Using the Harvard (Scientific) Format of Documentation

Contents

1 References..........................................................................................................................2
1.1 References in the text.................................................................................................2
1.2 Quotations..................................................................................................................2
1.3 Latin terms..................................................................................................................3
2 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................3
2.1 Reference for a book..................................................................................................3
2.2 References for a journal article...................................................................................3
2.3 Reference for an article in a book...............................................................................4
3 Special cases with references..............................................................................................4
3.1 More than one author.................................................................................................4
3.2 Corporate author........................................................................................................5
3.3 Revised editions..........................................................................................................5
3.4 Newspaper and magazine articles...............................................................................5
3.5 School textbooks........................................................................................................6
3.6 Literary works............................................................................................................6
3.7 Unpublished works.....................................................................................................6
3.8 Dissertations and theses..............................................................................................7
3.9 No date.......................................................................................................................7
3.10 No author...................................................................................................................7
3.11 Secondhand references.............................................................................................7
3.12 Different items by the same author.............................................................................8

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 Using the Harvard (Scientific) Format of Documentation

1 References

1.1 References in the text

There are many ways of giving references, but the method described here, i.e. the Harvard
system of referencing, is generally the simplest one to use.
In the Harvard system, footnotes are not used. All references are made within the body of the
text and involve only:
the authors name (no first name and initials)
the date of publication
page numbers (if necessary)

The information below is given within brackets, and comes after the relevant point of
information, as in the example below:
Needs analysis involves identifying the situations within which the student will be required to use
English (Munby 1978). However a focus on target needs alone, without considering the learners
wishes and expectations, can lead to the ultimate sterility of a language-centred approach
(Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 54).

However, if the authors name is used as part of the sentence, then it does not need to be
repeated within the brackets. Compare the version below:
Munbys approach to needs analysis involves identifying the situations within which the student will
be required to use English (1978). Hutchinson and Waters, however, argue that a focus on target needs
alone, without considering the learners wishes and expectations, can lead to the ultimate sterility of
a language-centred approach (1987:54).

Notice, that the verb used to introduce a reference should be in the present simple tense, for
example, Hutchinson and Waters argue that, As Doff points out. This is because even
if the book or article was written many years ago, it still exists now, and communicates its
message to any reader any time.

1.2 Quotations
Short quotations can be incorporated within a paragraph, as in the example above. Longer
quotations (more than one sentence, or more than three lines in length) are set out separately.
They must be single-spaced, and indented from the left and from the right hand margins, as in
the example underneath.
In this example, notice the use of three dots, to show that some part of the quotations has
been omitted, and square brackets, to show that some words which were not in the original
quotation have been added. Notice that if you give a quotation you must give a page
reference.

Language teachers in developing countries often face difficulties in trying to implement changes in
methodology. In many cases, this may be because the proposed change is unsuitable to the context. As
Doff points out:

Innovations in ELT are [generally] developed with European or Western teaching contexts
in mind typically, native-speakers or near-native-speaking teachers working with adult
learners. (Doff 1987: 67)
If such innovations are introduced without modification into a different environment, they may fail to

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produce the desired results.

1.3 Latin terms

You may come across the following Latin terms used with references. These are listed below
so that you can understand them in your reading. However you should not use them in your
own writing, as they are unnecessary in the Harvard system of referencing.
op. cit. (in the work already mentioned)
loc. cit. (in the passage already mentioned)
ibid. (in the same place)
ff. (and the following pages)
passim (throughout the book or article)

2 Bibliography
At the end of the assignment, you must provide a section headed References, which gives full
details of every book, article or other document that was mentioned in the text. If you wish,
you may also include items which you consulted, but did not actually mention; in these case
you should use the heading Bibliography. Do not give a long list of titles just to impress the
lecturer, your background reading will be assessed through the quality of your essay, not
through the length of your bibliography! The list of references is arranged in alphabetical order
according to the authors surname. The information included varies according to the type of
reference: a book, a journal article, or an article in a book.

2.1 Reference for a book

Authors surname followed by comma, and initials followed by full stops
Date of publication (either in brackets or followed by full stop)
Title of book (either underlined or in italics) followed by full stop
Place of publication followed by colon
Name of publisher followed by full stop

Here are two examples of references for books: notice that capitals are used for the initial
letters of any nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the title.
Munby, J. (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oller, J. W. (1979) Language Tests at School. London: Longman.

2.2 References for a journal article

Authors surname followed by comma and initials followed by full stops
Date of publication (either in brackets or followed by full stop)
Title of article followed by full stop. (The title must not be underlined or italicised; it may
be within apostrophes, but this is not necessary)
Title of journal (either underlined or in italics)
Journal volume number/issue number followed by full stop

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Here are two examples: notice that for journal articles, only the first word of the title has an
initial capital.

Lynch, B. H. (1990) A context-adaptive model of program evaluation. TESOL Quarterly 24/1.

Fried-Booth, D. (1982) Project work with advanced classes. ELT Journal 36/2

2.3 Reference for an article in a book

Authors name followed by comma, and initials followed by full stops
Date of publication (either in brackets or followed by full stop)
Title of article followed by full stop. (The title must not be underlined or italicised; it may
be within apostrophes, but it is not necessary)
In
Editors surname followed by comma, and initials followed by full stops (ed) or (eds)
Date of publication of the book (in brackets), if this is different from the publication date
of the article
Title of book (either underlined or in italics) followed by full stop
Place of publication followed by colon
Name of publisher followed by full stop

For example:
Widdowson, H. G. (1973) Directions in the teaching of discourse. In C. J. Brumfit and K. Johnson
(eds) (1979) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Gee, S., M. Huxley and D. Johnson (1984) Teaching communication skills and English for academic
purposes: a case study of a problem shared. In R. Williams, J. Swales and J. Kirkman (eds)
Common Ground: Shared Interests in ESP and Communicative Studies (ELT Documents).
Oxford: Pergamon.

Be sure to make a note of all the bibliographic details of each item of material that you use
(including the page numbers of quotations), or the compilation of the references will become
painfully difficult.

3 Special cases with references

The following pages indicate how to deal with some of the problems you may meet in dealing
with references.

3.1 More than one author

For two authors, give both names. In the body of the text, use surnames only, e.g. (Hutchinson
and Waters 1987). The full reference will look like this:
Hutchinson, T. and A. Waters (1987) English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

If there are three or more names, you do not need to mention all of them in the body of the
text. Just mention the first author and add et al. e.g. (OMaley et all. 1985). The full
reference, however, must name all authors:

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OMaley, J. M., A. U. Chamot, G. Stewner-Mazanares, L. Kupper and R. P. Russo (1985) Learning

strategies used by beginning and intermediate ESL students. Language Learning 35.

3.2 Corporate author

Sometimes a work is produced not by individuals, but by an organisation. In this case, the
name of the organisation is used instead of the authors surname. Most government reports fall
into this category. Although they may have a popular name (e.g. the Razac report) which you
can use in your discussion, you must still give a proper reference with the corporate author
and date, for example: (Department of Education and Science 1989), or (Ministry of
Education 1987)
In the reference section, these references would appear as follows:
Department of Education and Science (1989) Discipline in Schools. London: Her Majestys Stationery
Office.
Ministry of Education (1987) Sukatan Pelajaran Sekolah Menegah: Bahasa Inggeris. Kuala Lumpur:
Ministry of Education.

3.3 Revised editions

If you are using the first edition of a book there is no problem. However, some books will
have gone through more than one edition. This will be indicated inside the front cover, on the
page which gives publishing details. Always take the date of the latest edition mentioned here
(but ignore any reprinting dates). In the full reference, you should add information about the
edition after the title, like this:
Heaton, J. B. (1988) Writing English Language Tests. New edition. London: Longman.
Thornley, G. C. (1972) Scientific English Language. 2nd edition. London: Longman.

3.4 Newspaper and magazine articles

If you know the name of the person who wrote the article, you can deal with the reference as
if it were a journal, although you will not need to give a volume number or a page. Most often,
however, you do not have this information, or indeed you may feel that the name of the
newspaper or magazine is more important than the name of the author. In this case, you can
give a reference using the title of the newspaper or magazine; the writers name may be added
if you think it would be useful. Compare the two versions below, both of which are correct:
The English language in Kenya has been described as a language of communication with the outside
world and with foreigners within the country (Sunday Nation, 28 July 1974).

Professor Abdulaziz has described English in Kenya as a language of communication with the
outside world and with the foreigners within the country (Sunday Nation, 28 July 1974).

In both cases, all that is needed in the list of references is the same information, arranged in
alphabetical order according to the name of the newspaper or magazine, e.g. Sunday Nation
(1974) 28 July.

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3.5 School textbooks

Normally the titles of books are not mentioned in the body of text. However, if you want to
refer to a school textbook, it is often more convenient to use the title. This is quite acceptable,
but dont forget to give the authors name and the date as well, and to provide full
bibliographic details in the list of references. For example, in the text you might want to say:
The most commonly used textbooks are Read and Think (Munby 1968) and Scientific English
Practice (Thornley 1972).

The full reference for these books would be:

Munby, J. L. (1968) Read and Think. London: Longman.
Thornley, G. C. (1972) Scientific English Practice. 2nd edition. London: Longman.

3.6 Literary works

In referring to literature the title and author are significant, but the date may be of little
importance. When you first introduce a work it is usual to mention title and author, but the
date may be omitted. When you refer again to the same work you can use the title on its own.
Here is an example of a first mention; notice that the brackets are not needed:
In The Moon and Sixpence, Maugham portrays a stockbroker who suddenly abandons his
conventional life to become an artist.

You may however need brackets later on, if you want to give a page reference, e.g.
Maugham described Stricklands house as a magic world (The Moon and Sixpence, p. 206).

The full reference should, of course, give all the normal details, including the date of
publication of the edition which you have used (which may not be the first edition), e.g.
Maugham, W. S. (1944) The Moon and Sixpence. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

3.7 Unpublished works

Sometimes you may need to refer to documents which have been published, They may be draft
papers, articles for circulation, seminar papers, etc. You should deal with these in the same
way as ordinary journal articles, except that instead of the publishing details, you simply put
mimeo, e.g.
Heaton, J. B. and A. K. Pugh (1974) A study of the relationships between scores obtained by overseas
students on a Test of English Proficiency and their examination results in their university courses.
Mimeo.

If you have other information about the paper, you may add this instead of writing mimeo,
e.g.
Allwright, R. L. (1986) Classroom observation: problems and possibilities. Paper presented at RELC
Seminar, Singapore.

The title is not underlined or italicised because the work has not been published.

3.8 Dissertations and theses

A typical example is shown below:

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Montgomerry, M. M. (1977) The Structure of Lectures, Unpublished MA thesis. University of

Birmingham.

Again this is an unpublished work, so there is no underlining.

3.9 No date
Very occasionally you may find material which does not indicate the date of publication. First
of all, check the material carefully to see if this information is given in an unusual place. If you
cannot find it, you can simply write undated in the same place that you would normally write
the date. In the body of the text, it might look like this: Politzer (undated). In the list of
references it would be:
Politzer, R. L. (Undated) Practice-Centred Teacher Training: French. Philadelphia: Center for
Curriculum Development.

3.10 No author
If you cannot fond the name of an author, check very carefully to make sure you have not
missed something. For example, the authors name may be in an unusual place, or the book
may have been produced by an organisation, acting as a corporate author. If you still cant find
anything, the author might be given in the library catalogue. Occasionally, the publishers name
may be used instead of the authors (e.g. for dictionaries). If all else fails, you may refer to the
work by the title instead of by author. Titles are often long, and will not fit easily within
brackets; however, it is often possible to shorten them, as in the example below:
There are a variety of different approaches to describe the multi-lingualism within society, some of
these are discussed in Proceeding to Conference (1975).

The bibliographic details for this work would appear in the references section in alphabetical
order according to the title, as there is no author. The reference for the work cited above
would be:
Proceedings of Conference on the Methodology of Sociolinguistic Surveys. (1975) Arlington: Centre
for Applied Linguistics.

3.11 Secondhand references

Sometimes you read about the work of one writer in another writers book or article. If you
want to use this information, you should try to follow up the reference and find the original
work to refer to it in the normal way. However, if it proves impossible to obtain the original
work, you can still refer to it, provided you make clear where you found it. This is done by
using the phrase cited in or quoted in when you give the reference in the text. Here is an
example where the writer was unable to find the article by Fein and Baldwin:
A topic-based syllabus may be used to increase student motivation. Fein and Baldwin, for example,
describe a pre-university English course where the focus on content was seen as a way of providing
free validity (Fein and Baldwin 1986, quoted in White 1988).

In the final list of references, you must now include details of both these references, e.g.
Fein, D. and R. Baldwin (1986) Content-based curriculum design in advanced levels of an intensive
ESL program. Newsletter, English for Foreign Students in English-Speaking Countries Interest
Section, TESOL 4/1.

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White, R. (1988) The ELT Curriculum. Oxford: Blackwell.

The details for Fein and Baldwin are of course taken from the bibliography of Whites book.

3.12 Different items by the same author

If you refer to two different items by the same author in the same year, you will need to
distinguish them. This is done by adding either a or b to the date, for example (Widdowson
1978a) and (Widdowson 1978b). The full list of references should also use these same letters,
so the reader knows which reference is which, for example:
Widdowson, H. G. (1978a) Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1978b) The significance of simplification. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition 1.