Difference between revisions of "Author-date system of referencing"

From Hull AWE
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 4: Line 4:
  
 
*The two word '''tag''' (the '''author's''' surname and the '''date''' of publication) points to a '''[[List of References]]''' at the end of the paper or book being written.  The '''Reference List''' gives all the [[Bibliographic detail|bibliographical information]] needed for the reader to track down the source being used, whether to check it or to find further information.  For more detail, see [[Author-date list of references]].
 
*The two word '''tag''' (the '''author's''' surname and the '''date''' of publication) points to a '''[[List of References]]''' at the end of the paper or book being written.  The '''Reference List''' gives all the [[Bibliographic detail|bibliographical information]] needed for the reader to track down the source being used, whether to check it or to find further information.  For more detail, see [[Author-date list of references]].
 +
 +
To put that in another way:
 +
**For your academic work, your reader needs to know where any checkable source can be checked.  In the author-date system, you simply use the [surname of the] author and the date [of publication] as the tag in the text for any source that you want to refer to for any idea or fact.  When you use a quotation, or the sort of detailed fact like a statistic that comes from one Table, you use the [surname of the] author, the date [of publication] and the number of the page [on which the quotation or statistic etc can be found] as the tag.  Readers who want to check the reference then go to your List of References for the full bibliographical details.
  
 
(''The reason for preferring the name '''author-date system''' is that Harvard University (in the United States) does not use this system.)
 
(''The reason for preferring the name '''author-date system''' is that Harvard University (in the United States) does not use this system.)
  
To put that in another way:
+
 
**For your academic work, your reader needs to know where any checkable source can be checked.  In the author-date system, you simply use the [surname of the] author and the date [of publication] as the tag in the text for any source that you want to refer to for any idea or fact.  When you use a quotation, or the sort of detailed fact like a statistic that comes from one Table, you use the [surname of the] author, the date [of publication] and the number of the page [on which the quotation or statistic etc can be found] as the tag.  Readers who want to check the reference then go to your List of References for the full bibliographical details
+
 
[[category:referencing]] [[category:Academic culture]] [[category:Academic English]]
 
[[category:referencing]] [[category:Academic culture]] [[category:Academic English]]

Revision as of 15:52, 16 July 2015

The name of the author-date referencing system points to one of its distinguishing features. The name Harvard system suggests that Harvard University uses it; in fact it does not. (See Harvard referencing for more.)

  • The author-date system is designed to interrupt a writer's words as little as possible, and aims to limit the information to two words in the first instance: the name of the author, and the date of publication of the source being cited. This is the tag in the text. A reader can use it to find the full bibliographical details in the List of References. For more detail on how to put a reference in the text of your writing, see Author-date in your text.

To put that in another way:

    • For your academic work, your reader needs to know where any checkable source can be checked. In the author-date system, you simply use the [surname of the] author and the date [of publication] as the tag in the text for any source that you want to refer to for any idea or fact. When you use a quotation, or the sort of detailed fact like a statistic that comes from one Table, you use the [surname of the] author, the date [of publication] and the number of the page [on which the quotation or statistic etc can be found] as the tag. Readers who want to check the reference then go to your List of References for the full bibliographical details.

(The reason for preferring the name author-date system is that Harvard University (in the United States) does not use this system.)