Reference Lists

Okay, last time we discussed organizing assignments. This week's post is about making references in your assignments, that is, using Harvard style which is the accepted style at University of Leicester.

There are two resources every student should know:
1. http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/refworks.html

This is the page for Refworks, a bibliographic database available to all students at the University of Leicester. It is free. You simply create an account and log in from your computer. It will allow you to create different bibliographies for different assignments. It will also house all this information on the server at University of Leicester. When you make a bibliography, it will print out the information in the correct format and you can add it to your paper.

2. http://www.le.ac.uk/li/sources/subject3/harvard.html
This is a page at the University of Leicester showing you how to do citations using Harvard. You will still need to use this source for in-body citations in your assignments. What this means is that you need to follow Harvard style when you quote a source within a paper or use a paraphrase of another author's words. This source will show you how to handle a quotation of less than 20 words or one that is greater. The instructions should be followed to the letter. That is, quotations of more than 20 words in Harvard are treated like this according to the library page above:

Long quotations: more than 20-25 words. It is suggested that with long quotations you should leave a line's space above and below the quote, indent it from the left, and enclosing it in quotation marks.

"Most people would prefer to die in their own home and even when people die in a hospital or hospice most of their care will take place in their own homes with the help and unpaid work of their close family and friends ( lay carers). People who die at home will normally do so as the result of a long-term illness, often marked by persistent and distressing symptoms." (Taylor and Field 1997:17)

Note: Harvard is different from MLA or APA in several important ways. In the long quote above, the placement of the quotation marks is essential as is the spacing. Normally, of course, the document would be in Times New Roman 12 pt.

The citation below in Harvard:

Gibaldi, J. 1995. MLA Handbook for writers of research papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

would be different in that in APA round brackets are used around dates:

Gibaldi, J. (1995). MLA Handbook for writers of research papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

while in MLA the date is at the end:

Gibaldi, J. MLA Handbook for writers of research papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1995.

I strongly recommend that students use Refworks for their bibliographies. I also tell students not to use Ibid. in their bibliographies. While it is accepted usage in APA style, Harvard is not APA. The placement of periods, commas, capitals and spaces is important. Do not vary in any regard from the accepted format. I am always open to questions about these issues.

KB