4.4.1 Styles

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Rules for citing and referencing sources of information vary between disciplines.

Some commonly used styles include:

• Harvard style
• APA style
• IEEE style

Generally, your lecturer or tutor will recommend a particular style, so check their requirements before you choose a style.

Whichever style is chosen, it is essential to use it consistently throughout your assignment.

In order to conform to the style you have selected, you should refer to a style manual.

Some commonly used style manuals are:

• QUT cite|write
• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
• The Chicago manual of style (Harvard)
• Style manual for authors, editors and printers (AGPS)

Harvard style

The Harvard system is one of the most common systems for referencing. It is an author-date system.

Author-date systems do not use numbers for referencing; they use the author and date.

References are listed alphabetically by author, regardless of the order they are cited in the text.

For example:

… system composed of interrelated parts (O'Brien, 1995).

References

Glogoff, S. 2001. Virtual connections: community bonding on the Net. First Monday , 6 (3): 1 page. http://www.firstmonday.org/issue6_3/glogoff/index.html (accessed November 20, 2003).

O'Brien, J. 1994. Management . Sydney : Prentice Hall.

The Harvard system is not published as a definitive work in any particular manual, thus it is not possible to refer to the Harvard system. You can find examples of the Harvard system illustrated in various works, but will probably note slight differences in the punctuation, formatting and ordering of information. It does not matter which variation you use, as long as your punctuation, formatting and ordering of information remains consistent. The Chicago Manual of Style provides an example of Harvard style.

There is no association between the style and the university.

APA style

The American Psychological Association (APA) style is just one of the many acceptable styles of referencing or bibliographic citation. It is an author-date system also.

American Psychological Association has editorial control for the APA style. Complete guidelines can be found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Current information can also be obtained via the Internet from the official APA style page.

IEEE style

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) style is a numbered system. Numbered systems assign a number to a reference in the order in which they are cited in the text.

For example:

… system composed of interrelated parts [1]

References

[1] R. J. Vidmar. (1992, Aug.). On the use of atmospheric plasmas as electromagnetic reflectors. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. [Online]. 21(3), pp. 876–880. Available: http://www.halcyon.com/pub/journals/21ps03-vidmar.

[2] G. Brandli and M. Dick, “Alternating current fed power supply,” U.S. Patent 4 084 217, Nov. 4, 1978.

Guidelines can be found in the Information for Authors section of the IEEE Web site.

Activity

Using QUT cite|write APA style, drag and drop the elements of the following citation to format it correctly.