The Harvard Method

The Harvard method is the most well-known/general method of

referencing. The author and the date of publication form the core of this
method. The Humanities, Education, Theology, Natural Sciences,
Engineering and Economic Sciences use this method. The advantage of
this method is that it does not influence your reference list when you
make changes to the text, as the reference list is sorted alphabetically
according to the authors surnames or the titles of the publications (in
cases where no author is available).
Van Dyk & Coetzee, 2009: 9

Tips
Organisation
Make sure that your bibliography is strictly alphabetical. Dont create
separate lists for books, journals and electronic sources; all of the
references should appear in one alphabetically organised list.
If you use two different texts published by the same author during one
year, you need to distinguish between these sources by placing an
alphabetical letter next to the year of publication. For example:
Van Wyk 2012a
Van Wyk 2012b
Van Wyk 2012c
Each in text reference must be listed in the bibliography.
Layout
All punctuation marks used for the Harvard method has a specific function
and cannot be used interchangeably.
If the year of publication is unknown you need to use the abbreviation n.d.
which stands for no date.
General
Not all electronic sources are reliable; websites that end with a .com is
usually not very reliable. Sites that end with .edu or .org usually give very
reliable information.
Google and Yahoo! are search engines, they are not references. You use
these sites to search for other websites that contain the information you
need.

How to reference a book with one author

In text reference
Authors
surname
Year of
publication
Page number
Roberts (2012: 83) describes Portsmouth Football Club as a successful Premier
League team who did not attract much attention or excitement from fans.
Or
Portsmouth Football Club is a successful Premier League team, however, they did
not attract much attention or excitement from fans (Roberts, 2012: 83).
Page number
Year of
Authors
publication
surname
Bibliography

Authors
surname
Authors Initial(s)
Year of
Publisher
publication
Roberts, M. 2012. English for Economics in Higher Education Studies. Reading:
Garnet Publishing

Title of book in
italics

Place of
publication

How to reference a book with more than one author

In text reference
Both authors
surnames
Year of
Page number
publication
According to Brown and Hood (2002: 5) the traditional family image is slowly
being replaced by new forms of family units, such as two-career families.
Or
The traditional family unit is slowly being replace by new forms of family units
such as two-career families (Brown & Hood, 2002:5).
Page number
Year of
publication
Both authors
surnames
Bibliography

Both authors
surnames
Authors Initial(s)
Year of
Publisher
publication
Brown, K. & Hood, S. 2002. Academic Encounters Life in Society. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Place of
Title of book in
publication
italics

How to reference an article from a journal

In text reference
The English Academic Language Course presented at the University of the Free
State aims to develop students' skills in reading academic texts and their ability
to write logically and express themselves clearly (Van Wyk & Greyling, 2008:
205).

Bibliography

Both authors
surnames
Authors Initial(s)
Title of article not in
Year of
Publisher
italics
publication
Van Wyk, A. L. & Greyling, W. J. 2008. Developing Reading in a First-Year
Academic Literacy Course. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 38(1): 205-219.
Name of
the
journal
in italics

Volume number followed by

the issue number in brackets,
followed by a colon and the
page numbers of the article.

How to reference an electronic resource

In text reference
The communication skills of engineers are more important today than ever
before (Norback et al., 2001).

Bibliography
Surnames and initials of
authors
Year of
publication

Name of web page in

italics

Norback, J. S., Lwellyn, D. C. & Hardin, J. R. 2001. Shoptalk 101. Integrating

Indicate that you
workplace communication into undergraduate engineering curricula [Online].
are using an online
Available at: http://www.lionhrtpub.com/orms/orms-8-01/norback.html [Accessed
reference
31 August 2005].
Full web
The date you
address of the
accessed the
website
website

Bibliography
Van Dyk, T. & Coetzee, M. 2009. Make Sense of Referencing. Stellenbosch:
Stellenbosch University Press.