The document explains the importance and methods of referencing in academic work, emphasizing its role in acknowledging sources, preventing plagiarism, and enhancing credibility. It outlines different referencing styles, particularly the Harvard style, detailing in-text citations and reference list formats. Additionally, it provides guidelines for assignment structure and formatting to ensure clarity and coherence in academic writing.

1. REFERENCING GUIDELINES

2. What is Referencing?
Referencing is a standardized method of formatting the information sources
you have used in your assignments or written work.
Any given referencing style serves two purposes:
 acknowledges the source
 allows the reader to trace the source
When writing a piece of academic work, for example an essay or thesis, you
must acknowledge the sources of information that you have used.
This acknowledgement of sources is called referencing or citing.

3. Why is Referencing Important?
Honesty:
By giving the source you make it clear to the reader that you are not trying to
pretend that somebody else’s work is your own.
Courtesy:
Acknowledging a source is a courtesy and respect to the person whose ideas or
words you have used or referred to.
Credibility:
People will have more confident in your assertion if they know where your
information comes from. Thoroughness in referencing suggests that you have
also been thorough in checking your facts.
Helping Others:
The source helps your readers to find the original texts or web pages to read
themselves, should they wish.

4. How will it help me?
 provides evidence that you have read wisely and understand your subject
 protect yourself from accusations of plagiarism
 strengthen your argument or point of view
 demonstrate that you have paraphrased and summarized appropriately and
quoted correctly

5. What if I do not Reference?
Failure to reference, or poor referencing can be classified as Academic
Misconduct.
Avoiding plagiarism is the individual's responsibility, and there are penalties
for failing to do so.
In professional life, you will find that plagiarism can have serious effects on
your reputation and that of your colleagues and employer. It may prompt legal
action from the copyright owner of any work that is not acknowledged.

6. What is Plagiarism?
The most common offense under the Academic Code of Conduct is plagiarism
which the Code defines as "the presentation of the work of another person
as one's own or without proper acknowledgement“
 material copied word for word from books, journals, internet sites,
professor's course notes, etc.
 material that is paraphrased but closely resembles the original source.
 work of a fellow student, for example, an answer on a quiz, data for a lab
report, a paper or assignment completed by another student.
 paper purchased through one of the many available sources.
 Plagiarism does not refer to words alone - it can also refer to copying
images, graphs, tables, and ideas.
 If you translate the work of another person into French or English and do
not cite the source, this is also plagiarism.
 If you cite your own work without the correct citation, this too is
plagiarism.

7. When Should I Reference?
 Whenever you draw upon another source of information
Direct quotations
 Paraphrasing Ideas
 Specific information such as statistics or tables or images
 When using someone else’s ideas, arguments, theories or point of view.

8. Referencing Style
Sets of instructions explaining how you should reference the resources you use
are called “referencing styles”.
There are many different styles, and you must not mix and match them—it is
important to follow a single style.
Some of the styles are given below with the name by which it is usually
known:
 Harvard (University of Exeter)
 Chicago (University of Chicago Press)
 MLA (Modern Language Association of America)
 NZLSG (New Zealand Law Style Guide)
 OSCOLA (The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal
Authorities )

9. Harvard Referencing
Harvard referencing is the most commonly used referencing system in social
sciences and education and originates from the American university.
Harvard referencing uses the author and the date of the work in the main body
of the text, and then uses a reference list at the end of the assignment which
contains the references cited in alphabetical order by author; this contains full
details of the journal or book cited.
The purpose of incorporating the author and date into the main body of the
text is to make it easy to locate works in the reference list.
Harvard referencing consists of two elements:
 in-text citations (in the body)
 The complete reference list (end of the project/assignment) in
alphabetical order

10. Referencing from the Book
Single Author:
In-text: Last Name (Year of Publication) p. Page Number
Citation: Last Name, First Name Initials (Year Published) Title of the Book.
Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher, p. Pages.
2 Authors:
In-text: Last Name 1 and Last Name 2 (Year Published) p. Pages Used
Citation: Last Name 1, Initial 1. and Last Name 2, Initial 2. (Year Published)
Title of the Book. City Published: Publisher, p. Pages Used.

11. Referencing from the Book
3 or more Authors:
In-text: Last Name 1 and Last Name 2 et al. (Year Published) p. Pages Used
Citation: Last Name 1, Initial 1., Last Name 2, Initial 2. and Last Name 3, Initial
3. Year Published. Title of the Book. City Published: Publisher, p. Pages Used.

12. Illustration – Book Reference:
Naidoo, J. & Willis, J. 2001. Health studies:
an introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s).,
Use & between two authors.
Date
Year of publication
Title
In sentence case and italicised.
Publisher
Place of publication, publisher.

13. Referencing from Journal
Articles
In-text: Last Name (Year Published)
Citation: Last Name, Initials. (Year Published) Article Title. Journal Name.
Volume No (Issue No), p. Pages Used.

14. Illustration – Journal Reference:
Kelly, C. & Lynes, D. (2008) Psychological
effects of chronic lung disease. Nursing Times.
104(47), pp.82-85.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s).
Use & between two authors.
Date
Year of publication
Article Title
In sentence case
Journal Title
In Title Case and italicised Journal information
Give volume and issue as x(x), followed by
page numbers
pp. For multiple pages
p. For a single page item

15. Referencing from the Website
In-text: Website Name (Year Published)
Citation: Author/Editor, Initials. Year Published). Title. [online]. Place of
Publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed Date
Month Year].

16. Illustration – Website
Department for Children, Schools and Families. 2009. Background to
every child matters. Every Child Matters [Online]. Available at
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/background/background.
Accessed on 18th February 2010, 11:10pm.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s) if a person is
the author. Otherwise use
corporate author or organisation.
Date
Year site last updated (often shown
at the bottom of the page).
If not known, enter (no date).
Access information
Give full address of webpage,
and date and time you accessed
the resource.
Page Title
In sentence case Website Title
In Title Case and
italicised. Followed
by [Online].

17. Referencing from Newspaper
In-text: Last Name (Year Published) p. Pages Used
Citation: Author(s) of article, initials. Year of publication).‘Title of article’, Title
of newspaper, Day month, Page number(s).

18. Illustration – Newspaper
Simpson, L. 1997. ‘Tasmania’s railway goes
private’, Australian Financial Review, 13 October,
p. 10.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s).
Use & between two authors.
Date
Year of publication
Article Title
In sentence case
Title of Newspaper
In Title Case and italicised
Page Access information
Date and Month
p. Page number

19. Referencing from Course
Materials/Lecture Notes
In-text: Lecturer/Author’s Surname (Year of Publication)
Citation: Author Surname, Initial(s). Year of Publication. Subject Code Title of
the study guide. Publisher, Place of Publication.

20. Illustration – Course Materials
Collins, M. 2010. ED1441 Information
technologies in education:, James Cook
University, Cairns.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s).
Use & between two authors.
Date
Year of publication Subject Code Title
In Title Case and italicised
Publisher Place of Publication or Unpublished
Country/City/State

21. Referencing from Interview
In-text: Candidate’s Last Name (Year of Interview)
Citation: Candidate’s Last Name, Initial. Year of Interview. Title of Interview.
Interviewed by.. Name [Type of medium: TV/Radio/In person] Date, Time.

22. Illustration – Interview
Ahern, B. 1999. Interview on Morning Ireland
Interviewed by... John Boyd [radio] RTE Radio 1,
15 February 1999, 08:30.
Author(s)
Surname, Initial(s).
Use & between two authors.
Date
Year of Interview Title of Interview
In Title Case and italicised
Interviewee’s Name
Date and Time of Interview
Type of Medium (Radio, TV, etc)

23. Harvard Referencing Tool
www.citethisforme.com

24. Assignment Structure
 Cover Page
 Executive Summary
 Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Body
 Conclusions & Recommendations
 References (Using Harvard Referencing)
 Appendix (if any)

25. Cover Page
Unit Code - Unit Name
Lecturer Name
Topic Name
Submission Date
Student Name
Student ID

26. Executive Summary
An executive summary is an overall summary of the entire report. It
should have 3-4 short paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Based on the Introduction (Introduce the topic of your
report)
Paragraph 2: Summary of the body (Indicate main subjects
examined in the discussion section of your report)
Paragraph 3: Summary of the conclusions
Paragraph 4: Outline recommendations, if any, in bullet points
NOTE: Even though it appears first, the Executive Summary is
one of the last things you will write.

27. Table of Content
Introduction 1
1. Topic 1 2
1.1 Sub Topic 1 2
1.2 Sub Topic 2 2
1.2.1 Sub Topic 2.1 3
1.2.2 Sub Topc 2.2 4
1.3 Sub Topic 3 4
1.3.1 Sub Topic 3.1 4
1.4 Sub Topic 4 4
1.4.1 Sub Topic 4.1 5
Conclusion 6
List of Figures
Figure 1 8

28. Introduction
The introduction should generally include three key types of information:
a) Background - brief background information required for the reader to
understand the report.
NOTE: Detailed company background should not be included here. It is best
discussed in the body of the report
b) Aims/ objectives - It indicates what key questions the report is trying to
answer and what it is trying to achieve. Why was it written?
c) Scope - Tell the reader exactly what areas/ideas are covered in the report.
This also helps to explain how the report is organized.

29. Body
All your assignment questions must be answered here in detail with proper
headings and sub-headings, numbered sequentially.
IN-TEXT HARVARD REFERENCING MUST BE USED
In-text Referencing:
If you take any information from the textbook, website, etc, you will need
to mention it between the lines within your report.

30. Conclusion
This is your final chance to impress the reader so make it
powerful. Most conclusions include three main parts:
 stating the aim/ context of the assignment again
 a very brief summary of the main points
 final comments and recommendations

31. References
Last page of your assignment must include the complete list of
the references used during the completion of your assignment
with all the details.

32. Formatting Guidelines
Margins: 1 cm on all sides except right side (2 cm on the right side)
Font: 12 point, Times New Roman
Line Spacing: 1.5
Alignment: Left Flush
Pagination: Use footer for Page Numbers
Headings:
• Main headings: Centered, boldface, uppercase and lowercase heading
(title case)
• Subheadings: Flush left, boldface, uppercase and lowercase heading (title
case)

33. THANKS