What is Harvard style formatting?
When you write an academic report or paper you will almost certainly use or refer to other author’s works, the Harvard style of referencing is a widely used method of providing citations within the text of your paper. It is important to use a common style of formatting so that anyone reading your paper will have a clear understanding of what your citations mean and can follow up on your sources should they require to. Failure to use a clear system would make it very difficult for fellow academics to be able to easily review your work which is why Harvard formatting for your citations is so important. Moreover, it’s worth visiting our site where you may get additional information about APA bibliography format or see APA format essay sample.
Why do you need to use Harvard style formatting
The simple answer is to avoid plagiarism and give proper credit to the originators of quotations and ideas within your work. Using a quotation from someone else’s work and failing to cite the source is plagiarism. You do not even have to directly quote a source either, if you paraphrase somebody else’s ideas into your own words but still fail to give credit to the original source this is also plagiarism. It is vital that within academic writing you always cite where your ideas and quotations have originated from.
For a sample of reaction paper, check out this link!
What should you record when doing your research
Where most students fail when it comes to providing accurate referencing in Harvard style formatting is at the research stage. They read various papers, books and articles but fail to record accurate and sufficient information to provide an accurate reference when they start to write. This will often require you to revisit your sources again to get the information that you need. When you do your research you need to record;
- The authors full name(s) or the editor(s)
- The year of publication
- The full title
- If it is not the first edition record the edition number
- City of publication
- Publisher name
- If it is not a book also record things such as edition, page number or even URL and the date accessed
Examples of the use of Harvard style formatting
- Morris (2003) suggests that the change in lake levels..
- When reviewing the use of these instruments, Smith (2007: 123) states that “Always start by….”
- If two authors; Smith and Western (2010: 70-73) insist that the..
If four or more authors; Reditch et al (2011: 17-20) discuss the meaning of the.
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