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In this article you can find out:

  • What a bibliography is
  • How to use the Harvard system of referencing

This resource is suitable for broadly discursive essay writing for S1, S2 and S3 (Third and Fourth Level Curriculum for Excellence).

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What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of all the sources you have used to help you come up with ideas or understand the subject matter more.

When you are writing an essay, you should provide a full source reference in a bibliography at the end of your work.

Bibliographies also include the sources that have been directly referenced in the main body of the work.

3 books open on their bibliography pages
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The Harvard system

There are different ways to write a reference to be included in a bibliography. The following examples use the Harvard system which is a popular method.

When using the Harvard referencing guide, remember to include commas, full stops and italics in the correct places.

For a book that has one author

Last name, First initial. (Year published). Title. Edition. (Only include the number of the edition if it is not the first edition) City published: Publisher, Page(s).

Example (first edition)

Hoffman, A. (2003). Research for Writers. London: A & C Black, p. 37.

Example (other editions)

Hoffman, A. (2003). Research for Writers. 3rd ed. London: A & C Black, p. 37.

For a book that has two or more authors

Last name, First initial. and Last name, First initial. (Year published). Title. City: Publisher, Page(s).

Example

Leedy, P. and Ormrod, J. (2015). Practical Research: Planning and Design. London: Pearson.

For a journal article

Last name, First initial. (Year published). Article title. Journal, Volume (Issue), Page(s).

Example

Wang, M., Haertel, G. and Walberg, H. (1993). Toward a knowledge base for school learning. Review of Educational Research, Vol 63, pp. 249-294.

For an online news article

Last name, First initial. (Year published). Article title. Publisher, [online] pages. Available at: url [Accessed Day Mo. Year].

There won't always be an author's name available for sources. In this case, you can use the publisher instead of the author.

Example

±«Óătv. (2016). Children’s online junk food ads banned by industry. ±«Óătv, [online] Available at: [Accessed 15 Dec. 2016].

Newspaper article with headline: 'Scotland's seafood industry prepares for consequences of no deal'
Image caption,
How would you reference a newspaper article in a bibliography using the Harvard system?
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Questions

Try it yourself

Use the information below to create Harvard references.

Turn the following information about a first edition book into a Harvard reference:

Visual Note-Taking for Educators: A Teacher’s Guide to Student Creativity. Wendi Pillars (2016). Published in London by Blackwell’s, pages 57-59

Turn the following information about a ±«Óătv News web article into a Harvard reference:

(2021) ±«Óătv. Accessed 29/7/21. /news/business-57841239 How your personal data is being scraped from social media.

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