What is Referencing? Jam Steward “Ref●er●ence: A mention or citation of a source of information in a book or article” (Oxford Dictionaries 2015) In its most basic form, referencing is a breadcrumb on a trail. It takes you back to where someones research has them beforehand. It shows you the way to the sources letting you continue on your own path of research. Harvard referencing is a system of referencing that uses in text citation, e.g. (Author, date) and an alphabetised reference list - see bibliography (Cite Them Right Online, 2015). Thinking of Harvard referencing, and assuming it came from Harvard university seems like an obvious assumption to make. Well, to me it does, because thats what I have assumed for the whole of my academic life. Although I have been enlightened by Chernin (1988), who addressed the “mystery” of Harvard referencing, and stating that Edward Laurens Marks (1881) was the first to use the system during an essay on the embryogenesis of the common slug. Although this doesn’t really answer the question of why I and many other people have assumed that Harvard referencing comes from the university of the same name, and why do they share the same name? Although thinking about it logically, this is most probably because Marks attended Harvard when he began using the system. The reception of Marks essay featuring the Harvard referencing system, was extremely positive (Morse, 1920). However that was mainly due to the referencing system, not the content of the essay. Morse (1920) credits Marks writings as extremely well researched, and showed how immersed Marks was in the world of his work and research. This is the effect a well referenced piece of writing can have, it gives more than just credibility, it also gives the reader a sense of as to where the author stands within their field of work, or where they gain inspiration and knowledge. This is why Marks work was regarded to such a high standard within his field of work, his referencing was clear, prominent and detailed. Thats most likely why people started to imitate this form of referencing. However I do wonder if there is an easier way to reference out there. It may not be mentally taxing or overly complicated, but Harvard referencing is time consuming, I find it basically doubles the amount of time it takes me to write. But its not just me who finds it soul draining, just look to the screen shot (right) of twitter of multiple users talking about Harvard referencing. People seem to hate Harvard referencing with a passion, with statements like “Harvard referencing is draining my life” (Deane, 2015), it makes me wonder why it is so widely used by respected universities, research centres and publishers. But I guess it just becomes second nature after using the system frequently in everything academic you write.
Twitter (2015)
So I guess for now I will just stick with Harvard referencing until I become so profound in referencing, and I start citing my own tweets.
Bibliography: Chernin, E (1988), ‘The “Harvard system”:a mystery dispelled’, British Medical Journal, Vol.297 (October), pg.1062. Cite Them Right Online (2015), Available at: http://www.citethemrightonline.com/digitalinternet/the-internet/web-pages-with-no-authors (Accessed : 11th November 2015) Deane, N 2015 (2015) 12th November, Available at: https://twitter.com/nellydeane/status/ 664927502704508929 (Accessed: 13th November 2015) Mark, E. L. (1881) ‘Maturation, fecundation, and segmentation of Limax campestris, Binney’, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Vol. 6, pg. 194. Morse E. S. (1920), ‘Biographical Memoir of Charles Sedgwick Minot’, Biographical Memoirs Part of Volume IX, National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, pg. 296-285.
Oxford Dictionaries (2015) Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ definition/english/reference (Accessed: 11th November 2015). Twitter [multiple authors, shown in image] (2015) Available at: https://twitter.com/ search?q=harvard%20referencing&src=typd (Accessed: 13th November 2015).