Harvard plagiarism and referencing system

Question

Hello friends,  Can anyone, highlight easy steps of how to avoid plagiarism when writing essay and report for academic purposes, and also the best way to use the Harvard referencing system in citation and referencing .  Links to any website where these topics are further explained, will be most appreciated. Thanks Cheers  Wil

Tanit · Accepted Answer

Hi,

You'll find a lot of guidelines from British universities on the Internet (http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&rlz=1B2GGFB_enIT228IT228&q=plagiarism+reference+site%3A*.ac.uk&btnG=Search)
_______________________

The only basic rule to avoid plagiarism is as follows: in your pieces of coursework, quote every single sentence or conceptwhich is not your own -- unless it's something very obvious (for instance, you wouldn't need to cite a source if you wrote that China is in Asia

).
_____________________

As for the Harvard system, you need to master the concept of direct and indirect quotes first.

1 - Direct quote means that you copy some words/a phrase/one or more sentences from a text. You need to enclose such excerpts in inverted commas. The name of the author, followed by a comma, then the year and possibly the number of the page must be put in brackets, unless the name of the author is contained in the sentence.

Example:
1a. Sustainable development has been defined as "a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987, pag. xyz).

1b. WCED (1987, pag. xyz) defined sustainable development as one "that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

2 - Indirect quote means that you summarise/paraphrase/credit/discuss/refer to a concept/a theory/a sentence that you find somewhere, by using your own words.

Example
Building upon the first important definition of sustainable development, contained in the Brundland report (WCED, 1987, pag. xyz), Dahl (2001) developed a system of indicators to "measure" sustainability.

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At the very end of your assignment, you need to put all of your sources in a chapter (usually titled "References"). Since there are many slightly different possible ways to write these even in the Harvard system (eg. if there's one, two or more authors; if it's the title of the book, of an article in a journal, a chapter in an edited book, a website etc.), you really had better check whether your uni has its own guidelines.

If you follow this link, for instance, you'll find my (former) uni's guidelines. Another website I've found useful is that of the Anglia Ruskin Uni.

Good luck with your essays & reports!

BarbaraPA · Answer

Nicely answered, Tani! My compliments!

(I just finished a brochure on sustainable development. I thought I'd come here for a brief break, but here it is again!)

Tanit · Answer

Grammar Geek(I just finished a brochure on sustainable development. I thought I'd come here for a brief break, but here it is again!)

Sorry about that, Barb!

As they say, "no rest for the wicked!"
(Well, I know this is OK in the UK... hope it's fine in the USA, too

)

BarbaraPA · Answer

They do say it here, indeed.

Spaces · Answer

Hi Tanit, Thanks a lot for the info,... I will do well to check it out and get the skills i need to properly reference and cite my essay and reports.

Thanks mate

Harvard plagiarism and referencing system

Hello friends,

Can anyone, highlight easy steps of how to avoid plagiarism when writing essay and report for academic purposes, and also the best way to use the Harvard referencing system in citation and referencing .

Links to any website where these topics are further explained, will be most appreciated.

Thanks

Cheers

Wil

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