D U R B A N

UNIVERSITY of
TECHNOLOGY
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Referencing
Guide
Using the Harvard Referencing System
© DIT Library December 2006

The purpose of this guide is to give students at the DIT a clear understanding of the
method required for acknowledging sources of information in their written work.

Before reproduction for purposes other than the DIT’s educational purposes, rights in
incorporated material may need to be cleared with the relevant copyright owners.

Compiled by Nobuntu N. Mpendulo

Edited by N. Muller and A. Rawlins
A guide to referencing techniques 3
1. How to use this booklet 3
2. Definitions 3
3. What is referencing? 3
4. Why reference? 4
4.1 What do you reference? 4
4.2 When do you reference? 4
4.3 Steps involved in referencing 4
4.3.1 Book 4
4.3.2 Journal article 4
4.3.3 Electronic information 5

Section A: Citing references within the text or body of an

assignment/project/ thesis 5

1. Works by one author (personal or corporate) 6

2. Works by two or three authors 6
3. Works by more than three authors (multiple authors) 6
4. More than one reference to the same author 6
5. Secondary references 6
6. Works that have no author 7
7. Government publications 7
8. Works without a date 7
9. Personal communications 7

Section B: Citing references in a Reference List or Bibliography 7

1. Book 7
1.1 Single author 8
1.2 Multiple authors 8
1.3 No author 8
1.4 Book with an editor 8
1.5 Part of the book (chapter within a book) 8
1.6 Article within an encyclopaedia 8
2. Journals/periodicals, newspaper articles and conference papers 8
2.1 Periodical without volume or part number 8
2.2 Newspaper articles 9
2.3 Conference papers 9
2.3.1 Published conference proceedings 9
2.3.2 Unpublished conference paper 9
3. Theses and dissertations 9
4. Lecture notes or printed handouts 9
5. Interviews 9
6. Government publications 9
6.1 Commission of inquiry 9
6.2 Department as author 10
6.3 Statutes 10
6.4 Government gazettes 10

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7. Maps 10
8. Video recordings 10
9. Radio or television programme/broadcast 10
10. Electronic media 10
10.1 Electronic journal 10
10.1.1 Article from online databases 10
10.1.2 Article from the World Wide Web (WWW) 11
10.2 World Wide Web pages 11
10.2.1 WWW page with an author 11
10.2.2 WWW page with no author 11
10.3 Online newspaper 11
10.4 Electronic discussion list or listserv email 11
10.5 Personal electronic communications (email) 11
10.6 CD-ROM (stand-alone multimedia) and DVD's 11
11. List of references 12
12. Appendix 1 13
Abbreviations commonly used in referencing 13

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1. How to use this booklet
This booklet is a guide to the various methods that exist for quoting other people's work
and ideas in your assignment, project or research paper. It starts with some definitions
and then explains what referencing is, and how to go about it, whether you are using a
book, a journal, an electronic source or various other mediums.

2. Definitions
Assignment - a piece of written work or task that is given as part of your studies that
necessitates consulting a number of sources or works to complete.
Author - refers to any person or body responsible for a particular body or piece of work,
that is, editors, compilers, persons interviewed or any one with whom a student has had
personal communication.
Bibliography - list of books or articles arranged in alphabetical order that have been
used when preparing for or writing an assignment, an article, a project, or a research
paper; but not necessarily cited in the written document.
Citation - a written reference to a specific work or portion of a work (book, article,
dissertation, report, musical composition, etc.) produced by a particular author, editor,
composer, etc., clearly identifying the document in which the work is to be found.
Indent- to start a line of print or writing further in from the margin than the other lines.
In-text referencing - inserting at the appropriate places, brief references to sources
that are being cited in the text of the assignment or document.
List of references - list of works arranged in alphabetical order of only the material
cited in the text of your assignment.
Periodical - this refers to any journal, magazine or newspaper. This type of material is
published periodically.
Plagiarism - an act of copying another person's ideas, words or work and pretending
that they are your own.
Published source - piece of work whether printed or electronic that is officially
produced and made available to the public.
Quotation - a group of words or a short piece of writing from a book, an article, a
speech, or any written document that has been repeated in exactly the same way as
the original person has written or mentioned.
Source - a person, a book, media or any other document that provides information.
Unpublished source - a piece of work that contains information that has not been
officially published.

3. What is referencing?
Referencing is a method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas that you
have used in your assignment or any piece of academic writing in a way that identifies
their source. It also allows the reader to be able to find and verify information.

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4. Why reference?
Referencing is necessary to avoid plagiarism, to verify quotations, and to enable
readers to follow-up and read more fully on the author's arguments.

4.1 What do you reference?

• Another person's ideas or opinions from both published and unpublished
sources whether they are in print, electronic or verbal
• Statistical material, maps and illustrations
• Direct quotations
There are many acceptable forms of referencing. The rules used in this booklet are
based on standard practice and can be used as a guide in the absence of any other
specifications.

4.2 When do you reference?

There are two instances when referencing will occur, namely in the text of your
assignment, and at the end when you list the references you have quoted. The
standard conversion is that within the text of the assignment the author's name is given
first, followed by the publication date. A list of references at the end of the assignment
contains full details of all the in-text citations. These two systems are expanded on in
Section A (in-text referencing) and Section B (reference lists) later in the booklet. The
author-date method of referencing is followed in this booklet.

4.3 Steps involved in referencing

Step 1: Note down the full bibliographic details including the page number(s) from
which the information is taken.
4.3.1 In the case of a book, 'bibliographical details' refer to:
Author/editor
Year of publication
Title
Edition
Volume number
Place of publication and
Publisher
as found on the front and back of the title page. (Not all of these details will necessarily
be applicable).

4.3.2 In the case of a journal article the details required include:

Author of article
Year of publication
Title of the article
Title of the journal
Volume and issue number of the journal
Page numbers

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4.3.3 For all electronic information, in addition to the above you should note the date
that you accessed the information, and database name or web address (URL).

Step 2: Insert the citation at the appropriate place within the text of the document (see
examples below Section A).

Step 3: Provide a list of references at the end of the document (see examples below
Section B).
Section A deals with in-text referencing and Section B with referencing at the end of the
paper or assignment (List of references).

SECTION A
Citing references within the text or body of an assignment or project/thesis
General rules
Include:
• Author's surname
• Year of publication
• Page number where applicable
Note: Page numbers are used if you are quoting directly or using precise or exact
information. If you summarise information from a large portion of someone's work,
page numbers are not necessary.

Authorship
When writing text references, the first thing is to determine the authorship of the source
or work to which you are referring, whether this source is a paper, conference
contribution, an entry in an encyclopedia, a letter, a radio or TV programme, an
electronic journal or a Web page.
The author(s) may be individual persons or corporate authors and there may be:
• One or more than one author(s)
• A collection with an editor or compiler with different author's contributions
• A collection with an editor or a compiler with no authors indicated
• A corporate author indicating either a Committee, a Department, a
Government body, an Association, or a Conference
• No named author - these are works where authorship is unknown or uncertain.
(In such cases, a title is used for in-text referencing purposes)

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1. Works by one author (personal or corporate)
1.1 If you paraphrase or summarize someone else's ideas or opinions in the text of
your assignment, you must include the author's surname and the date of
publication.
Example:
Research conducted by Woods (1999) suggests that …
A study conducted by Lona (2000) has shown that …

1.2 If you use precise information or a direct quotation, include the author's
surname, year of publication and the page number(s). Please note that if the
quotation is longer than a line, it must be indented and single-spaced.
Examples:
Woods (1999:20-22) states that people should avoid unfair fighting tactics when
solving problems.
“Fair fighting tactics are difficult to put into practice but the results are well worth
the effort” (Woods, 1999:25).
The SABS mark is an indication to the purchaser that the commodity complies with
the required specifications (South African Bureau of Standards, 1996:19).

2. Works with two or three authors

In this case all the authors are mentioned and should be listed in the order they appear.
Example:
Bekker and Woodward (1995:37), suggest that …
Time was when education was a cottage industry, when men could be made by village
or clan” (Bekker, Kent and Woodward, 1995:37).

3. Works by more than three authors/ (multiple authors)

Where there are more than 3 authors for one item, use the surname of all for the first
time the citation appears but in the subsequent citations list only the surname of the first
author followed by et al (meaning “and others”).
Example:
A variety of aids are available to the planner…(Bekker, et al. 1997)

4. More than one reference to the same author

If more than one publication in the same year by the same author are cited, include the
letters a,b,c etc. after the date to differentiate between different works.
Example:
The research conducted by Donald (2000a) indicates that …
A study by Donald (2000b) suggests that…

5. Secondary references
These are references cited in another source.
Example:
According to Smith (Donald 1999) the statistics of HIV positive people is increasing.

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6. Works that have no author
Where the author is unknown or authorship cannot be established, the title of the work
is used followed by the date.
Example:
The recent devaluation of the dollar to the pound is bound to affect the world economy
(And now it is pound power, 1990:40)

7. Government publications
The author may be a government department or a committee; therefore the name of
the organisation is used.
Example:
Research conducted by the Foreign Affairs Department of South Africa (2000)
indicates that…

8. Works without a date

If you cannot find a date, use the abbreviation n.d. to indicate no date.
Example:
Smith (n.d.) suggests that …
NB. Please note that the above applies whether the source is printed or
electronic.

9. Personal communications
References to letters, interviews, emails, telephone conversations etc can be included
in your assignment in the same way as sources with one author except that page
numbers may not be available.
Example:
An interview with Thango (1998) reveals that …

SECTION B
Citing references in a List of references or Bibliography
General Rules
• List references in alphabetical order by author
• Where there is no author, use a title
• Use italics or underline to indicate titles. In this guide all titles are italicised.
• Use lower case for words in the title, except for the first word or proper nouns
• Use upper case for a journal title
• Second and subsequent lines of reference should be indented 3 spaces

1. Book
To find the bibliographic details of a book, look at the title page and the back of the title
page. The information required is:
• Author's surname and initials
• Year of publication
• Title of book (in italics)
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 • Edition (if not the first edition
• Publisher
• Place of publication and page numbers where necessary

Example: format for books

Surname, Initials. Year. Title: subtitle. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher

1.1 Single author

Nicholas, J. 1995. Great advertising campaigns: how they achieve both creative and
business objectives. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page.

1.2 Multiple authors

Mthembu, H., Saba, D. and Jack, F. 2002. Accounting made easy. London: Longman

1.3 No author (this also applies to most dictionaries and encyclopaedias)

If there is no author use the title as follows:
The concise South African dictionary. 1999. Cape Town: Macmillan

1.4 Book with an editor

Jardine, F. (ed.) 1990. The education of the gifted and talented child. 4th ed. Oxford:
Oxford University Press

1.5 Part of the book (chapter within a book)

Surname, Initials. Year. Title of chapter or article. In Surname (editor or compiler),
Initials. (ed) Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher. pp.(Inclusive pagination-
optional).
Evans, D. 1986. Writer's workshop and the working class culture. In Thompson, J. (ed.)
Adult learners in a new South Africa. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. 10-16.

1.6 An article within an encyclopaedia

Schuster, M. 1985. Occupational health and safety. In Encyclopedia of medicine, vol. 3,
5th ed. London: Macmillan Education.

2. Journals/Periodicals and Newspaper articles

Format for journals:
Surname, Initials. Year. Title of article. Title of periodical, volume number (issue
number): page numbers of article.
Example:
Jones, T. 1990. Anorexia nervosa. British Medical Journal, 29(4): 23-28.

2.1 Periodical without volume or part number

Use date or any other descriptor, e.g., Autumn
Boulder, J. 1997. The city and the Olympic games: what next. Architect and builder,
Spring: 33-40.

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2.2 Newspaper articles
SAPA. 2003. Why is AIDS increasing at an alarming rate in our country. Sunday Times,
12 June, 4-5.

2.3 Conference papers

2.3.1 Published conference proceedings
Surname, Initials. Year. Title of paper. In: Editors's surname and initials.(eds)
Description of occasion (including the nature and subject of the conference, name
of society or group, place at which it was held and dates) Place of publication:
Publisher, Page numbers.
Davidson, M. 1998. The meaning of democracy and nation building in a new South
Africa. In: Dinong, S & Malo, B. (eds). Towards reconstruction and development in
South Africa: proceedings of the Human Rights Conference held at Natal
University, June 1997. Durban: Butterworths, p. 19-23.

2.3.2 Unpublished conference paper (titles of unpublished papers are not

italicised)
Surname, Initials. Year. Title of paper (description of occasion, institution or place
where it was held, and dates.
Davidson, M. 1997. The meaning of democracy and nation building in a new South
Africa. Paper delivered at the Human Rights Conference on Reconstruction and
development in South Africa, Natal University, Durban, 10-12 June 1997.

3. Theses and dissertations

Surname, Initials. Date. Title. Degree, Name of University or Technikon, location of
University or Technikon if not obvious from the name. (Use standard abbreviations for
degrees, eg., M.A for Master of Arts.
Duma, F. 1999. Downsizing: a study of the effects of downsizing with particular
reference to retrenchments at Telkom. M.A. thesis, University of Natal,
Pietermaritzburg.

4. Lecture notes or printed handouts (title not italicised)

Lecturer’s name. Date of issue. Title. Name of issuing body
Dlala, K. 2001. Electrical Engineering notes. Durban Institute of Technology

5. Interviews
Name of person interviewed. Date. Name of interviewer. Place where interview
occurred, date and time.
Balfour, R. 2003. Interviewed by S.Sigenu. Telkom Head Office, Durban, 3 February
10.00.

6. Government publications
6.1 Commission of Inquiry
South Africa. Commission of Inquiry into Public Violence and Intimidation.1993.
Final Report. Pretoria: Government Printer.

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 6.2 Department as author
South Africa. Department of Health. 2002. A guide for primary health care
professionals working in rural areas. Pretoria: Government Printer.
6.3 Statutes
South Africa. 2000. National Youth Commission Amendment Act 19 of 2000.
Pretoria: Government Printer.
6.4 Government Gazettes
South Africa. 2003. Standards and requirements regarding control of export of
groundnuts: amendment. (Notice 23 of 2003) Government Gazette no. 23717: 17
January
South Africa. 2003. Division of Revenue Act 7, 2003. Government Gazette no.
24762: 17 April.

7. Maps
Originator's name (cartographer, compiler, editor, surveyor, maker etc). Date. Title,
Scale. Place of publication: Publisher
Map Studio. n.d. Locality map: KwaZulu-Natal 2nd ed., 1:600 000. Cape Town: Map
Studio

8. Video Recordings
Often only the title is known.
Title [video recording]. Date of production. Place: name of distributor or supplier
Towards a better life for all [video recording]. 1994.Johannesburg: ANC, Department of
Information
If a particular person is responsible for the video, such as the producer, the format is as
follows:
Sono, J. 1980. Management in the 20th century [video recording]. Johannesburg: Mast
Video Training.

9. Radio or Television programme / broadcast

The rate of new HIV/AIDS infections in KwaZulu Natal is decreasing. 2004. Asikhulume
(SABC 1). 10 January, 18.30.
Eight o'clock News. 2002. (Radio Metro), 20 February, 20.00.

10. Electronic resources

The copyright regulations also apply to electronic information sources and any work by
another person either than the author must be acknowledged with in-text referencing or
citations and in the list of references.
There is no standard referencing method for electronic material. The recommendations
included in this booklet follow best practice in referencing electronic sources and where
possible, the author-date method has been used as a guide.
Note that you must indicate whether the article is from a CD-ROM or online database

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10.1 Electronic journal
10.1.1 Article from online databases
Author. Year. Title of article. Title of Journal [Type of medium], volume number.
(issue no.): pages. Available: Name of database, article no. [Accessed date].
Timberlake, K. 2002. The role of the Internet in education. Australian Journal of
Education [online], 25(5):23-30. Available from: Proquest education journals
[Accessed 20 February 2004].

10.1.2 Article from the World Wide Web (WWW)

Author. Year. Title of article. Title of journal [Type of medium], volume number.
(issue no.): pages. Available: URL, [Accessed date].
Timberlake, K. 2002. The role of the Internet in education. Australian Journal of Education
[online], 25(5):23-30. Available from: http://www.indiana.edu.au/intro/role.html
[Accessed 24 March 2004].

10.2 World Wide Web pages

10.2.1 WWW page (with author)
Author. Year/update year. Title. [Type of medium] Available: URL, [Accessed date].
Dube, G. 2003. How to chair meetings. [online] Available from:
http://www.essex.ac.uk/staffdev/c/management/char.htm [Accessed 12 March
2004].

10.2.2 WWW page with (no author)

Title [Type of medium]. Year. Available from: URL, [Accessed date]
HIV/ AIDs statistics in South Africa [online]. 2004. Available from:
http://www.gov.za/documents/2000/aidsplan2000.pdf [Accessed 3 May 2004].

10.3 Online newspaper

Author. Year. Title. Title of newspaper (italics), [type of medium], date, page number,
Available from: [Accessed date]
Tangayi, F. 2003. Surviving in the era of epidemics. Mail and Guardian, [online]
February 3, p. 12. Available from: http://www.mg.co.za [Accessed 10 February 2003].

10.4 Electronic discussion lists or listserv e-mail lists

Author's Surname, Initials. Day Month Year. Subject of message. Discussion list
[online] Available from: email address [Accessed date].
Dany, J. K. 10 June 2003. Re: Electronic information resources. Sabilist [online].
Available from: sabilist @mailman.sabinet.co.za

10.5 Personal electronic communications (email)

Sender's Surname, Initials. (sender's email address) Day Month, Year. Subject of
message. Email to Recipient's Initials and Surname (recipient's email address).
Thobani, D.S. (thobas@dit.ac.za), 10 June 2004. Access to the Internet. E-mail to C.J.
Funda. (jfunda@nu.ac.za).

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10.6 CD-ROMs (Stand-Alone Multimedia) and DVDs
Title. [Type of medium]. Year. Place: Publisher/ Producer.
Encarta Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. 2000. USA: Microsoft Corporation.

11. List of references

1. Aitchison, J. 1999. Referencing methods: a guide to using the author-date
system. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal
2. Badcock, J. 2001. Harvard referencing guide. Available from:
http://www.lib.flinders.edu.au/resources/sub/healthsci/referencing/contents.html
[Accessed 17 June 2004]
3. Curtin University of Technology. 2004. Referencing resources. Available from:
http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/referencing/index.html [Accessed 20 May 2004].
4. Holland, M. 2004. Citing references. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/academic_services/
documents/Library/Citing_References.pdf [Accessed 10 December 2006]
5. Mpendulo, N.N., Pienaar M. and Herbert K. 1998. Referencing methods for use in
assignments and papers. Durban: Technikon Natal Library.
6. Stokes, N. 2001. Referencing guide: using the Harvard referencing system. Perth:
Central TAFE.
7. Technikon SA, Centre for Courseware Design and development. 2001. TSA
referencing method. Florida: Technikon SA.
8. The Chicago Manual Style. 14th ed. 1993. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9. The University of Sheffield. 2001. Harvard referencing guide. Available from:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libdocs/hsl-dvc1.html [Accessed 12 December 2006].
10. University of the West of England. 2003. References: the Harvard system.
Available from:
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/info_study_skills/harvard2.htm
[Accessed 5 July 2004]
11. University of the West of England. 2003. References: the Harvard system for
electronic sources. Available from:
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/info_study_skills/harvelec.htm#in
ternet [Accessed 5 July 2004]

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12. Appendix 1
Abbreviations commonly used in Referencing
Ampersand (&) the sign means “and”
CD-ROM Compact Disk Read Only Memory
ed. Edition
(ed.) editor
(eds.) editors
ellipsis (…) the three dots indicate that words have been omitted
et al. and others
n.d. no date
no. number (of issue)
p. page
pp. pages
vol. Volume

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