Rachel Lance was in her first year of Sociology degree when she had her first tryst with citations and referencing. She struggled with preparing the in-text citations and referencing because she couldn’t remember the guidelines of Harvard referencing style of citations.
Rachel isn’t the only one facing this problem. Confusion over citing sources is a common issue for most students. But it’s still possible to produce accurately cited papers when you know the several steps to work on them.
Source: Pixabay
Contents
Preparing the in-text citations
Add the year in parentheses if you mention the writer’s name in the text
Essentially, when you’re citing the author of reference material in the text of your paper, you don’t need to incorporate all of the publication details. You only need the name of the author and the year in which the work was published.
For instance, if you were citing a book about climate change by Bill Gates published in 2008, the in-text citation might read, “ According to Bill Gates (2021), the cruel injustice is that even though the world’s poor are doing essentially nothing to cause climate change, they’re going to suffer the most from it.”
Keep the entire citation in parentheses when citing at the end of a sentence
Sometimes you don’t have to mention the author in a sentence directly, but you still have to cite your source if you’re paraphrasing someone else’s text.In case of parenthetical citations, you keep the year of publication separated from the author’s surname with a comma instead of putting the year of publication in parentheses. This makes the citation come across clearer than it would if you added multiple parentheses.
You can even add parenthetical citations in the middle of a sentence (like at the end of a clause), but don’t overdo it. It can distract the flow of your writing and hamper readability.
Sometimes, your paper may consist of a statement that has been written by multiple authors. You need to list the authors in alphabetical order.
If a single resource material comes with multiple authors, incorporate the name of the first author for alphabetising. Keep the names of multiple authors separate with commas or with the word “and” if you list them in text. In parenthetical citations, you can use an ampersand rather than the word “and.” Add a semicolon to separate multiple sources, but don’t put one before the ampersand.
Incorporate page numbers for direct quotations
Ideally, you may find that you have to quote the words of a reference author directly. Even if you highlight the author’s name in the text, a direct quotation should come immediately after a parenthetical citation with the author’s name, year of publication, and the exact page number where the quote appears.
Note that you do need to include the page number if you paraphrase rather than quote the text.For instance, according to Gates (2021), whatever other resources you may have, you can always use your voice and your vote to effect change.(Gates, 2021, p. 223).
Change your method of citing in text
You want your written text to be legible and to flow easily. If you create all the in-text citations using the same method, your writing will come across as monotonous and clunky. Read aloud if you think it’s necessary to know what method looks best.
Essentially, include an author’s name in the text if you’re citing them for a unique contribution they made to their chosen field or information that’s unique to them.
For example, “according to Gates (2021), but I hope you’ll devote more time and energy supporting whatever you’re in favour of than opposing whatever you’re against” makes good use of an author’s name in text.
If you’re adding a reference for a more general, basic fact, a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence makes more sense.
Incorporate signal phrases to alert your readers to quotes or paraphrases.
Words and phrases like “argues,” acknowledges,” and “according to” let your reader know that a statement came from another author, not from you.
A citation alone isn’t enough to acknowledge the author of the resource materials, particularly if it comes after the sentence.When you have a long sentence, you may want to highlight the author in the text apart from including a parenthetical citation at the end.
Use anonymous sources with caution
In your research, you may find sources where the author isn’t listed. For online sources, you can use the name of the organisation that produced the web page, but in the majority of cases, if you don’t have the name of the author, you should try not to use that source in your writing.
Essentially, if you can’t identify who wrote a particular text, you won’t have a way of learning how reliable or genuine that resource is.For some topics, anonymous sources may be tough to avoid.
Source: Pixabay
Preparing the reference list
Organise your bibliographic information as you research
In the text of your academic document, you’ll only require the author’s surname and the year of publication to cite using the Harvard style of citations. However, you’ll require a more thorough citation in your reference list or “Works Cited” page.
The most convenient way to keep your sources organised is to use a word-processing document or digital sticky notes. This lets you begin a reference page and add to it as you discover new sources.
A reference list is typically presented alphabetically by the last name of the author. In case of multiple authors, alphabetise by the last name of the first author listed.
In a reference list, mention the first and last names of all authors unless there are more than four authors. In case of more than four authors, mention the first author followed by the abbreviation “et al.” If you have a book with sections or chapters written by different authors, highlight the title of the section you used as a source for your academic paper with the name of the writer of that chapter or section.
Incorporate the date of broadcast or publication in parentheses
In case of books and other documents, all you need is a year. In the case of television shows or for periodicals, you’ll want to mention the particular date of publication.
For instance, if you’re citing an article in a newspaper, the author and date in your reference list would be “Gates, Bill (January 15, 2021).” Some publishers or universities may want you to abbreviate the months of the year.
Endnote,
Rachel may not have had an easy start to understanding the Harvard referencing style, but that won’t be the case with you. You only have to follow the proper steps.
