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ICIT (International Centre for Island Technology): How? Citing and Referencing Styles (Cite Them Right Online)

Citing and Referencing Styles

How you format your in-text citations and reference list will depend on your chosen citation/referencing style.  There are two main styles:

  • Author-Date
  • Numbered

Examples are given below:

Example - Author-Date

Allen, P. and Chatterton, T. (2013) 'Carbon reduction scenarios for 2050: An explorative analysis of public preferences', Energy Policy, 63(Supplement C), pp. 796-808.

Example - Numbered

Abdin, Z., Alim, M. A., Saidur, R., Islam, M. R., Rashmi, W., Mekhilef, S. and Wadi, A. (2013) 'Solar energy harvesting with the application of nanotechnology', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 26(Supplement C), pp. 837-852.

Within these two broad groupings, there are thousands of different variations in style, i.e.:

  1. the order in which the bibliographic details are listed
  2. the formatting  e.g. UPPER CASE, italics, bold, underlining, “quotes”… 
  3. the punctuation e.g. where to use commas, semi-colons , full stops ….

You do not need to learn lots of different styles, you just need to:

  1. be aware that there are different styles and know how to understand references when you are reading other peoples reference lists 
  2. be consistent when you are referencing!
    • pick one style and stick to it throughout
    • do not mix up different styles

How to Cite and Reference Harvard Style

If you are told to use a 'Harvard' style, then we recommend following the guidance given in:

See also:

Other Referencing Styles

Generally speaking, EGIS uses Harvard referencing, however, always check your assignment guidelines.  We can also provide advice on the following styles:

  • APA
  • EMBO J
  • IEEE
  • Journal of the Institute of Brewing (JIB)
  • Nature Physics
  • Optical Society of America/Optica/Optics Express
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
  • SIAM

See: