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Harvard Referencing Style: Introduction to In-text Citations

In-Text Citations

INTRODUCTION

An in-text citation refers to a reference that you made within the body of your text.  This informs the reader that you have used a particular source to assist with formulating your own ideas and writings,  and you are thus acknowledging this contribution. Remember that every in-text citation needs a corresponding entry in your reference lists. 

The format of in-text citations will depend on the referencing style, for example,  Harvard, APA etc. Consult with your supervisor to ensure that you provide the in-text citations in the format required.


DIRECT REFERENCING

Referring to an author in a sentence is called direct referencing

Palmer (1998) describes how services marketing works in practice.


INDIRECT REFERENCING

Referencing an author at the end of the sentence is called indirect referencing

…describes how services marketing works in practice (Palmer, 1998)


DIRECT QUOTE

If you quote directly from Palmer’s book, place the quotation in inverted commas, followed by the reference to Palmer, with the relevant page numbers:

“In practice services marketing works…”  (Palmer 1998:23-24)


AUTHOR WITH MORE THAN ONE PUBLICATION IN THE SAME YEAR

If the author has published more than one document (i.e. book or article) in the same year, distinguish between them by adding a, b, c etc. after the date, and ensure that they are all listed in the bibliography. If, for example, you refer to another work of Palmer’s published in the same year, distinguish between the titles in the body of the assignment or thesis.  This is done as follows:

 (Palmer, 1998a)

 (Palmer, 1998b)


CITING WITHOUT A DATE

The term "no date", abbreviated as n.d., is used in the text reference:

…in that regard (Jones, n.d.:10)


IN-TEXT REFERENCING OF AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT WITHOUT PAGE NUMBERS

Use the chapter with its number, and add the paragraph number:

(Thompson, 2017: Conclusion, para 2)


Please note: More specific guidelines will be given on in-text referencing under each source type 

For ease of reference, a book reference will be used to explain the concept of authors when you do in-text citations.


Palmer, A. 1998. Principles of services marketing. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

If the author’s name occurs naturally in the sentence, just add the year in brackets:

Palmer (1998) describes how services marketing works in practice.


Otherwise, put both the name and the year in brackets at the end of the sentence:

            ... describes how services marketing works in practice (Palmer, 1998).


If you quote directly from Palmer’s book, place the quotation in inverted commas, followed by the reference to Palmer with the relevant page numbers:

            ... describes how services marketing works in practice  (Palmer, 1998:23-24).

For ease of reference, a book reference will be used to explain the concept of authors within the referencing and/or citation


In the case of two authors both names are mentioned, e.g. (Dent and Jones, 1994).  When quoting directly from the book, include the page numbers, e.g. (Dent and Jones, 1994:12).


In the case of three or more authors, all the names are mentioned the first time you cite them, for example (Cooper, Codd & Smith, 1998).  For subsequent citations, use the name of the first author, followed by et al., for example (Cooper et al., 1998).  Note that the et al.  is in italics.

If you quote directly from the book, include the page numbers, for example (Cooper et al., 1998: 43-44).