USING THE HARVARD STYLE.

HOW DO I WRITE A REFERENCE?

To write your own references you need different bits of information about each item that

you read when you are researching a piece of work. These bits of information are called

‘bibliographic’ information.

For all types of references the key bits of information you need to start with are:

1. Author or editor

2. Date of publication / broadcast / recording

3. Title of the item

This will form the basis of each reference you have to write. You may find that some items are not

as straightforward as others, so be aware of the following:

1. Author / editor: This means the primary (main) person who produced the item you are using. If you are using a website or web page, and there isn’t an author, you can use what is called a ‘corporate author’. This will usually be the name of the organisation or company to whom the website or web page belongs.

2. Date of publication / broadcast / recording: This means the date the item was produced.

It is usually a year, but if you are using a newspaper article, an email, or a television recording, you will have to include a full date (day / month / year) in your reference.

3. Title of the item: This means the primary (main) title of the item you are using. That sounds very obvious, but have a look at a web page and try to work out what the main title is. We would advise common sense in this situation – you have to identify the key piece of information that describes what you have used, and will allow the reader of your work to

identify that information.