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Harvard Style

This guide describes the Harvard system of Citing and Referencing sources in academic work.

 

Reference List

A reference list usually appears at the end of your assignment. This includes all the references that you have cited in your document.


Bibliography

A Bibliography is sometimes also used. This can contain references that you have consulted during the course of your research, but not actually cited in the text of your assignment. These reference sources may be of interest to the reader. This is usually for larger documents such as theses or books.


Layout of Reference List in Harvard Style

  • Arrange reference entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author or organisational name, or by the first word of the title if there is no author. Ignore the words A, An, and the when alphabetising by title.

Example:

Allen, A. (2024) …
Burke, B. (2021) …
Collins, C. (2022) …

  • Use only the initial(s) of the author’s Christian name. No space between the initials.

Example:

Coyne, A.B. (2024) …

  • Titles should have minimal capitalisation. So only capitalise the first letter of the first word and all proper nouns. Subtitles should be lower case except for all proper nouns.

Example:

Marketing research in Ireland: theory and practice

  • Journal titles should use title case in the title.

Example:

Irish Journal of Management

  • Book titles and Journal titles are italicised.

Example:

Essentials of Irish business law

  • Place of publication: use only the first city when there are multiple places of publication listed.

Example:

Dublin

  • If a publication place is little known or shares its name with a town in another country, you can add the state or country.

Example:

Hoboken, N.J.

 

Sample Reference List

 

References

 

Fáilte Ireland (2024) Explore the discovery points along the Wild Atlantic Way. Available at: https://www.discoverireland.ie/wild-atlantic-way/incredible-places-to-experience-the-wild-atlantic-way (Accessed: 23 April 2024).

 

Ferguson, C.J. (2024) 'Longitudinal associations between social media use and mental health outcomes in sample of Irish youth: a brief report', Communication Reports, 37(1), pp. 75-86. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2023.2298948.

 

Lyons, R. (2014) 'The spread of rents in Ireland, over time and space', in L. Sirr (ed.) Renting in Ireland: the social, voluntary and private sectors. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.

 

McGuire, P. (2024) '‘Too many of us are stressed and losing sleep’: Students explain why school needs to change', The Irish Times, 23 April. Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/04/23/too-many-of-us-are-stressed-and-losing-sleep-students-on-how-school-needs-to-change/ (Accessed: 23 April 2024).

 

Mintel (2022) Supermarket Retailing - Brand vs Own-label - Ireland - 2022. Available at: https://clients.mintel.com/ (Accessed: 17 January 2023).

 

O'Neill, T. (2014) The Irish hand: scribes and their manuscripts from the earliest times. Cork: Cork University Press.


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