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TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN COLLEGE

HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM

Compiled by
Dr Chook Ka Joo
Quality Assurance Department
Tunku Abdul Rahman College
and
Mr Johnny Chin Fui Chung
Extra-Mural Studies Department
Tunku Abdul Rahman College

2008

CONTENTS

Page

1.0

INTRODUCTION

2.0

THE IMPORTANCE OF CITING REFERENCES

3.0

REFERENCING SYSTEM

4.0

THE HARVARD SYSTEM

5.0

CITATION IN THE TEXT

6.0

THE REFERENCE LIST

7.0

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCING

REFERENCES

TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN COLLEGE


HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM

1.0

INTRODUCTION

Referencing or citing means acknowledging the source of information and ideas


you have used in your assignment (e.g. essay, report, project, research paper,
etc.). This is a standard practice at all institutions of higher learning including
Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College.
This learning guide on Harvard referencing system was developed based on the
following references:

2.0

Curtin University Library. 2007. Harvard referencing.


Fisher, D. and Hanstock, T. 1998. Citing references.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. 2005. Research methods for
business students.
University of Bournemouth. 2005. Citing references.
University of South Australia. 2006. Referencing using the Harvard author
date system.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CITING REFERENCES

The following are reasons why referencing is needed:

to acknowledge debts to other writers


to demonstrate the body/scope of knowledge upon which your research is
based on
to enable all those who read your work to locate the sources easily

More importantly, by using appropriate references, you will show the breadth and
quality of your assignment and avoid plagiarism. For further details on plagiarism,
please refer to the TAR College guide on Avoiding Plagiarism.

3.0

REFERENCING SYSTEM

The two most common types of referencing systems used are:


i.

Author-date system such as the Harvard System, APA (American


Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Languages Association)
ii. Numerical system such as the Chicago or Turabian, Vancouver and footnote.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

The referencing system used in TAR College is the Harvard System for all of the
Schools except the School of Social Science and Humanities, which is using the
APA system.

4.0

THE HARVARD SYSTEM

In the Harvard System, cited publications are referred to as citation in the text by
giving the authors family name and the year of publication and the details are
listed in the reference list at the end of the text/work (see page 9 for examples).
The process of citing references consists of two inter-related parts:
i. Citing - the way a writer refers from the text to the sources used in the
assignment.
ii. Referencing - the process of creating a reference list of each source a writer
has used in writing the assignment.
All statements, opinions, conclusion, etc. taken from another writers work should
be cited, whether the work is directly quoted, paraphrased or summarised.

5.0

CITATION IN THE TEXT

When writing a piece of work, you will need to refer to materials written or
produced by others. This procedure is called citing or quoting references. The
system that you have used to cite the sources must be consistent and accurate
to enable readers to identify and locate the materials to which you have referred
to. The same set of rules should be followed every time you cite a reference.
When you cite references in the text of your assignment include:

5.1

the author or editors family name (or organisation responsible) - do NOT


include given names or initials
the year of publication
page(s) of publication (if appropriate and where available)
In many cases, you just need to use the authors family name and date.
For example:
Many factors are known to affect the success of students at the tertiary
education level (Saunders, 2005).
OR

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

Saunders (2003, p.21) claims that there are many factors that are known
to affect the success of students at the tertiary education level.
In these two examples, the sentences summarise the main view
expressed in an article written by Saunders, which is not taken from one
single page of the source. Also note that the first example highlights the
information but the second example highlights or gives prominence to the
author of the article.
i.

If the authors name occurs naturally in the sentence, the year is given
in parentheses:
In a popular study, Harvey (2005) argued that we have to teach good
practices
As Harvey (1992, p.21) said, good practices must be taught and so
we

ii. If the name does not occur naturally in the sentence, both name and
year are given in parentheses:
A more recent study (Stevens, 2002) has shown the way theory and
practical work interact
Theory rises out of practice, and once validated, returns to direct or
explain the practice (Stevens, 2002).

5.2

There are cases when you need to include a page number in the
parentheses.
For example:
Ramli (2006, p.7) showed that 63 percent of workers was found to be
affected by work-related stress.
You need to include the page number when you:
i.
ii.
iii.

use a direct quote from an original source


summarise an idea from a particular page
include tables, figures, charts or illustrations from other sources in your
work

Use p. when you are citing the information from a single page and pp.
when the information is cited from more than one page.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

5.3

When there are four or more authors for a reference, you need to include
all their names in your first in-text citation of their work. When the same
source is cited again, use et al. (which is Latin for and the others).
Saunders, Jones, Cooper and Steinmark (2006, p.7) postulate that 54
percent of the students do not use proper referencing system As a
result of this, Saunders et al. (2006) listed a few major problems that
students face in doing project work.
The names of all the authors are listed in the reference list in the same
order they are listed in the original reference.

5.4

Personal communication such as interviews, telephone calls, video


conferencing and internet chat do not provide recoverable data; therefore,
they are not included in the reference list. Cite personal communication in
the text citation only. Provide initials as well as the family name (full name
for Asians) of the communicator and provide the exact date.
Many designers do not understand the needs of the young people
according to Toi See Luon (personal communication, 19 April 2007)

5.5

Additional Information
Quotations As a rule, if the quote is less than a line, it may be included
in the body of the text in quotation marks.
Summaries or paraphrases Give the citation where it occurs naturally or
at the end of the relevant piece of writing.
Tables, charts, diagrams or illustrations These should be referenced as
though they were a quotation if they have been taken from a published
work.
If details of particular parts of a document are required, e.g. page
numbers, they should be given after the year within the parentheses.
Rules for citation in text for printed documents also apply to electronic
documents except where pagination is absent. If an electronic document
does not include pagination or an equivalent internal referencing system,
the extent of the item may be indicated in terms such as the total number
of lines, screens, etc., e.g. [21 lines] or [approx 8 screens].

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

5.6

Writing convention
The following conventions are not prescribed by national or international
standards but have been included because they are usually adhered to by
the academic community.
If you are quoting a few words, the usual practice is as follows:
Example A:
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003, p.93) argued that grounded theory
is best defined as theory building compared to the assertion of Glaser
and Strauss (1967) of inductive approach to research.
Example B:
Robson (2002, p.178) defines case study as a strategy for doing research
which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary
phenomenon [current issues] using multiple sources of evidence.
The quotation forms part of your text and is indicated by enclosing it using
either single apostrophe or double apostrophe .

The indicates word or words from the original source have been left
out.
Square brackets [ ] tell your reader you have added your own words to
the quotation.
If you are quoting a longer quotation, it is a common practice for the
whole quotation to be indented:
There is no doubt that Internet technology has changed and
is changing the way organizations do business. Using the
Internet, companies have, for instance, (1) created
knowledge bases that employees can tap into anytime,
anywhere; (2) turned customers into collaborated partners
who design, test and launch new products; (3) become
virtually paperless in specific tasks such as purchasing and
filling expense reports; (4) managed logistics in real time;
and (5) changed the nature of numerous work tasks
throughout the organization (Robbins & Coulter, 2005,
p.197)

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

6.0

THE REFERENCE LIST

6.1

The reference list in the Harvard system:

6.2

is titled References
is arranged alphabetically by authors family name
is a single list books, journal articles and electronic sources are listed
together and not arranged in a separate list
includes the full details of your citation in the text
is NOT a bibliography you do not need to produce a bibliography for
your assignments unless specifically asked to do so by your lecturer. A
bibliography lists everything you may have read but did NOT use it in
the course of doing the assignment while a reference list is limited to
the citation in the text references used in your assignment.

Steps involved in referencing


a. Note down the full details of the source including page number from
which the information is taken.
In the case of a book, the details included are author(s) of the book,
year, title, edition, place of publication and publisher as found on the
front and back of the title page.
In the case of a journal article, the details included are author(s) of
the article, date of publication, title of article, title of journal, volume and
issue number of journal and page numbers.
For all electronic information, in addition to the above, you should
note the date you accessed the information and database or website
address (URL).
b. Insert the citation at the appropriate place within the text of the
document.
c. Provide a reference list at the end of your assignment.

6.3

Whenever possible, elements needed for the reference list should be


taken from the title page of the publication.

For place of publication, provide the city.


If more than one town/city is listed, list the first one or the location of
the publishers head office.
If the town is not well known, you may add a county, region or state.
Note that in the United States of America, states are denoted by a twoletter code, for example Hillsdale, NJ.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

For the publishers name, omit superfluous terms such as Publishers,


Co. or Inc. but always retain the word Books or Press.
Where the publisher is a university and the place or the location is not
included in the name of the university, do not repeat the place of
publication.

6.4

Each reference should use the elements and punctuation given in the
following examples for the different types of work you may have cited.
Underlining is an acceptable alternative to italics when references are
handwritten.

6.5

The reference list is arranged alphabetically by authors family names.


When an item has no author (e.g. newspaper report, annual company
report, brochure), it is cited by its title and sequenced in the reference list
by the first significant word of the title.

6.6

The Harvard System requires the second and subsequent lines of the
reference to be indented to highlight the alphabetical order.

6.7

Setting out the items in a Reference List using the Harvard Referencing
System
The main elements required for a reference are set out in this order:
6.7.1 Example of a book
The main elements required for referencing a book are set out in this
order:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of book. Place of publication:
Publisher.
Authors family name
followed by a comma,
then initial(s) followed
by a full stop

Year of publication
followed by a full
stop - no brackets

Title of the book in


italics followed by a full
stop - upper case used
only for the first word

Cameron, S. 2002. Business students handbook: Learning skills for study


and employment. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Place of publication
followed by a colon

Publisher followed
by a full stop

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

6.7.2 Example of an academic journal


The main elements required for referencing a journal article are set out in
this order:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of article. Title of journal.
Volume number and (issue or part number), page number.
Authors family name
followed by a comma,
then initial(s) followed
by a full stop

Title of the article in single


inverted comma - upper
case for the first word only,
full stop after the second
inverted comma

Year of publication
followed by a full
stop - no brackets

Bilosvalavo, R. and Lynn, M. 2006. Mission statements in Slovene


enterprises: Institutional pressures and contextual adaptation.
Management Decision., 45(4), pp.773-788.

Title of the journal


in italics followed
by a full stop

Volume
number of
the journal

Issue number in a
bracket followed
by a comma

Page number (pp) of


the article followed
by a full stop at the
end

6.7.3 Example of an electronic publication


The main elements required for referencing an electronic publication are
set out in this order:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of document or website. Date
viewed. Full address <url>.
Authors family name
followed by a comma,
then initial(s) followed
by a full stop

Year of publication
followed by a full
stop - no brackets

Title of the article in italics,


followed by a full stop upper case used for first
word

Potter, J. 2005. The big five personality test. Viewed on 11 July 2007.
Available from: <http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive>.
The internet address (URL) is enclosed in <
and > with the full address and followed by a
full stop

Date the document is


accessed followed by a
full stop

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

7.0

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCING

7.1

Books
Basic format for books:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.
Books

Single author

Two or three
authors

An example of citation in the


The entry in the reference list
text
A key factor in good exam Cameron, S. 2002. Business students handbook: Learning skills for study
technique (Cameron, 2002,
and employment. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
p.158)
Khoo, K. K. 1977. The western Malay states. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford
Khoo (1977, p.45) argues that
University Press.
According to Kim and Mauborgne Kim, W. C. and Mauborgne, R. 2005. Blue ocean strategy: How to create
(2005),
uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant.
Boston: Harvard Business School.
Guelich, S., Gundavaram, S. and Birznieks, G. 2000. CGI programming
with pel. Cambridge: OReilly.

Four or more
authors

As suggested by Sandler et al. Sandler, M. P., Patton, J. A., Coleman, R. E., Gottschalk, A., Wackers, F.
(1995, p.14)
J. and Hoffere, P. B. 1995. Diagnostic nuclear medicine. Baltimore:
Williams & Wilkins.
The industry (Leeders et al.,
1996)

Leeders, S. R., Dobson, A. J., Gibbers, R. W., Patel, N. K., Mathews, P. S.,
Williams, A. and Marriot, D. L. 1996. The Australian film industry.
Adelaide: Dominion.

Book with no
author

As shown in Networking Essential Networking essential plus. 2000. 3rd edn. Redmond: Microsoft Press.
Plus (2000),

Book with no date

This has been emphasized by Seah, R. n.d. Micro-computer applications. Redmond: Microsoft Press.
Seah (n.d.) when .

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

Electronic book

Gottshalk and Solli-sather (2006) Gottschalk, P. and Solli-saether, H. 2006. Managing successful IT
contend that
outsourcing relationship. Viewed 30 July 2007. Available from
<http://site.elibrary.com/lib/tarc/docuement/display.jsp?docID=1008436
&page=1>.

Translated book

Popularity of the novel Les Cocteau, J. 1961. Les enfantrs terribles, trans. R Lehmann. Penguin:
Enfants Terribles increased after
London.
Translation (Cocteau, 1961)

Second edition or
later edition of a
book

Walpole and Evans (eds, 2001) Walpole, M. and Evans, C. (eds). 2001. Tax administration in the 21st
question whether
century. St Leonards, New South Wales: Prospect Media.

Edited book
editors work not
paramount

If there is only one editor, use the


abbreviation ed.
The instrument must (Jones Jones Instrument Technology. 1985. Mechanical measurement. London:
Instrument Technology, 1985).
Butterworth.
Singapore 2001. edn, Rodan, G. Ashgate: Aldershot.

One volume of a
multi-volume set
of books
Chapter in an
edited book

It has been implied (Einax, 1995) Einax, J. 1995. Chemometrics in environmental chemistry: Applications.
that
Vol. 2. Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Berlin: Springer.

Encyclopaedia or
dictionary - with
no author
Encyclopaedia or
dictionary - with
author

Collins Cobuild English Dictionary No entry is required in the reference list because you have the name and
(1995) defines ethics as
date of the dictionary in the in-text citation.

Ezhar (2001) notes that

Ezhar, T. 2001. Working with foreigners. In Asma Abdullah and Aric Low.
(eds). Understanding Malaysian workforce. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian
Institute of Management, pp.179-196.

Hawkins (1997, p.128) defines Hawkins, J. G. 1995. Kamus dwibahasa Oxford Fajar. 2nd edn. Kuala
ethics as
Lumpur: Fajar Bakti.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

10

7.2

Journal articles
Basic format for journal articles:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of article. Title of journal, Volume number, Issue, Page no.

Single author

An example of citation in the


text
Ho (2007, p.2) argues that

Two or three
authors

Bilosvalavo and Lynn


p.774) acknowledge

Journal

The entry in the reference list


Ho, S. 2007. Knowledge sharing - a fear factor. Malaysian Management
Review. 42 (2), pp 1-22.

(2006, Bilosvalavo, R. and Lynn, M. 2006. Mission statements in Slovene


enterprises: Institutional pressures and contextual adaptation.
Management Decision. 45(4), pp.773-788.

The impact of IT (Li and Li, G. and Clifford, N. 2007. When a talking computer agent is half human
Clifford, 2007, p.163).
and half humanoid. Human Communication Research. 33(2), pp.163193.
More than four
authors

2nd citation onwards

George, B., Sims, P., Mclean, A. N. and Mayer, D. 2007. Discovering your
authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review. 85(2), pp.129-138.

George et al. (2007) claim that


Journal article
with no author

It is a growing problem in the UK Anorexia nervosa. 1969. British Medical Journal. 10(2), pp.529-536.
(Anorexia Nervosa, p.530)

Electronic book

Holland (2004) maintains that

Journal article
from an electronic
journal using
electronic
database

and this has been established Eisend, M. and Schucherta, P. 2006. Explaining counterfeit purchases: A
by Eisend and Schucherta (2006).
review and preview. Academy of Marketing Service. Vol. 2006 (2).
Viewed on 31 July 2007. Available from: <http://www.amsreview.org/
articles/eisend12-2006pdf>.

Holland, M. 2004. Guide to citing internet sources [online]. Poole,


Bournemouth University. Viewed on 10 July 2007. Available from:
<http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/guide_to_citing_internet
_source.html>.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

11

A World Wide
Web site

The result of the test can Potter, J. 2005. The big five personality test. Viewed on 11 July 2007.
(Potter, 2005).
Available from: <http:// www.outofservice.com/bigfive>.

Document on
World Wide Web
with no author
Electronic thesis

Harvard referencing is a format of


(Wikipedia, 2007).

Wikipedia. 2007. Harvard referencing. Viewed on 23 July 2007. Available


from: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/harvard_referencing>.

Crain (2000) postulates that

Crain, J. 2000. The effects of a formal induction program on newly hired


teachers perceptions on self-efficacy. Department of Teaching and
Leadership, University of Kansas. Viewed on 30 July 2007. UMI
Proquest Dissertation ATT990068.<http://proquest.umi.com.newdc.
oum.edu.my/pqdweb?index=1&did=728423791&SrchMode=1&sid=3&F
mt=14&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=118
5859215&clientId=56581>.

Media releases on
the World Wide
Web

Ong (2007) notes that sustainable


living

Ong, K. T. (Minister of Housing and Local Government). 2007. Sustainable


living in Malaysia. 16 June 2007. Ministry of Housing and Local
Government. Kuala Lumpur. Viewed on 30 July 2007. Available from:
<http://aplikasi.kpkt.gov.my/ucapan.nsf>.

Discussion lists or
newsgroups

Marsh (2007) postulates that

Marsh, A. 2007. What are these?List server. Google Recreational


Gardens.
Viewed
on
30
July
2007.
Available
from:
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.gardens/browse_thread/thread/e0e
c899d3facbe61/2956944565b8e75c#2956944565b8e75c>.

email

Amir (2007) confirmed this by Personal communications such as conversations, letters and personal
email on 1 July 2007
email messages are not included in a reference list.

Computer
program

A programme was developed MathWorks. 2001. MATLAB. Ver 6. computer programs. Natick, MA: The
(MathWorks, 2001).
MathWorks Inc.

CD ROMs and
DVDs

Hawkings (1994) states that

Hawking, S.W. 1994. A brief history of time: An interactive adventure. [CDROM]. Crunch Media.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

12

7.3

Special publications and materials


Basic format:
Authors family name, Initial(s). Year. Title of item, description of item. Place of publication: Publisher.
Example

Conference paper

An example of citation in the


The entry in the reference list
text
It has been shown (Chang, Chang, C. C. 2003. Malaysias outline perspective plan towards prosperity
2003) that
in the trend of globalisation, Proceedings of the Seventh World Chinese
Entrepreneurs Convention, 21 - 26 July 2003, Sunway Resort, Petaling
Jaya. The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
Chang (2003) contends that
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: ACCIM.

Newspaper article
with author

As Fernandez (2007) notes in Fernandez, T. 2007. I didnt make any threats: Kayveas. The Sun. 31 July
his articles,
2007, pp.2.

Newspaper article
with no author
Publication from a
corporate body

in The Sun (31 July 2007, The Sun. 31 July 2007. Master plan boost for northern corridor, pp.3.
p.3).
The
plans
include
Unesco. 1995. General information programme and UNISIST. Paris:
(UNESCO,1995).
Unesco.
Genting Berhad. 2007. Genting Berhad annual report 2006. Kuala Lumpur:
Genting Berhad.

Government article

Patent

The strategic approaches


Ministry of Agriculture. 1998. The third national agriculture policy. Kuala
include
Lumpur: Ministry of Agriculture.
(Third National Agriculture
Policy 1998-2010, 1998).
Tadayuki, Kazuhsia and Atushi Tadayuki, O., Kazuhsia,Y. and Atsushi, N. 1999. Hard butter composition
(1999) show that
and its production. Japanese Patent 99-78710.
Aziz, A. 1997. Methods and apparatus for a key management scheme for
interent protocols. United States Patent Application 68-438.

Video or television
recording

The process involves 3 stages MIG Welding. 1987. Mild steel with low current. Video recording.
(MIG Welding, 1987).
Cambridge: Welding Institute.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

13

Pamphlet or
brochure

TAR Colleges philosophy is TAR College Prospectus 2007/2008. Kuala Lumpur: Tunku Abdul Rahman
(TAR
College
Prospectus,
College.
2007).

Audio cassette

The original broadcast (War of War of the worlds. 1999. Mercury Theatre on the air. Audio CD. Radio
the Worlds, 1999) in 1938 is
Spirits. Asin.
said to have caused mass panic
amongst listeners.

Standard

The standards set by SIRIM SIRIM. 2003. Code of practices for access of disabled persons outside
(2003) states that
buildings. MS13311:2003. Shah Alam: SIRIM Berhad.

Personal
communication

It has been confirmed by Seow Personal communications such as conversations, letters and personal
(2007, personal communication, email messages are not included in a reference list.
10 July 2007) that this practice
is widespread.

Thesis

Lee (1995) recommends that

Document on
microfiche

Ball, Lee, Phan and Ra (2001) Ball, K., Lee, Y.H., Phan, O. and Ra, Y. S. 2001. Adult retraining and
suggest that
reskilling in Australia and South Korea. National Centre for Vocational
Education Research. Leabrook (Australia) and Korea Research Institute
for Vocational Education and Training (Seoul). ERIC microfiche
ED451368.

Acts of Parliament

The Service Tax (Amendments, Service Tax (Amendments). 2002.


2000) states that
Industrial Relations Act. 1967.

Lee, C.W. 1995. Characteristics of rubber products for mining applications.


Unpublished Final Year Advanced Diploma Project. Advanced Diploma
in Material Engineering. School of Technology. Tunku Abdul Rahman
College. MF06983.

TAR College Harvard Referencing System

14

7.4

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


Here are some of the FAQs on referencing.
Question 1
If I read a book or a journal article by one author (Author 1) and he
mentions an idea by another author (Author 2), whose idea do I refer
to? How do I reference that?
You must mention both authors (Author 1 and Author 2) in your in-text
citations; and in your reference list, you only need to list the item you have
read, that is Author 1.
For example, if you read about an idea by Lim (Author 2) in a book by
Saunders (Author 1), you need to mention both the authors in your in-text
citations. Your in-text citations would appear as:
Lim (Saunders, 2003, p.71) states that
or
Lims study (cited in Saunders, 2003, p.71) indicates that
or
Saunders (2003, p.71), in reporting Lims study, emphasized the
aspect
In the reference list, you list only Saunders (the source you read) and not
Lims (whose idea you only read about in Saunders).

Question 2
How do I cite the authors names if they have the same family name
in the reference list? How do I show in my in-text reference which
idea belongs to which author?
You distinguish between the two authors in your assignment by adding
their initials to the in-text reference (which usually only has the family
name and date).
For example:
The theory was first suggested in 1970 (Johnson, H. T., 1971) but
since then, many researchers, including Johnson, D. E. (2001), have
rejected the idea.

Question 3
How do I cite an author who has written more than one work in the
same year? How do I show which idea comes from which reference?
You put a lower case letter of the alphabet next to the year or date and
keep these letters in your reference list as well.
TAR College Harvard Referencing System

15

For example:
In a recent publication, Bart (2004b) argued that mission statements of
most organization are underutilised and most organization had jumped
on the bandwagon of creating mission statements without knowing the
true purpose of the statement (Bart, 2004a).
The order of sequence in which you attach the letters is based on the
alphabetical order of the title of the work by the author.

Question 4
How do I cite information from my lectures, tutorials or study
guides?
You do NOT cite your lectures, tutorials or study guides as sources unless
your lecturer has particularly said this is acceptable. This is because
lectures, tutorials and study guides are intended to give you an
introduction to a topic. In assignments where you undertake research,
you are expected to read widely and identify for yourself the main ideas
that are relevant from various sources. In addition, oral communication is
not generally referenced. Your lecturers and tutors do not reference their
comments. If you cite them as your source of an idea, it could be
inaccurate, possibly even plagiarism, because the lecturers might be
referring to someone elses idea, not one of their own.

Question 5
What if I cannot find the author or a date in a website?

When there is no name on a webpage, look for a sponsoring body like


an organisation or a government department responsible for the
information.
Where there is no sponsoring body, use the title of the article or
document on the screen as the author.
Where there is no date, use n.d. (no date).

If a resource has no author and no date, you need to consider whether it is


a suitable source for academic work, as your work will suffer from lack of
credibility.

Question 6
How do I reference a graph or a figure that I copy or adapt?
A basic principle of Harvard referencing is providing the author and date
as an in-text reference. This also applies when you use other peoples
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pictures, graphs or figures. You also need to make it clear if you have
adapted the picture or graph for your own purposes.
For example:

The Process

(AACSB, 2006, p.6)

Question 7
How do I cite Malaysian or Asian names?
You will need to be aware of the various ways to cite Asian names. For
Chinese and Japanese names, use the writers family names when you
are citing them in your text. As for your reference list, put the writers
family names first followed by their initials.
For example:
Full name
Chinese Name
Sheng Ye Lin

In-text citation

Reference List

Sheng (2003)

Sheng, Y. L.. 2003. The Chinese


dilemma. New South Wales: East
West Ltd.

Japanese Name
Tatsyo Kimbara

Kimbara (2007)

Kimbara, T. 2007. The digital collapse.


London: Penguin.

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However, for Malay and Indian names, use the writers full names in both
the in-text citation and reference list.
For example:
Full name
Malay Name
Mahathir
Mohammad

In-text citation

Indian Name
Bala Ramasamy

Reference List

Mahathir
Mohammad
(1982)

Mahathir Mohammad. 1982. The Malay


dilemma. Petaling Jaya: Federal
Publications.

Bala
Ramasamy
(2004)

Bala Ramasamy. 2003. FDI and


uncertainty: The Malaysian case
study. Journal of Asia Pacific
Economy. 20(2). pp.75-79.

For names of other Asian writers such as Thai names, Cambodian names,
etc., you need to find out how other writers within your academic world cite
these names. Always refer to current journals or publications to see how
these Asian names are cited. If you are still unsure about this, refer to
various refecencing guides which are available online.
Question 8
In the reference list, do I separate the various sources of references
that I have used in my in-text citations?
All references that you have referred to in your assignment or project
should be arranged in alphabetical order in one list with NO separation of
the sources into categories like books, journals, etc.

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REFERENCES

Curtin University Library. 2007. Harvard referencing. Viewed on 4 July 2007.


Available from: <http://library.curtin.edu.au/referencing/harvard.pdf>.
Fisher, D. and Hanstock, T. 1998. Citing references. Nottingham: Balckwells
Bookshops.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. 2005. Research methods for business
students.
3rd edn. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
University of Bournemouth. 2005. Citing references. Viewed on 4 July 2007.
Available from: <http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/
docs/Citing_Refs.pdf>.
University of South Australia. 2006. Referencing using the Harvard author-date
system. Viewed on 4 July 2007. Available from: <http://www.unisanet.unisa.
edu.au/learningconnection/student/learningAdvisors/documents/harvardreferencing.pdf>.

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