Book with one author
Koehler, K. (2007) Effective volunteer training: how to maximise resources. London:
Routledge.
Book with two authors
Randall, S. and Chalmers, A. (2009) Charities and how to survive them: an idiot’s guide.
Sydney: Wallace and Gromit.
Book with three or more authors
Rowland, A., Chalmers, A. and Smith, K. (2013) Administrative support for overworked
managers. 2nd edition. Oxford: Banbury Press.
Book with an editor
Lawrance, J. (ed.) (2008) Beyond the training department. Cardiff: Learning Press.
If you have used a chapter in a book written by someone other than the editor
Chalmers, A (2012) ‘Confessions of a Chief Executive’ in Petersen, S. and Maynard, S.
(eds.) Voices of Senior Managers. Saunderton: Clare Press.
Books with an anonymous or unknown author
The Charity Encyclopaedia (1994) London: Macmillan.
Printed journal article
Surname, Initials. (Year of publication – in brackets) Title of article. Title of journal - in italics
or underlined. Volume number. (Part number/month – in brackets). p. followed by page
numbers.
Rowland, A. (1994) ‘Charity begins at home’. The Charity Workers Journal. Vol. 4. (no. 1.
August) pp. 45-49.
Online journal article
Surname, Initials. (Year of publication – in brackets) Title of article. Title of journal - in italics
or underlined. [Online – in square brackets] Volume number. (Part number/month – in
brackets). p. - followed by page numbers. Available from - URL. [Accessed: followed by date
in square brackets]
Cronin, K. (2001) Developing effective financial systems. Journal of Accountancy [Online]
Vol 3. (Spring) p286. Available from http://www.irishaccountant,com/articles. [Accessed: 24
March 2014].
Website document
Surname, Initials or name of website if no author is available. (Year - in brackets) Title of
web document – in italics or underlined. [Online – in square brackets] Date of document – if
specified. Available from: URL. [Accessed: followed by date in square brackets]
Child Bereavement UK. (2009) Bereavement policy for schools. [Online] Available from:
http://www.childbereavementuk.org/bereavementarticles/schools/123456.htm. [Accessed:
16th July 2013]
Child Bereavement UK Modular Course: Working with bereaved children and young people
Adapted from http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/studyskills/harvard_referencing.htm
and http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_referencing_examples_tcm44-39847.pdf
AC March 2014