REFERENCING TIPS

PY1002, Week 5
Basics
• Good referencing wards off plagiarism!

• Philosophy recommends Harvard (in-text) style. Other styles are acceptable, but
need to be recognised and consistent.

• Always include a bibliography!

• Make sure you spend a couple of hours learning Harvard style properly now and then
you will never lose any marks because of a stupid thing like referencing for the rest of
your degree!
In-text Citations: What to Do
• Smith writes of Descartes’ Meditations, “This is a difficult text, but one well worth studying” (1952: 485).

• The most important claim made in the Meditations is that there is a real distinction between mind and
body (Descartes 1997: 67-72).

• Descartes (1997: 45) argues that all thinking things are non-extended.

• Many scholars (Smith 1952, Cottingham 1992, Hatfield 2002) contend that Descartes’ argument here is
a cogent one.

• Outside the Meditations, Descartes also claims that “I think, therefore I am” (Principles, quoted in
Hatfield 2002: 47).
In-Text Citations: What Not to Do
• Include the author’s first name
• Include the translator or editor
• Include any other information apart from author surname, date of publication and
page number

ALWAYS include a page number where possible in Philosophy citations.

If you can’t find an author or date of publication, you might want to think about
whether you are using a high-quality source!
Bibliographies I
Order bibliographies by author surname!

Books
Descartes, R. (1997) Meditations on First Philosophy, edited and translated by J.
Cottingham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author surname, author first name. (Date of publication) Book title (in italics), name of editor
of translator. Place of publication: Publisher.
Journal Articles
Smith, J. (1952) ‘Descartes’ Doctrine of Real Distinction.’ Philosophical Review 12.4: 124-56.
Author surname, author first name. (Date of publication) Article title (in quote marks). Journal
title (in italics) issue/volume number: page range.
Bibliographies II
Essay in Edited Collection
Hatfield, G. (2002) ‘Descartes as Dualist.’ In J. Cottingham (ed.), Critical Essays on
Descartes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 45-67.
Author surname, author first name. (Date of publication) Chapter title (in quote marks).
In name of editor, title of book (in italics). Place of publication: Publisher. Page range.
Internet Source
Winslow, F. (2011) ‘Dualism: A History.’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/ (last accessed: 25/10/21)
Author surname, author first name. (Date of publication) Title of entry. Title of website.
URL (date of last access).
More Information
• Details of Harvard referencing expectations are available on the PIRP Student
Information page on Moodle
See also:
• https://www.open.ac.uk/library/referencing-and-plagiarism/quick-guide-to-harvar
d-referencing-cite-them-right

• https://www.librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.html
• https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-support-s
ervices/library/public/harvard.pdf
An Exercise: Converting a Passage into
Harvard
The following passage is NOT in Harvard style. How would this look in Harvard style?

Because Bacon describes goodness or philanthropia as a “habit,” he intimates that it must be cultivated, it must be, as Michelle
Tolman Clarke explains, a moral imperative infused into modes of governance. (1) As we shall see, philanthropia is the bridge
that Bacon uses to join his textual utopia with his vision of what could become a real eutopia. The philanthropia exemplified in
Bensalem permits its utopianism to be complementary to its eutopian socio-political agenda. Much of the New Atlantis’s
eutopian agenda is advanced through bald exposition: a Bensalemite governor’s “rare humanity” had “encouraged” the
explorers to ask “questions” about the island’s social, religious, and political structure. (2)

(1) Bacon, “Of Goodness,” Major Works, ed. Peter Clark (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 31; Michelle Tolman Clarke,
“Uprooting Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree: Francis Bacon's Criticism of Machiavellian Imperialism,” Political Research Quarterly 61, no. 3
(September 2008): pp. 367-378.

(2) Cf. Charles Whitney, Francis Bacon and Modernity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), pp. 10-11, 17, 50-4, 167; Julian Martin,
“Knowledge is Power”: Francis Bacon, the State, and the Reform of Natural Philosophy, Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University
(1988), pp. 1, 3-4; Denise Albanese, “The New Atlantis and the Uses of Utopia,” ELH 57, no. 3 (Autumn, 1990): pp. 503-528.
Solution…
Because Bacon (1984: 31) describes goodness or philanthropia as a “habit,” he intimates that it must be cultivated, it must be, as
Michelle Tolman Clarke explains (2008: 367-78), a moral imperative infused into modes of governance. As we shall see, philanthropia
is the bridge that Bacon uses to join his textual utopia with his vision of what could become a real eutopia. The philanthropia
exemplified in Bensalem permits its utopianism to be complementary to its eutopian socio-political agenda. Much of the New Atlantis’s
eutopian agenda is advanced through bald exposition: a Bensalemite governor’s “rare humanity” had “encouraged” the explorers to ask
“questions” about the island’s social, religious, and political structure (see Whitney 1986: 10-11, 17, 50-4, 167; Martin 1988: 1, 3-4;
Albanese 1990: 503-28).

Bibliography

Bacon, F. (1984) “Of Goodness”. In P. Clark (ed.), Major Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clarke, M. T. (2008) “Uprooting Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree: Francis Bacon's Criticism of Machiavellian Imperialism.” Political Research Quarterly
61. 3: 367-78.

Whitney, C. (1986) Francis Bacon and Modernity. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Martin, J. (1988) “Knowledge is Power”: Francis Bacon, the State, and the Reform of Natural Philosophy. Ph.D. dissertation: Cambridge
University.

Albanese, D. (1990) “The New Atlantis and the Uses of Utopia.” ELH 57.3: 503-28.