Information is given in a certain order, so the same information can be found again.
Look at the books on the library shelves in the image below. There are lots of books. If they were not in a particular order it would be a nightmare to find the one you want!
Four steps to ordering your information correctly:
1. Identify the type of source: book; article; website; image; lyrics . . .
2. Identify the elements of the source: look for author; title; date of publication; place of publication; page reference; volume . . .
3. Put the elements for each entry into the correct order according to Harvard referencing style for that particular type of source - see below
4. Put the entries into alphabetical order according to the author's surname
Examples:
1. Type of Source: Book
2, Order the elements as below.
3. Separate the elements with a comma
4. Book titles are written in italics
1. Type of Source: Article
2, Order the elements as below.
3. Separate the elements with a comma
4. Article titles are written in ' '
3. Order the elements into alphabetical order according to the author's surname
Author (surname then initials) Date, Title (note it is in italics), Publisher, Place of publication
Remember to use commas between each element
Example
Montgomery, L M 2008, Anne of Green Gables, Penguin Random House, Australia
Author, Year, ‘Title of article’(in ‘ ‘ ) Name of Magazine/ Journal (in italics), Publisher, Month of publication, Page number
Remember to us commas between each elemtn
Example
Engler, M 2012, ‘Obama: A better adversary’, New Internationalist, New Internationalist Publications, September p33
Author surname(s), initial(s), Date, Title of page [Online], Title of site, URL, Accessed: day month year
Remember to use commas between each element
Be sure to put date in correct format - see Example below
Example
Beard, M, 2006, The fall of the Roman Republic, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/
fallofromanrepublic_article_01.shtml>, Accessed 30 January 2011
Put as much information in your reference as you can. For example:
No author? - leave it out and put the rest in order
No title? - leave it out and put the rest in order.
How to reference a YouTube video Watch this video to understand how to reference a YouTube clip in Harvard style citation. It has very good advice about the trustworthiness of various uploads on YouTube. Remember that in Harvard style citation, you separate each element with a comma.
There are slightly different elements to be included in your reference. The name of the person uploading the video, for example.
Name of person posting video, Year video posted, Title of film or programme, URL, Accessed Day Month Year.
Example: APintTurtle, 2008, Zig & Zag - Christmas crises, http://youtu.be/yCv4iyPqZKQ, Accessed 12 December 2014.
Author (surname, Initial(s) Year, 'Article title', Newspaper Title, Day, Month, page range
Author (surname, Initial(s) Year, 'Article title', Newspaper Title, Day, Month, page range, accessed Day Month Year, <URL>
Remember to use commas between each element
Examples
Browne, R 2010, 'This brainless patient is no dummy', Sydney Morning Herald, 21 March, p. 45.
Online
Puvanenthiran, B 2016, 'Holographic creation company gets boost from Alibaba's investment arm', Sydney Morning Herald, 28 September, accessed 08 January 2017, <http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/startup/holographic-creation-company-gets-boost-from-alibabas-investment-arm-20160927-grphjz.html>.
Title of film, Year of production, format e.g. DVD, video recording or motion picture, Publisher (or Distributor), Place, add other useful information such as directed by, starring ...
Remember to use commas between each element
Example
The man from Snowy River, 2004, DVD, Snowy River Productions, Sydney, directed by George Miller.
Author/producer/Director Surname, Initial(s) Year, Title, type of medium, Publisher, Place of publication
Remember to use commas between each element
Example
Taylor, B 2009, The four P’s marketing strategies, DVD, Video Education Australiasia, Bendigo, Victoria
If a text has three or more authors, then you can shorten an in-text citation with the use of the term et al which is a Latin term meaning and others. After et al you must use a fullstop. Put a comma after the fullstop before the date, just as you would any other time.
Example
Use the surname of the first author and et al. ('and others') in the text:
Leeder et al. (1996, p. 78) argued ... or:
(Leeder et al. 1996)
Remember it is only used in in-text citations.
Don't use et al in the list of references. List all the authors in the order in which they appear on the title page.
Example
Leeder, SR, Dobson, AJ, Gibbers, RW, Patel, NK, Matthews, PS, Williams DW & Mariot, DL 1996, The Australian film industry, Dominion Press, Adelaide.
Personal Communications include private letters, memos, emails from unarchived sources, personal interviews, telephone conversations, and similar resources. As these sources do not provide recoverable data, Personal Communications do not need to be included in the Reference List but are given as in-text citations.
Focus of communication (communicator, Year,Format description, Day Month)
Remember to use commas between each element
Example
The role of school leaders was confirmed in an interview (E Rhodes 2020, personal communication, 07 July).
OR
During an interview conducted on 07 July 2020, the principal of Lowther Hall, Ms Rhodes, stated that …
It does not matter whether you are referencing someone else's words, images, sounds or ideas, there are two ways to do this:
1. In-text citation:
It is located within your work. Author's last name and the year of publication (and page numbers if it is directly quoted) in round brackets placed within the text. If there is no clear author, the title and date are used. If the work has four or more authors/editors the abbreviation 'et al' should be used after the first author's name. By using “et al.”, writers can also avoid having very long citations that list every single author.
2. Reference list:
The reference list should be ordered alphabetically by the last name of the first author of each work. References with no author are ordered alphabetically by the first significant word of the title. It is located at the end of your work.
Use only the initials of the authors' given names. No full stop and space between the initials. Last name comes first.
Here is an example that cites a book with one author using Harvard style.
| In-text citation | Reference list | |
| 1 author | (Alexander 2004) OR Alexander (2004) stated that . . . | Alexander, S 2004, The Cook's Companion Lantern, China |
| 2 authors | (Cornelius & Kirby, 2021) . . . | Cornelius, J & Kirby, C 2021 |
| 3 authors | (Cornelius, Healy & Kirby, 2021) | Cornelius, J, Healy, T, & Kirby, C 2021 . . . |
| 4+ authors | (Cornelius et al 2020) | Cornelius, J, Healy., T, King, F, & Kirby, C., 2020 . . . |
An in-text citation is how you acknowledge resources within your work.
Example of an in-text citation for a quote:
"More than half of all food poisoning happens at home." (Alexander 2004, p.51).
Example of an in-text citation for an idea (when you are paraphrasing someone else's words):
Alexander (2004, p.51) states that the majority of food poisoning happens at home.
Please note: Your teacher will specify if you need to provide in-text citations, as well as a bibliography. At Lowther Hall, you will always need to provide a bibliography or reference list of where you have found your information. You may not, however, be required to provide in-text citations. Be sure to check with your teacher!
There are two main ways to list your sources, with a reference list or a bibliography.
Reference lists include sources that have been directly cited in your paper.
Bibliographies, on the other hand, contain all the sources that you have used for your paper, whether they are directly cited or not.
Please note: Your teacher will specify if you need to provide in-text citations, as well as a bibliography. At Lowther Hall, you will always need to provide a bibliography or reference list of where you have found your information. You may not, however, be required to provide in-text citations. Be sure to check with your teacher!
It is important to know the type of source you are citing, as the order of the elements is slightly different for different source types.
Here is a quick guide for the most common types of sources:
For other types of sources, use the site below and access the detailed information you need for each type of source.
When referencing, the order of each element is important and so is the punctuation.
Commas are used between the elements of information.
Author's surname first followed by their initials with no full stops in-between.
If there are two or more authors, separate each name with a comma and put an ampersand "&" before the surname of the last author.
Year of publication is not in brackets.
Major resource titles (such as books, websites, encyclopaedia titles) are written in italics.
Articles are written within quotation marks. For example, 'Queensland border to reopen to Victorians as state records no new cases of COVID again' was an article that appeared in The Age on 25.11.2020
When citing digital resources you must state “accessed” or "viewed" and the date you did so at the end of the entry starting with the year, month then day in a bracket (Accessed: day month year). For example, Mitchell, J.A and Thomson, M. (2017). How and when to reference [Online]. Available at: https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/APAcitation (Accessed: 21 August 2017).
If there is no publication date of a web page or document cite it using n.d. (no date). In-Text Citation: (Author n.d.)
Use the interactive tools below, created by university libraries, to look at examples of referencing for a range of types of sources. Select from within the sites to get to the detailed information you need. These are especially good to use if you want in-text as well as reference list information.
Re:Cite by University of Melbourne
Referencing Tool by Griffith University
References/Bibliography Harvard style by University of Queensland
Visit the library if you need assistance with your citations.
You could also take a look at some books we have available:
Guidelines for referencing and bibliographies by 
Make the Grade by 
