A GUIDE TO REFERENCING

Originally compiled TechnikonNatal staff:

N.N Mpendulo;
M Pienaar (Late);
K.A Herbert; and
The Subject Librarians Unit.
Adapted using sources listed at the end of the document and informed by Faculty
of Health Sciences decisions and practice.
Introduction
In an assignment or any piece of work you write, it is important to acknowledge
the sources from which information is taken. Quoting from the work of any author
and then failing to acknowledge that work is in contravention of the Copyright Act
98 of 1978, as amended.
It is important to be consistent and accurate when citing references because the
references may need to be traced by someone else who reads your work. The
same set of rules has to be followed every time you cite a reference.
The reference method used in a list of references or a bibliography should not be
confused with that used for cataloguing in libraries, although you may be able to
obtain the bibliographic details of sources from a librarys catalogue.
Although this booklet aims to be fairly comprehensive you may come across
sources which do not seem to fit into any of the categories presented here. In
such a case ask your supervisor or your subject librarian for guidance or use the
example that seems to resemble your source most closely. The purpose of
referencing is to enable the source to be traced by someone else, if you keep this
in mind you should be able to make sensible decisions when applying the
instructions presented here.
Your lecturer may have given you a specific set of rules on referencing to use for
assignments. However, the rules as set out in this booklet are based on standard
practice and can be used as a guide especially when you have not been given
specific detailed instructions on how to reference.
Aims of referencing
To substantiate the statements made by the writer of an assignment or any other
piece of academic writing.
To enable the reader to find and consult the sources referred to, whether to check
the facts or to do more research.

The Harvard Referencing Method

Although there are other standard methods, the referencing method usually
recommended at Durban Institute of Technology is the Harvard method. Owing to
its simplicity, clarity and consistency, the Harvard method is recognized and used
internationally.
References appear in two places: in the text of the assignment, and at the end of
the assignment in the list of references. In both places the same element of the
reference is mentioned first, in order to ensure clarity and consistency. In this way
the text references link statements made in the text with the information sources
plus their full details that appear at the end of the text. Remember that each
reference in the text must have a corresponding entry in the list of references and
each entry in the list of references must have at least one corresponding
reference in the text.
In the text reference, the surname(s) of the author(s) (or the title), date of
publication and page number(s) appear. In this way, the reference can easily be
traced in the original source.
Example: text reference
(Smith, 1996:302)
In the list of references, the surname(s) of the author(s) (or the title) and date of
publication are given first, followed by the other bibliographical information. It is
therefore easy for the reader to trace a work referred to in the text.
Example: entry in list of references
Smith, A.J. 1996. The history of tiles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
NB. Do not use abbreviated forms of names, whether personal or corporate or
publishers names. Do not abbreviate titles and always include subtitles where
appropriate.

A. TEXT REFERENCES
General format of text references
Before studying the details of the recommended referencing method, you need to
take note of the general format to follow when referring to the words or ideas of
other writers in your own text.
When you quote the actual words of another author it is called a direct quotation
and the exact words are placed in quotation marks. Note that the reference is
placed in brackets, the full stop appears after the end bracket; the year and page
number(s) are separated by a colon.

Example:
Washington and almost all military leaders of the war, and many civilians as
well, had long felt that the Confederation could never become a respectable
government without the power to tax (Carlton, 1994:306).
When you paraphrase or summarize another authors words or ideas you still
need to acknowledge the source even though the exact words are not quoted:
Example:
The power to tax was thought by Washington and many others to be essential to
a respectable government (Carlton, 1994:306).
If the reference forms a natural part of the sentence (as in the next example) only
the date and page numbers are placed in brackets:
Example:
In his thesis Carlton (1994:306) states that Washington and many others thought
the power to tax was essential to a respectable government.
Authorship
When writing your text references, the first thing you need to do is to decide on
the authorship of the source (or work) to which you are referring. (Compiling the
list of references at the end of the text is more complicated and will be dealt with
in Section B). You need to establish the authorship, whatever the kind of work you
want to reference - whether it is a paper in a collection, a contribution at a
conference, an entry in an encyclopedia, a letter, a radio programme or page on
the internet.
When deciding on the author of your source there are a few possibilities:
The author(s) may be individual persons or corporate authors*
and in number of cases there may be:
a. one author;
b. two or three authors;
c. more than three authors;
d. it may be a collection with an editor or compiler to which different
authors have contributed sections;
e. it may be a collection with an editor or compiler but, not with different
authors indicated; and
f. no named author - these are works where the authorship is unknown or
uncertain i.e. when you are not sure who was responsible for the
contents of the work, this is sometimes the case with newspaper
articles, entries in encyclopedias, radio programmes, videos and other
works.

All these different types of authorship (a-f) are dealt with below and you will also
find separate explanations of the more complicated cases.
*Corporate author means that the work was written by a named group such as a
committee, a department, a governmental body, an association or a conference.
1. WORKS BY ONE AUTHOR - personal or corporate
This could apply to any type of work and the majority of works you will come
across will have only one author. So this is the format of text reference you will
find yourself using most often, be it for a book, a signed report in a newspaper, a
signed entry in an encyclopedia, an article in a periodical, a document on the
Internet or a letter. Theses and dissertations are specific types of works that are
produced by one individual author and are therefore also referenced in this
manner in the text.
1.1

Personal author

Example: paraphrasing information from a personal author:

Wood (1985:19-20) states that people should always avoid unfair fighting tactics
when solving a problem.
Example: direct quotation from a personal author:
Fair fighting tactics are difficult to put into practice but the results are well worth
the effort (Wood, 1985:21).
Note the way the reference is set out: Surname of author, date of publication of
quoted source and the page number(s) of the quotation.
1.2

Corporate author

The term corporate author means that a group or organization rather than an
individual is responsible for the work, so these are works produced not by
individuals but by a group such as committee, an association, a conference etc.
Once again you have to decide which group is the author of the work. The name
of the group is then given in the text reference as the author. The work would then
be listed under that same corporate author in the List of references.
Example:
The SABS operates a certification mark scheme This mark is an indication to
the purchaser that the commodity complies with the relevant specification and is
regularly tested in the SABS laboratories (South African Bureau of Standards,
1969:15).
Note the mark of ellipsis, the three dots (...) in the first sentence - this indicates
that a section of the original text has been left out of the quotation. Note that the

nouns in the name of the group are capitalized and that the name of the group is
not abbreviated.
See also government publications (7) as a special category of works by corporate
authors.
2. WORKS BY TWO OR THREE AUTHORS
Two or three personal authors
These are works you will also come across quite often. Here you will once again
find signed entries in encyclopedias, contributions at conferences, books, articles
in journals, any work in fact for which more than one author is responsible,
although works such as letters, book reviews and newspaper reports are less
likely to be written by two people.
When a work has two or three authors, all the names are mentioned in the text
reference:
the & sign or the word and is used in the appropriate place. Select one of these
and be consistent in the use of it throughout the document. Note the way the
reference is set out:
Surnames of authors, date of publication of quoted work: page number(s) of
quotation.
Example: two personal authors
Time was when education was a cottage industry, when men could be made by
village or clan (Bekker and Woodward, 1995:37).
Example: three personal authors
A variety of aids are available to the planner, for example models and
computers (Hanekom, Kent & Thornhill, 1986:47).
3. WORKS BY MORE THAN THREE AUTHORS
When the work has more than three authors only the surname of the first
mentioned author is given in the reference plus the abbreviation et al. (The
same would apply to more than three corporate authors. Fortunately this occurs
very seldom in practice as the entry would probably have to be shortened!)
Example:
We shall distinguish seven main categories of semantic role (Quirk, et al. 1985:
10).
This work is written by Quirk and three (or more) other authors whose names will
all appear in the List of references.

4. WORKS THAT HAVE NO NAMED AUTHOR

As mentioned earlier these are works where it is difficult to establish who the
author is. In this case the title appears in the text reference instead of the author
and the work is also entered under title in the List of references
Example of a text reference for an unsigned article: (i.e. where the author is
unknown)
The recent devaluation of the dollar relative to the pound is bound to affect the
world economic power balance (And now it is pound power, 1980:39).
General dictionaries that are known by their titles and not by their editors name,
also fall into this category:
Example:
According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1990:743), a misalliance is a
marriage with a person of a lower social position.
5. PERIODICAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Text references to periodical articles are done in the same way as the examples
in 1-4 above depending on the number of authors responsible for the article. If not
more than three authors wrote the article all the names will appear in the text
reference with the date and page number(s) (see 1 and 2 above).
If more than three authors are involved, the text reference will give the first author
only followed by and et al. (see 3 above). If there is no named author the text
reference gives the title of the article plus the date and page number(s).
The title of the journal or magazine will appear in the List of references but not in
the text reference.
Reference is made to newspaper articles in the same way as above depending
once again on whether the article, report or editorial referenced has named
author(s) or the author(s) are unnamed. If no authors are named follow the
instructions under 4 (above) for works that have no named author, by referencing
under title.
6. A SPECIFIC WORK IN A COLLECTION (for example a chapter in a book, a
paper in a collection or any contribution to a composite work)
Here you are referencing a particular section of a work to which different authors
have contributed different chapters. You have to decide who is/are the author(s)
of the specific section you want to refer to and then follow the examples (in 1-4
above). The name(s) of any editor(s) or compiler(s) will appear in the List of
references. The reference in the text will refer only to the author(s) of the specific
section from which information was taken.
6

For example: Smith is the editor, and there are chapters or sections by
Jones, James, Pink etc.
If you want to refer to the chapter by Jones, your text reference is:
(Jones, 1996:18)
not Smith.
If, however, you are referring to the entire work, or authors of sections are not
given, then reference is made in the text to the editor(s) or compiler(s) exactly as
if they are the authors of the entire work.
For example: Smith is the editor and chapters or sections are not signed or
individually authored, your text reference will be:
(Smith, 1996:20)
7. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Governments (such as state, provincial and local governments) are responsible
for a large number of documents on a variety of subjects. If there is/are no
personal author(s) the section of the government that issued the work is usually
considered the author, therefore government publications are a category of
corporate authors, but there are a few special rules that cover referencing
government publications which will be described in this section.
7.1 Commissions of Inquiry
In the text, reference is made to the name of the Commission of Inquiry.
Example:
In its report the Commission of Inquiry regarding Prevention of Public Violence
and Intimidation (South Africa. Commission of lnquiry...1993:6) states that the
picketers have an obligation to permit access to the building or location they are
picketing.
When a commission is known by the name of the chairman, the Commissions
report may be referred to by giving his/her name:
Example:
The Van Wyk de Vries Report (South Africa. Commission of Inquiry. ..1974:231)
condemns the Universities for their conservative research policies.
7.2 Departmental publications
A text reference to a departmental publication is made as follows:
Example:
According to the Draft guide plan of the Department of Constitutional
Development and Planning (1986:74) the residential areas of Germiston are
divided into four sectors by the mining belt and accompanying industrial
development.
7

7.3 Statutes
Only the number of the statute, the year and the section, are furnished after the
name of the Act:
Example:
The Marketing of Agricultural Products Act 47 of 1996, Section 23, identifies the
circumstances under which the Minister may prohibit the importation of any
agricultural products into the Republic. (South Africa. Marketing of Agricultural ...)
Note that no page number(s) are given.
7.4 Government gazette
In text references government gazettes are cited as follows: South Africa,
followed by the date and gazette number.
Example:
An Employment Service must manage employment counselling by providing
persons and communities with career and labour market knowledge and life
skills relevant to careers. (South Africa 1997:18244).
7.5 White Paper/Green Paper
When referencing a White Paper or a Green Paper, the date and page number(s)
are indicated:
Example:
According to the Green Paper on Higher Education Transformation, (South
Africa. Department of Education 1996:45), coping with massification will be a
major challenge for all tertiary training institutions.
8. PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS
Letters and conversations are referenced in the text in the same way as sources
by one author except that page numbers may not be available.
Example: A letter from Adamson to the author of the assignment would be
referenced as follows:
My most recent work on family violence which I completed only last month
confirms the findings of the group working on family violence at Glasgow
University (Adamson, 1997).
E-mail and electronic discussion group messages are covered in the section on
the Internet. (See 13.4 and 13.5 in this booklet.)
The one type of personal communication that remains is the interview and these
are referenced in the text as follows:
8

The interviewees name, the date, his/her official title and the name of his/her
organization are furnished:
Example:
According to Ms D.S. Jones (1994), Chief Director of Wise Entrepreneurs, small
business owners must ensure that they have a healthy cash flow if they are to
survive in the current economic circumstances.
9. UNSEEN WORKS
If you want to refer to a work which you have not seen but which was referred to
by another author whose work you have seen, the text reference is as follows:
Example: Schlemmers work (which you have seen) refers to Heath and
Johnsons work (which you havent seen)
In a study done in 1932 Heath and Johnson (as cited by Schlemmer, 1991:155)
found that even at that time 6.1 % of children under five in the Durban area were
malnourished.
Only the work you have actually seen is listed in the List of references. The
unseen work is not listed but only mentioned in the text reference as indicated
above. In this case the work by Schlemmer will appear in the List of references
and not the one by Heath and Johnson.
It is not really acceptable to quote from a work you have not seen unless the
original is totally unobtainable, in such a case it is wise to check with your
supervisor first before using the information in your work.

B. LIST OF REFERENCES
This is a list of all sources (in alphabetical order) that were quoted or referred to
when writing an assignment. It is usually appended at the end of the text of an
assignment or paper. If there is more than one reference in the list under the
same author or corporate author, entries are put in chronological order by date of
publication.
For example:
Smith, A. 1993
Smith, A. 1994
Smith, A. 1996
Smith, A. & Jones, E. 1996
Smith, A. & Zeus, K. 1998
If there is more than one publication by the same author/s in the same year,
differentiate them by the addition of a letter after the date. For example:
Smith, A. 1993a
Smith, A. 1993b
Differentiate the references in the text in the same way.
NB:
(a) Do not use abbreviations.
(b) Your title may either be underlined or be in italics, do not use both
methods in an assignment.
(c) The second and subsequent lines of each entry are indented to help
isolate the authors name(s) and to differentiate between entries (see
examples below).
1. FORMAT FOR BOOKS
Surname, Initials. Year of publication. Title: subtitle (in italics or underlined).
Edition (if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
1.1 Book by one author
Example:
Nicholas, I. 1993. Great advertising campaigns: how they achieve both creative
and business objectives. London: Kogan Page.
1.2 More than one author
Example:
Tseng, G., Poulter, D. and Hiom, C. 1996. The library and information
professionals guide to the Internet. London: Library Association.
10

1.3 More than three authors

Example:
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. and Svartvik, J. 1985. A c.omprehensive
grammar of the English language. London: Longman.
NB. Although in the text reference the use of et al. is allowed, in the List of
references all the authors should be listed.
1.4 Authors work in a collection
Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title of chapter or article (not underlined or in italics).
In: Surname(s) of editor(s) or compiler(s), Initial(s). (ed.) or (eds.)Title of the book
(in italics or underlined). Edition (if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
pp. Inclusive pagination.
The page/s number/s is/are indicated by p. or pp. respectively, followed by the
actual number/s.
Example:
Evans, D. 1990. Writers workshop and the working class culture. In: Thompson,
J.L. (ed.) Adult education in a new South Africa. Durban: Butterworths. pp.
141-154.
1.5 Editor or compiler of a collection
This format is followed if the individual authors contributing to the work are not
given or reference is made to the entire work.
Surname(s), Initials.(ed.) Year of publication . Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Example:
Omond, J. L. (ed.) 1992. The education of the gifted and talented child. 4th ed.
Johannesburg: Macmillan.
1.6 Corporate author
Example:
South African Bureau of Standards. 1969. Basic guide to the metric system in
South Africa. Pretoria: South African Bureau of Standards.
2. DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPAEDIAS
Well known encyclopedias and dictionaries are commonly referred to by their
titles. If the dictionary or the encyclopedia as a whole was referred to the format is
as follows:

11

Title. Year of publication. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher.
Example 1:
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed. 1974. Vol. 17. Chicago, III.:
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Example 2:
The Macmillan visual dictionary. 1992. New York: Macmillan.
If a dictionary or encyclopedia has an author, or an editor or compiler and the
work as a whole is being referred to, referencing is the same as that for books by
one or more author(s) except that (ed.) or (comp.) is added after the name(s).
Example:
Collin, S.M.H. (ed.) 1996. Dictionary of information technology. 2nd ed.
Middlesex: Peter Collin.
If, however, a particular article within an encyclopedia is referred to then the
format to follow is as explained in 1.4 above under Authors work in a collection.
Example:
Corrigan, P.W. & Stephenson, J.A. 1994. Information processing and clinical
psychology. In: Encyclopaedia of human behavior. San Diego: Academic
Press. pp. 645-654.
3. PERIODICAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title of article (not underlined or in italics). Title of
periodical (underlined or in italics), volume no. (bold/underlined) (issue number):
page number(s) of article.
Note: The nouns in the title of the journal are capitalized, as it is the name of the
journal.
Example:
Goradia, T. 1994. Perceiving conscience through reportorial perspective. Indian
Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, 29(4): 20-25.
If the periodical does not have a volume and part number, use the date (for
example, the month or another descriptive word for example, Summer.)
Example:
Bracher, T. 1997. The city and the Olympic games: what next. Architect and
Builder, September: 22-24.
NB. The title of the periodical or newspaper is underlined or in italics not the title
of the article.
12

If the article is of uncertain authorship it is entered under title.

Example:
And now it is pound power. 1980. Time, 19 January, p. 39.
If the periodical you refer to is in a different format, for example, it is on CD-ROM
or microfiche, list it as follows:
Surname(s), Initials. Year of publication. Title of article. Title of journal [format],
volume (issue no.): page numbers of the article.
NOTE: Insert either [CD-ROMI or [microfiche] or [computer disk] inside square
brackets as a description of the format.
Example:
Grant, T. 1995. Preparing the mouth for surgery. International Journal of Oral
and Maxiliofacial Implants [CD-ROM]. 29(4): 20-25.
For listing references to online journals consult this booklet under Internet 13.3.
4. CONTRIBUTION AT A CONFERENCE OR SYMPOSIUM
4.1 A contribution in published conference proceedings
Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title of paper. In: Editors surnames and initials. (eds.)
Description of occasion (including the nature and subject of conference, name of
the society or group, place at which it was held and dates). Place of publication:
Publisher. pp. Inclusive pages numbers.
Example:
James, L.P. 1988. Use of telecommunications to facilitate information retrieval.
In: Collier M. & Smith, P. (eds). Telecommunications for information
management and transfer: proceedings of the International Conference
held at Cape Technikon, April 1987. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
pp. 27-34.
4.2 Unpublished conference paper
Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title of paper. Paper read at (description of occasion
including the nature and subject of the conference, name of society or group,
Institution at which it was held, place and dates.)
Example:
James, LP. 1987. Use of telecommunications to facilitate information retrieval.
Paper read at the International Conference on Telecommunications for
Information Management and Transfer, Cape Technikon, Cape Town,
13

April 1987.
5. THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
Surname, Initials. Date. Title. Degree, Name of University/Technikon, location of
University / Technikon if not obvious from the name.
You may use standard abbreviations for degrees, for example, Master of Arts
would be: (M.A.)
Example:
Zuma, E. 1990. Downsizing: a study of the effects of downsizing with particular
reference to retrenchment in the government public services. M.A. thesis,
University of Natal, Durban.
6. LECTURE NOTES/PRINTED HANDOUTS
Lecturers name. Date of issue. Title [description of item]. Name of issuing body.
Example:
Mohlomi, E. 1997. Mechanical engineering notes [unpublished handout].
Technikon Natal.
7. INTERVIEWS
Surname of person interviewed, Initials. Date. Interviewed by Initials and
Surname of interviewer. Place where interview occurred, and details of date and
time.
Example:
Deenay, S.J. 1995. Interviewed by K. Shona. Transnet Office, Durban, 3 March
1995, l0h00.
8. PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS
Surname, Initials. Date. Personal communication to Surname, Initials of person
to whom communicated, Date (day and month).

If you have included the communication with this person because he/she is
regarded as an authority on the topic, include a statement to indicate this. Place
this in the brackets after the rest of the reference details.
Example:
Xaba, N. 2004. Personal communication to R. Singh, 20 November 2004.
(Director: Human Resources Planning Department, Department of Health,
KZN.)
14

Example

Example:
Balfour, E.O. 1987. Personal communication to J. Saunders, 15 September
1987.
9. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
9.1 Commissions of Inquiry
Examples:
South Africa. Commission of Inquiry regarding the Prevention of Public Violence
and Intimidation. 1993. Report of the Commission. Pretoria: Government
Printer.
South Africa. Commission of Inquiry into Universities. 1974. Chairman van Wyk
de Vries. Pretoria: Government Printer.
9.2 Departments as authors
Example:
South Africa. Department of Constitutional Development and Planning. 1986.
Draft guide plan. Pretoria: Government Printer.

9.3 Statutes
Example:
South Africa. 1996. Marketing of Agricultural Products Act 47 of 1996. Pretoria:
Government Printer.

9.4 Government gazettes

Examples:
South Africa. 1995. General Notice. (Notice No. 35 of 1990.) Government
Gazette. 10244:23 May.
South Africa. 1997. Skills Development Bill. (Notice No.1296) Government
Gazette. 18244:2 September.

9.5 White /Green Paper

Example:
South Africa. Department of Education. 1996. Green Paper on higher education
transformation. Pretoria: Government Printer.
15

10. VIDEO RECORDINGS

Often only the title of a video is known and the reference format is as follows:
Title of video (in italics or underlined) [video recording]. Date of production. Place:
Name of distributor / supplier.
Example:
Getting South Africa working: towards a better life for all [video recording]. 1994
Johannesburg: ANC, Department of Information.
If a particular person such as a producer is responsible for a video the format is
as follows:
Surname, Initials. Date of production. Title of video [video recording]. Place:
Name of distributor / supplier.
Example:
Sono, J. 1980. Management in the 20th century [video recording].
Johannesburg: Mast Video Training.
11.

RADIO OR TELEVISION PROGRAMME BROADCAST

Title (in italic or underlined). Date. (Transmitting station /channel) day, month and
time of broadcast.
Examples:
Focus. 1997. (SABC 2), 29 August, 20h00.
Seven oclock News. 1996. (Radio Metro), 10 September, 19h00.
12.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Title. (in italics or underlined) Date. [Category] Place: Publisher, version (if
applicable).
Example:
LOTUS 1-2-3 database software applied to AIS cases. 1992. [Computer disk]
New York: Wiley.
13.

INTERNET

The recommended method of citing Internet sources in the List of references is to

make use of the documents URL (Internet address). The text references are
done in the same way as other works depending on the number of authors
responsible for the Internet document (see Section A 1-4).

16

It is important to write the address as it is, and not to add any other punctuation.
In the citation the URL should only be split at the end of a line after the forward
slashes in the address.
The date of publication is the date that the Internet pages were last updated,
except in the case of on-line journals. In the latter case, the date of the journal
issue is used, as for all journal articles (see B.3). If the date is not given on the
webpage, Click on View and page source to check when it was most recently
changed. In cases where there is no publication date write (No date).
The term online in square brackets indicates type of medium and is used for all
Internet sources.
Another important element of an Internet reference is the date and time that you
accessed the information. Internet web pages and databases change frequently
and you need to specify the version you saw and used. The accessed date is the
date on which you viewed or down loaded the document.
13.1. Works with personal author(s) or editor(s)
Authors Surname(s), Initials /Editors Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title (in italics or
underlined). Edition. [online]. Place of Publication: Publisher (if ascertainable).
Available from: URL [Accessed Date].
Examples:
Holland, M. 1996. Harvard system. [online]. Poole: Bournemouth University.
Available from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/lis/ LIS_Pub/
harvardsys.html [Accessed 12 September 1997].
Cross, P. & Towle, K. 1996. A Summary of citation formats for Internet sources
[online]. Available from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/ is/
LIS_Pub/harvardsys.html [Accessed 12 September 1997].
13.2. Corporate authorship
Some information is put on the Internet by organizations and not by a personal
author, this can be treated in the same way as a corporate author (see Section B
1.6) Give the smallest identifiable organizational unit as the corporate author.
Example:
Academic Services Group. LIS. 1996. A guide to citing Internet sources [online].
Available from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/ lis/LIS_Pub/
harvardsys.html [Accessed 12 September 1997].

17

13.3. Citing articles in Online Journals

The format is:
Surname(s), Initials. Year. Title of article. Journal title (in italics or underlined)
[online], volume (bold or underlined) (issue), location within host (optional).
Available from: URL/supplier. (Accessed date].
The location within host is the equivalent of pages in a printed work and could be
screen, page or line number or labelled parts of the Internet work and can be
given if these are fixed features.
Example: (no location within host is supplied)
Korb, K.B. 1995. Persons and things. Psycoloquy [online], 6(15). Available from:
gopher://wachau.ai.univie.ac.at:7O/00/archives/Psycoloquy/95. V6/0162
(Accessed 10 August 1997].
Note: Apart from exceptional cases, do not use on-line journal abstracts. You
must access the full text article. If you have to use an abstract, indicate that the
source is an abstract by inserting Abstract before [online].
13.4. Electronic discussion lists
The format is:
Surname(s), Initials. Day Month Year. Subject of message (in italics or
underlined). Name of discussion list [online]. Available from: List e-mail address
[Accessed Date].
Examples:
Oelofse, S. 8 September 1997. List of African universities offering courses in
Library and Information Science. AFLIB-Link [online]. Available from:
AFLIB-L@statelib.pwv.gov.za [Accessed 9 September 1997].
13.5. Personal electronic communications (E-mail)
The format is:
Senders surname(s), Initials (senders E-mail address), Day Month Year. Subject
of message (in italics or underlined). E-mail to Surname, Initials of recipient
(recipients E-mail address).
Example:
Kromberg. A. (anitak@dit.ac.za), 2 September 1997. RE: Subject Guides. E-mail
to Mpendulo, N. (nobuntum@dit.ac.za).

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14.

CD-ROMs, Disks and commercial online services

Surname, Initials. Year. Title (in italics or underlined). Edition. [type of medium].
Place of publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available from: Supplier/
Database identifier or number (optional).
The type of electronic medium is given in square brackets after the title. eg.,
[online], [CD-ROM] [magnetic tape], [computer disk].
NB. References to articles in journals on CD-ROM are done just like references to
print journals, the difference is that you add a note about the format. (See Section
B 3)
Examples:
Microsoft, 1994. Encarta 95: the complete interactive multimedia encyclopedia.
[CD-ROM]. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corporation.
Naumann, E. & Giel, K. 1995. Corporate pulse: continuous monitoring of
corporate vitality. [computer disk]. Cincinnati, Ohio: Thomson Executive.
Grant, T. 1995. Preparing the mouth for surgery. International Journal of Oral
and Maxillofacial Implants. [CD-ROM] 29(4): 20-25.

19

WORKS CONSULTED
Academic Services Group. LIS. 1996. The Harvard system. [online] Available
from: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/lis/ LIS_Pub/
harvardsystint.html [Accessed 12 September 1997]
Burger, F. J. & Pienaar, M. 1995. Reference techniques. Durban: Technikon
Natal.
Cross, P. & Towle, K. 1996. A guide to citing Internet sources. [online]. Available
from: http//www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/lis/LIS_Pub/
harvardsystint.html [Accessed 12 September 1997]
Roux, P.J.A. 1989. Reference techniques. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
Technikon South Africa, Bureau of Language Practice. 1993. The reference
method for use in assignments. Pretoria: Technikon South Africa.
The Chicago Manual Style. 14th ed. 1993. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
University of Natal, Department of Library and Information Science. 1986.
Reference techniques. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal.
GLOSSARY
Ampersand(&)

The sign which means and.

CD-ROM

Compact disk read-only memory.

Ed.

Edition. Books may be revised and published as new

editions.

(ed.)

Editor. The person responsible for organizing and correcting

work of various authors into a collective work for publication.

(eds.)

As above, but indicates that there was more than one editor.

ellipsis (...)

The three dots that are used to indicate that words have been
omitted.

et al.

abbreviation used to indicate and others.

indent

To start a line of print or writing further in from the margin

than the other lines.

Software

Programmes used to operate a computer.

URL

Uniform Resource Location (Internet address).

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