Today’s post follows on from the previous one on citing books INTEXT. This post explains how books should be cited under the Harvard System of Referencing in the REFERENCE LIST or BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY References

Referencing a book with one to four authors at the end of your work should be done in the following way:

Author, Initials., Author, Initials., Author, Initials. and Author, Initials., Year. Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher.
e.g. Smith, R. F., Smith, S., Brown, F. and White, P., 2007. An example title. 2nd ed. London: Publishing Press.

You only need to include the edition if it is not a first edition. If you can’t see an edition number on the front page or title page, it is most likely a first edition. The place of publication should be a town or city, not a country.

For books with more than four authors, you should just cite the first author followed by ‘et al’.
e.g. Thompson, S. et al., 1999. Another example title. Oxford: Publishing Press.

If the book you wish to cite a chapter of an edited book, cite it as follows:

Author, Initials., Year of chapter. Title of chapter. In: Editor, ed. Year. Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher, pages.
e.g. Stevens, C., 1999. My chapter. In: S. Smith, ed. 2001. My book. London: Publishing Press, pp. 23-39.

Notice the editor name has the initial before the name. For more than one editor, replace ‘ed.’ with ‘eds.’

The bibliography should be in alphabetical order, but where there are several works by the same author, put them in chronological order with the earliest first.

Keep checking the blog for more Harvard referencing help!

Sources

Neville, C., 2007. The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Pears, R. and Shields, G., 2006. Cite Them Right: The Essential Guide to Referencing and Plagiarism. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Northumbria University Press.