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Two Kinds of Reference

There are two main systems for doing references. The difference lies in the way source
material is cited in the text of the essay or whatever it is you are writing. The reference list or
bibliography at the end is the same in either system. The first method is called the Harvard
system (after the prestigious American university) and it uses the author's name and the
date for the citations in the text. The second method uses numbers in the text with the full
reference given as a footnote. This method has several names, the most common being
'Numeric' and 'MLA' (the Modern Language Association). As systems, one is as good as the
other.

So, which one should you use?

Well, you might not get the choice. Your Programme Handbook or Module Handbook might
insist that you use one system or the other, so check this carefully. Here and now, we're
going to look at the Harvard system first. This way, you'll get familiar with the principles of
doing references. We'll look at other systems of referencing later.

Why do Harvard first?

Because Harvard is probably slightly more common than Numeric/MLA, and because Harvard
references are easier to do. You need more word-processing skill to do Numeric/MLA
references than you need to do Harvard.

OK? Now, the next question is, what do Harvard references look like?

What do Harvard References Look Like?

Here's a short extract from a recent academic book on Media Studies:

The approach to media discourse analysis used in this chapter was developed by Bell (1991).
It draws on elements from general frameworks of story analysis, especially Labov's analysis
of narratives of personal experience told in conversation (Labov and Waletzky 1967; Labov
1972) as well as from van Dijk's framework for analysing news discourse (1998b). The
analysis of time in news stories derives from Bell (1995b, 1996). The frameworks used to
analyse the structure of different kinds of stories have a lot of their elements in common
(Labov 1972; Rumelhart 1975; van Dijk 1988b).
(Bell and Garrett 1998 p.67)

Let's pick out five things in detail:

1. (Labov and Waletzky 1967) - this is the basic Harvard reference. It refers to a book or
article written by Labov and Waletzky and published in 1967. You will also sometimes
find the format (Labov and Waletzky, 1967): see FAQ 2.
2. Bell (1991) - refers to a book or article published in 1991 and written by somebody
called Bell. The author's name isn't in the brackets because it is mentioned
immediately before in the text. This is really only a style difference.
3. Bell (1995b) - the b indicates that the authors will have references to more than one
thing by Bell published in 1995, and this refers to the second one.
4. (Labov 1972; Rumelhart 1975; van Dijk 1988b) - all these authors and the works
referred to are relevant. And van Dijk published more than one thing in 1988. Notice
the use of the semi-colons to separate the references from each other in the list.
5. (Bell and Garrett 1998 p.67) - I put this one in. It refers to the book which I am
quoting, and the page where I found the extract. There are other possible formats for
this: (Bell and Garrett, 1998, p.67) or (Bell and Garrett 1998:67). Check if any
particular format is required for your coursework. If not, choose one and use it all the
time: mixing them up in the same piece of work looks really messy. See FAQ 2.

But there's a lot missing isn't there? We know the authors and the dates but not the most
important thing - the titles. How do you complete the reference?

Completing a Harvard Reference

A reference is complete when it answers these seven questions:

 Who wrote it or edited it?


 When was it published?
 What's it called?
 What kind of thing is it - a book, or an article, or what?
 Where was it published?
 Who published it?
 What page is the relevant material on?

As we've seen, the first part of a Harvard reference (Bell and Garrett 1998 p.66)
only gives the answers to two or three of these questions - who wrote it, when,
and (sometimes) what page. The rest of the information is given in a List of
References at the end of the essay, or the end of the dissertation or book. Each
item in the List of References looks like this:

Bell, A. and Garrett P. (eds) (1998), Approaches to Media Discourse, London,


Blackwell.

Note that sometimes you will see the date given at the end, after the publisher:
check what your Module or Programme requires.

OK? All seven questions answered, three in the (Bell and Garrett 1998 p.66) bit
in the text of the essay, and the rest in the List of References at the end. If
you're wondering how you know Approaches to Media Discourse is a book, that's
because its title is in italics. Let's do some more, starting with the most common
kind of reference, a reference to a book.
A Reference to a Book

These are easy, and we've already seen how to do it. Here's another example, this time with
a quotation from a book, complete with Harvard reference:

'..what distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the
other is that it is a means of linking the two.' (Widdowson 1975 p.3)

How many of the seven questions are answered? Three. The other four come in the List of
References at the end.

Widdowson, H.G. (1975), Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature, London, Longman.

Note that book titles are in italics. If you're typing, or writing by hand, and can't do italics,
then underline the book title.

The next most common kind is A Reference to an Article.

A Reference to a Journal Article

These are a bit more complicated, but keep the seven questions in mind and it's all perfectly
logical. Here's an example of a reference to a journal article, about the differences between
the ways men and women talk:

Keeping silent 'while someone else discloses facilitates dominance' (Jenkins and Kramer 1978
p.80)

Three questions answered. The other four are answered in the List of References:

Jenkins, L. and Kramer, C. (1978) 'Small Group Processes: Learning From Women', Women's
Studies International Quarterly, 1, No 1, pp.67-84.

Note:
The actual title of the article is not in italics, but in single quotation marks.
The title of the journal is in italics.
The numbers after the journal title give the number of the Volume and the Issue.
So this article was in Issue 1 of Volume 1. You might also see this expressed as 1 (1):67-84.

It's fiddly, yes, but it isn't hard to understand.

A Reference to a Chapter in a Book

Lots of academic books are made up of chapters by different people, with another person or
other people as editor. Doing references for these is very similar to doing them for a journal
article. Here's an example:
'..the cultural construction of the facts of pregnancy' (Franklin 1997 p.489)

Three questions answered. The other four are in the List of References.

Franklin, S. (1997) 'Fetal fascinations: new dimensions to the medical-scientific construction


of fetal personhood.' in Kemp, S. and Squires, J. (eds) Feminisms, Oxford, Oxford UP.

Note:
Kemp and Squires are the editors of the collection so you put (eds) after their names.
Obviously you'd put (ed) if there was only one editor.
The name of the chapter is not in italics, but in single quotation marks.
The title of the book is in italics .
UP is a handy abbreviation for University Press. You can use it with Manchester UP,
Cambridge UP, Open UP, Columbia UP, and so on. But be careful about the place of
publication, especially with American publishers - Columbia UP isn't in a place called
Columbia; it's in New York.

Two in One References

'Two-in-one' or secondary references are the ones that seem to cause people the most
trouble. They are needed when you want to make a quote or discuss an idea from a book (for
example, by Smith) but you actually found the quote or the idea in a book by Jones, who
discusses Smith's work. So how do you reference this? Do you give the reference to Smith
and pretend you have read the original source when you haven't? I hope not, because this is
a bit dishonest and it won't help the tutor locate the reference in Jones, if he or she wants to
look at it. So do you just give the referene to Jones? Do you give one or both books in your
reference list?

The answer depends on who you are and what you are writing. If you are an undergraduate
writing a routine essay you need to give the reference in the form:
(Smith, date, cited in Jones, date, p 123).
'Cited' means 'quoted' or 'referred to'. Many undergraduate courses these days are taught
from standard textbooks which bring together relevant material from many authors and
sources. Secondary referencing is quite normal when students write essays based on these
books, and the only issue is how to do it correctly. In this situation it is sometimes sufficient
just to list Jones in your reference list. You should check this with your tutor.

If you are writing an article for publication or doing an extended piece of work at
postgraduate level, you will be expected to use original sources as much as possible. So you
should find Smith's book, read the approriate section and reference, quite legitimately, to
Smith. If it is impossible to locate a copy of Smith for some reason, you can give a secondary
reference as a last resort. In this case you should definitely list both books in your reference
list. You will have to look at Jones' own reference list to get the details for Smith.
So now let's look at a fuller example for a secondary reference. I want to quote the famous
cultural critic Raymond Williams. But, I actually found the bit I'll quote in another book, by
Dale Spender:

'..each of us has to learn to see.' (Williams 1975, cited in Spender 1985 p.140)

So I don't give the page number of the Williams, and I make it clear that I found the Williams
quote in another book in the reference in the text. 'Cited' here is another word for 'quoted' or
'referred to'. In the List of References at the end, I give the Williams and also the place I
found it as two separate things.

Spender, D. (1985) Man Made Language, London, Routledge.


and, further down the list
Williams, R. (1975) The Long Revolution, London, Penguin.

A Question: could you put in the page number of the Williams (Spender gives it in her own
reference), not bother mentioning Spender at all, and pretend that you've read the Williams
yourself?

Answer: I'm shocked that you should even think of it. In fact, yes, of course you could do
this, but you shouldn't. And like any other form of pretending to have read things you
haven't, you can get caught. For instance, if your tutor asks you what you thought about an
idea elsewhere in the Williams book, you're going to look pretty silly.

References to Websites

We all use websites more and more in our work, and we need to reference them. The seven
questions which we ask about a print source don't apply so much, but the principles behind
them do. The exact format of website references is not yet fixed, but the approach below is a
common one.

Websites don't always have page numbers, or even identifiable authors. So you just have to
answer as many as possible of the seven questions we identified for book and journal
references. If you can't find an author, you might be able to find the name of the
organisation which produced the web site e.g. Teesside University or the Public Record Office.
If all else fails, just give the title of the website in place of an author or producer. For
example, there's a big website on Jane Austen called 'The Republic of Pemberley', which has
several authors, and it's not clear who wrote which bit of the site. I want to refer to a part of
it. So, in the text, I put:

(The Republic of Pemberley, no date [online])

and in the References at the end I give all the information that I can and the full address
(URL) of where I found what I quoted or referred to:
The Republic of Pemberley (no date) 'Allusions to books and authors in Jane Austen's
writings' in The Republic of Pemberley [online] Available from
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/litallus.html [Accessed 27th Aug 2002]

The date at the end is the date I visited the site and found my material. You put this in
because websites can change from time to time.

And that's how to reference a website. The details are different from a reference to a print
source, but the basic principles are the same - I make it possible for anyone to check that
what I say is true, and I make it clear that I got the material from somewhere.

Some other web sources:


‘Cite them right’ includes details of how to reference all different kinds of websites so we have
just shown a couple from their book as examples:

Web pages with organisations as authors:


In-text citation:
The Open garden scheme (British Red Cross, 2008)...

Reference list:
British Red Cross (2008) Open gardens. Available
at: http://www.redcross.org.uk/index.asp?id=39992 (Accessed: 17 June 2008)

Web pages with no authors


Use the title of the site:
In-text citation:
Illustrations of the houses can be found online (Palladio’s Italian villas, 2005).

Reference list:
Palladio’s Italian villas (2005) Available at: http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/
(Accessed 2 June 2008)

Remember to be very careful about online sources, as you know, it is possible to put
something on the internet in a personal right, so it is best to stick to academic or reputable
sources for all your assignments. Further examples of how to reference online government
papers, legal and health resources are all clearly explained in Pears and Shields, (2008) ‘Cite
them right’ book, so well worth checking it out. We have lots of copies in the Library. Of
course, you can go to our other examples here in DISSC or check out their web site
at: http://www.citethemright.co.uk

s scheme (British Red Cross, 2008)...

A Reference to a Newspaper

The basic principles still apply - you answer as many of the seven questions as you can.
Here's an example: I'm writing an essay on British politicians, and I want to quote a
description of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott after his bust-up with the French
Environment Minister, Dominique Voynet. The words I want to quote come from an editorial
in the paper, so there's no writer's name given.

John Prescott 'played the male chauvinist pig' (The Guardian 28/11/2000 p.23).

And in the List of References at the end I just repeat the information, minus the page number
and plus the fact that the quote comes from an editorial, and the place of publication.

The Guardian (28/11/2000) Editorial, London.

What do you do when the writer's name is given? You can either do the reference as above,
but include the writer's name in the reference at the end, or you can do the reference like
this:

'..he adopted a standard macho attitude' (Voynet 2000 p.23)

and in the List at the end:

Voynet, D. (28/11/2000) 'Dear John', article in The Guardian, London

You would do the reference this second way if the writer's name was important. Here it is,
because Voynet is the Minister who was offended by Prescott. If the writer was just one of
the journalists on The Guardian, you'd probably do the reference the first way.

Some examples of other types of references

In this section, we have just picked a couple more from Cite them Right for guidance:

Reference to a UK statute (Acts of Parliament):


The style of referencing legal sources changed in 1963, so you might see some differences
(check Cite them right for clarity on specific details) but post-1963 an Act is now:

In-text citation:
The statute (Great Britain. Access to Justice Act 1999) laid down...

Reference list:
Great Britain. Access to Justice Act 1999: Elizabeth 11. Chapter 22. (1999)
London: the Stationery Office

Reference to a television programme


In- text citation:
Vicky Pollard (Little Britain, 2005) exemplifies the temperamental teenager.

Reference list:
Little Britain (2005) BBC 2 Television, 23 June
Reference to films/movies/DVDs
In-text citation:
Movies have been used to attach the President’s policies (Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004)

Reference list
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Directed by Michael Moore [Film]. Santa Monica, California: Lions
Gate Films.

DVD
In-text citation:
Special effects can dominate a film, for example as in The Matrix reloaded (2003)

Reference list:
The Matrix reloaded (2003) Directed by A. & L. Wachowski [DVD]. Los Angeles:
Warner Brothers Inc. Some examples of other types of
references

In this section, we have just picked a couple more from Cite them Right for guidance:

Reference to a UK statute (Acts of Parliament):


The style of referencing legal sources changed in 1963, so you might see some differences
(check Cite them right for clarity on specific details) but post-1963 an Act is now:

In-text citation:
The statute (Great Britain. Access to Justice Act 1999) laid down...

Reference list:
Great Britain. Access to Justice Act 1999: Elizabeth 11. Chapter 22. (1999)
London: the Stationery Office

Reference to a television programme


In- text citation:
Vicky Pollard (Little Britain, 2005) exemplifies the temperamental teenager.

Reference list:
Little Britain (2005) BBC 2 Television, 23 June

Reference to films/movies/DVDs
In-text citation:
Movies have been used to attach the President’s policies (Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004)

Reference list
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Directed by Michael Moore [Film]. Santa Monica, California: Lions
Gate Films.
DVD
In-text citation:
Special effects can dominate a film, for example as in The Matrix reloaded (2003)

Reference list:
The Matrix reloaded (2003) Directed by A. & L. Wachowski [DVD]. Los Angeles:
Warner Brothers Inc. List of References at the End

This List should come at the end of your essay. You do it in alphabetical order of author.
Here's an example, from the recent best-seller, Pinker (1999):

Adams, C. (1988) More of the Straight Dope. New York: Ballantine Books
Alegre, M.A. and Gordon, P. (1996) 'Red rats eater' in Cognition, 60, 65-82.
Alegre, M.A. and Gordon, P. (1997) 'Why Compound Researchers aren't rats eaters'.
Unpublished manuscript, Dept of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
Allen, J., Hunnicut, M.S. and Klatt, D. (1987) From Text to Speech: the MITalk System. New
York: Cambridge UP

(From Pinker, S. (1999) Words and Rules. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

And so on. This is a very short extract from a very long list. It ends, incidentally, with:

Zwicky, A.M. (1975) 'Settling on an Underlying Form: The English inflectional endings'. In D.
Cohen & J. Wirth (eds)Testing Linguistic Hypotheses. Washington: Hemisphere.

Note:
The date comes straight after the author's name in each entry.
There's an oddity - an unpublished manuscript.
No problem - it gets dealt with according to the basic principles.

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