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Harvard referencing is a referencing style which employs the tactic of placing partial references within round parentheses. Unlike footnote style, it is incorporated within the text, in the middle or at the end of a sentence. In addition to this, at the end of the text, a list of the complete citations is incorporated. This is done in alphabetic order. It is called “a reference list” or “end-text citation”. It is the most detailed item of referencing and gives the complete acknowledgement of the initial inventor of the used work or art.

Parenthetical referencing is done in two major styles: Author-date and author-title or author-page styles. The latter style is used in citing work that falls in the categories of arts and humanities. It is recommended by the Modern Language Association, commonly known as the MLA. On the other hand, the former style is used in referencing work in the genres of sciences and social sciences. This is like the Author-date style also recommended by the American Chemistry Society and the American Psychological Association.

Author-date method is where in-text citation is done by putting the author’s name, year of publication and a page number where possible in parentheses after the sentence or in the middle. At the end of the text, in the reference section, the full citation is done.  

In your research paper you would write: (Mackenzie 1975) and in your Reference and Bibliography section you would write this as:

Mackenzie, J. M. (1975). Best essay Writing Tips. New York: Oxford University Press.

In the author date method, when the entire author’s work is referenced, there is usually no need to quote the page number from which the author’s work borrows. In the same fashion when the author’s name is included in the text, it is common practice to omit it in the citation. In case there are two authors, “and” or the ampersand sign is used between their names. For more than two authors, “etal.” is used in citation.

Where there is no date in Harvard referencing, the abbreviation ‘n.d’, for no date is used. A common abbreviation ‘N.p’ is used for “No place of publication” and/or “No publisher.” Citation of a republished work is done with the initial date of publication in square brackets or separated with a virgule. If the author published more than one book in the same year, the year is referenced followed immediately by alphabetic letters in lower case in the order in which the publications were done.

Harvard referencing advocates that all citations are done in the same font as the main text. Well known cities of publication like London, The Hague, New York; are referenced without including the name of the country.

The author-title or author-date method is also called the MLA style. This is where the in-text citation that comes in brackets after the sentence includes the name of the author and a page number. Where there is more than one work by a single author, a short title is necessary. In the reference section is given the full citation.

In the same way that the main text may contain a style of Harvard Referencing, content notes given as footnotes or end notes may contain a Harvard Referencing Styles. These may contain crucial information just like the main text and hence the need for proper citation.     

Harvard referencing has been used for a century now in giving the due credit to the great minds of science and social sciences. It is a simple and effective referencing style.

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