The Swinburne Harvard referencing style is an author–date citation style that has two parts: in-text citations that appear in the body of the paper and a reference list at the end. You may also see the term ‘bibliography’ being used, which is similar to a reference list but also includes any background sources you may have read but not actually cited in your paper.

Always check with your lecturer that this is the citation style guide required for your unit.

NOTE: The Swinburne Harvard style is based on the guidelines published in an Australian Government Publishing Service (AGPS) manual.  As the AGPS manual is no longer being published, the Swinburne Harvard style will no longer be updated. For an alternative author-date referencing style the library recommends APA 7th edition style which is supported and maintained by the American Psychological Association but is used in a range of disciplines including design, business and psychology.

How to use the Swinburne Harvard style guide

Learn how to apply Swinburne Harvard style to three types of information sources frequently used by Swinburne students and staff.

Swinburne Harvard — brief guide

Download a printable PDF that covers how to style in-text references, reference lists and bibliographies using Swinburne Harvard style.

Swinburne Harvard — further examples

Find more examples supporting the guidelines outlined in the brief guide.
 

Swinburne Harvard — images guide

Find guidelines and examples about citing images (photos, tables, graphs, maps, diagrams, etc.) from various information sources.

Swinburne Harvard — intranet content, internal documents and interviews guide

Learn how to acknowledge intranet content, internal documents used by an organisation, information from formal interviews and similar information sources.

Swinburne Harvard referencing style

This video describes the Swinburne Harvard referencing style. 

Swinburne Harvard referencing style
View video transcript [PDF 170KB]

Referencing guidelines

  • To cite a reference in the text of your work, insert the reference material and then immediately place the author's surname and the year of publication in brackets after it, e.g. (Dawkins 2012).
  • You must include the page number(s) if you are paraphrasing the reference or quoting it, e.g. "The universe has..." (Dawkins 2012, p. 226).

  • If you use the author's name in your sentence because they are well-known, then place the year of publication and page number in brackets after the name, e.g. . Dawkins (2012, p. 226) rationalises that...

  • When you quote a single sentence, enclose it in double quotation marks: " ".

  • When you quote two or more sentences, do not enclose them in double quotation marks — instead, place them on a new line, indent the entire quote and finish with the in-text reference. New text after that quote should commence on a new line and not be indented.

  • If you wish to quote a quote from within a source, then the in-text reference begins with the author(s) of the quote, then a comma, then the phrase ‘cited in’, then the author(s), year and page number (if applicable) of the source you are using. For example, if you were reading an article by Pavlovski published in 2017 and on page 33 of Pavlovski‘s article it included a quote from one of William Shakespeare’s famous plays, and you wanted to quote that quote by Shakespeare, then the in-text reference would be: (Shakespeare, cited in Pavlovski 2017, p. 33). Your reference list does not need to mention Shakespeare, just Pavlovski.

  • Authors may be a single individual, a number of individuals or an organisation.
  • In-text references use the authors’ surnames only and do not include initials.

  • Where there is no author, use the title of the work (in italics) instead, e.g. (Hatching and raising brine shrimp 2010, p. 2).

  • For two or three authors, place an ampersand (&) between the last two authors' names. If you are writing their names directly into your text, replace the ampersand with the word 'and', e.g. McCurley, Lynch and Jackson state that only keen volunteers are productive volunteers (2012, p. 78). Note that this works exactly the same if two or more of the authors are organisations, e.g. …conservation of green spaces increased tourism income threefold (NSW Environmental Trust, Local Community Services Association & NSW Department of Environment and Conservation 2006, p. 75).

  • For more than three authors, place the first listed author’s surname, then insert ‘et al.’, then the year of publication and page number(s) if paraphrasing or quoting, e.g. …state control thus working against its citizens (Baldino et al. 2011, pp. 137-138). If you are writing their names directly into your text, both the first listed author’s surname and ‘et al.’ are not enclosed in brackets, e.g. Baldino et al. (2011, pp. 137-138) identify two agencies struggling…

  • If you cite two or more works in a sentence that are by the same author but they were published in different years, list the author's name once and then arrange the years of publication for the in-text citation from oldest to newest e.g. (Flannery 2003, p. 11; 2005, p. 28; 2008, p. 17).

  • For two or more authors with the same surname publishing different works in the same year, include all author initials after a comma after their surname, e.g. Different research reported the same effects occurring, regardless whether it was in lakes (Nguyen, D 2009, p. 3) or rivers (Nguyen, L 2009, p. 145).

  • You can cite two or more different information sources in the same single in-text references (especially when those sources all make the same point), e.g. (Comert 2013, p. 59; Faw 2013, p. 374; Li & Gao 2013, p. 475). 

The Harvard Style is based on a combination of author(s) surname(s)/last name(s)/family name(s) and date of publication (year). Most information sources should display either the year the information was published or, with information freely available on the web, the year that the information was most recently updated. For information freely available on the web, if there is only a Copyright date (usually found at the very bottom of the page you are viewing), you are permitted to use that as the date. If a range of Copyright dates is given (e.g. © 2017 – 2019), use the latest date indicated.

If a date of publication cannot be identified, use one of the following substitutes (after examining the information on the page and trying to make an intelligent determination or intelligent guess as to when it was most likely published/uploaded/updated):

  • c. 2015 = circa 2015 (an approximate date), where you can determine/guess to within a year or two without much effort. You should try to use this whenever possible, e.g. Evidently there is still uncertainty and ongoing debate about the actual colours painted on Tunisian Tigers (Pavlovski c. 2017).

  • 1996? = a dubious / possible date. (Use when you can only determine/guess to within around 20 years or so.)

  • n.d. = no known date (Almost never use this – it is intended for ancient and obscure texts, such as those dug up by archaeologists. Most dates can be determined or guessed following the recommendations above.)

  • In-text references should include page number details (if available) if you are paraphrasing or quoting.
  • Page numbers are not required if referencing an entire work, e.g. (Milligan 1985).
  • Use p. when citing from a single page, e.g. (Fardipour et al. 2020, p. 107) and pp. for a range of consecutive pages, e.g. (Dawkins 2012, pp. 15-16).
  • If an article has an article number, then p. or pp. cannot be used. In that instance, use the article number, a hyphen and the page number that you are citing from, e.g. (Jayawardena et al. 2017, e2600-6) if you are citing from page 6 of Jayawardena et al.’s 2017 article with the article number e2600.
  • Additional details such as volume numbers should only be used when necessary to avoid confusion with other volumes of the same series by an author.
  • If page numbers are not provided and the information resource is not an article with article number, then use author's name and year of publication.

 

  • All in-text citations must have fully detailed, corresponding entries placed in a reference list at the end of your assignment, unless an in-text citation is a personal communication that has been fully written into the body of your assignment and your assignment is not significantly comprised of personal communications.

  • Reference list entries should be arranged alphabetically by author's surname (or by organisation name).

  • If an organisation name begins with 'The', ignore it and arrange their name alphabetically by the next word, e.g. The Centre for Academic Excellence is not arranged by the letter T, but instead the letter C.

  • Each new information source should begin on a new line. 

  • Authors may be a single individual, a number of individuals, an organisation, a number of organisations, or any combination of these.

  • Individuals’ names are presented surname first, initial(s) next. Full names of organisations are used, not abbreviations or acronyms.

  • Names are arranged in the reference list entry in the same order that they appear on the actual information source you use. Do not re-order them.

  • If there is no clearly identifiable author(s) for web content, do not use the name of the Copyright owner or website host/website sponsor, as they may not be the same person or organization that authored the work. 

  • If no author can be identified or determined at all, then the title is placed first in the reference list entry, and the title should be italicised. Next comes the date. Then other details as per normal for the type of information source (e.g. web page with no author, not even an organisation: Hatching and raising brine shrimp 2010, aquaristscollective.com, viewed 1 April 2019, <http://www.aquaristscollective.com.au/foodnotes/hatch-brine-shrimp>.

  • Remember that Harvard Style is concerned with attributing primarily by author(s) and by date. Therefore, you are permitted to move around a whole website to try to determine authorship (either individual(s) or organisation(s)) of the content, which you can then assert to be the same author(s) of a particular webpage.

The Harvard Style is based on a combination of author(s) surname(s)/last name(s)/family name(s) and date of publication (year). Most information sources should display either the year the information was published or, with information freely available on the web, the year that the information was most recently updated. For information freely available on the web, if there is only a Copyright date (usually found at the very bottom of the page you are viewing), you are permitted to use that as the date. If a range of Copyright dates is given (e.g. © 2017 – 2019), use the latest date indicated.

If a date of publication cannot be identified, use one of the following substitutes (after examining the information on the page and trying to make an intelligent determination or intelligent guess as to when it was most likely published/uploaded/updated):

  • c. 2015 = circa 2015 (an approximate date), where you can determine/guess to within a year or two without much effort. You should try to use this whenever possible, e.g. Evidently there is still uncertainty and ongoing debate about the actual colours painted on Tunisian Tigers (Pavlovski c. 2017).

  • 1996? = a dubious / possible date. (Use when you can only determine/guess to within around 20 years or so.)

  • n.d. = no known date (Use this extremely sparingly. Most dates can be determined or guessed following the recommendations above.)

  • forthcoming = a work to be published in the near future.

  • Book titles and subtitles, journal names and web document page titles should be in italics.

  • Place a colon between a title and subtitle.

  • Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns of book titles, chapter titles, journal article titles and web document titles should be capitalised.

  • All major words in the titles of journals, newspapers and magazines should be capitalised. 

  • Chapter titles and journal/newspaper/magazine article titles should be enclosed in single quotation marks; they should not be in italics.

  • Web document or web page titles are usually shown at or near the top of the web document or page.

Articles
  • Use the abbreviations vol. for volume and no. for issue number.

  • If there is no volume number, use the issue number.

  • If there is no volume or issue number, list any available designation such as the day and/or month or season.
     

Book in a series
  • Insert the series title after the title of the work.
  • The series title is not italicised.
  • If the series has a number or volume, insert 'vol.' or 'no.' after the series title.
  • If more than one place of publication is listed, use only the first-listed place.

  • Do not use full stops in abbreviated place names (e.g. NSW not N.S.W.)

  • Add extra location information if there is more than one place with the same name, e.g. Melbourne, Victoria versus Melbourne, Florida; Richmond, Victoria versus Richmond, Tasmania.

Books
  • Page numbers are not usually needed in the reference list for books. If you do use them, add them at the end of the citation, preceded by a comma and followed by a full stop, e.g. Huth, E 2005, 'Fragments of participation in architecture, 1963–2002: Graz and Berlin', in P Blundell Jones, D Petrescu & J Till (eds), Architecture and participation, Spon Press, London, pp. 141-148.
     

Articles

 

  • Page numbers (or page number for a one-page article) appear at the end of the citation, preceded by a comma, and followed by a full stop.

For information sources longer than one page

Wang, J, Jiang, C, Han, Z, Ren, Y, Maunder, RG & Hanzo, L 2017, ‘Taking drones to the next level: cooperative distributed unmanned-aerial-vehicular networks for small and mini drones’, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 73-82.

For one-page information sources

Byrne, F, Coster, A & Deery, S 2010, 'Ugg maker gets his boots on', Herald Sun, 11 March, p. 30.
 

 

  • Some articles do not have standard pagination, but are allocated an article number instead. In this case, the article may have its own internal pagination or use the article number as part of the pagination.

If the article number is not used as part of the pagination

Place article number after volume and/or issue details, then finish with a full stop, e.g.:

Jayawardena, R, Thejani, T, Ranasinghe, P, Fernando, D & Verster, JC 2017, ‘Interventions for treatment and/or prevention of alcohol hangover: systematic review’, Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experimental, vol. 32, no. 5, e2600.

If the article number is used as part of the pagination

List the pagination as it appears on the article’s pages (look at the PDF version of the article to confirm this), e.g.:

Arulrajah, A, Kua, TA, Phetchuay, P, Horpibulsuk, S, Mahghoolpilehrood, F & Disfani, MM 2016, ‘Spent coffee grounds–fly ash geopolymer used as an embankment structural fill material’, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 28, no. 5, 04015197-1-04015197-8.

 

 

 

Abbreviation Meaning
& ampersand, which means 'and'
Anon shortened version of Anonymous
c. an approximate date, accurate to within one or two years, e.g. c. 2009.
ch. chapter
ed. editor
eds editors
edn edition
et al. 'and others'
n.d. no date
no. number
nos numbers
p. page
pp. pages
pdf a document software format
s. section number
ss. section numbers
trans translated by
URL Uniform Resource Locator. Formal title for internet address.
vol. volume
vols volumes

Referencing examples

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.

Dawkins, R 2012, The magic of reality, Black Swan, London.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"The universe has ..." (Dawkins 2012, p. 226).

Paraphrase

Dawkins (2012, p. 226) asserted that ...
 

Note: In-text references use the authors’ surnames only and do not include initials, unless you are using two or more sources that have an author with the same surname and the sources were all published in the same year.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) & Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.

Tiernan, A & Weller, P 2010, Learning to be a Minister: heroic expectations, practical realities, Melbourne University Press, Carlton.

In-text reference

Direct quote

Tiernan and Weller (2010, p. 299) state that "... "

Paraphrase

A minister's performance will be ... (Tiernan & Weller 2010, p. 299).
 

Note: List author's names in the order they are listed in the book.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s), Author, Initial(s), Author, Initial(s) & Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.

Gabler, M, Lienhard, J, Cremers, J & Knippers, J 2011, Construction manual for polymers + membranes: materials semi-finished products, form-finding design, Birkhauser Architecture, Basel.

In-text reference

Direct quote

Gabler et al. (2012, p. 67) recommend "..."

Paraphrase

The process involves... (Gabler et al. 2012, p. 68).
 

Notes:

  • List author's names in the order they are listed in the book.

  • In-text reference: Only list the name of the first author followed by et al. (meaning 'and others')

  • Reference list: List all authors (do not use et al.).

Reference list entry

Title Year of publication, Publisher, Place of publication.

Higher education in Australia: the facts 2004, Business/Higher Education Round Table, Fitzroy, VIC.

In-text reference

Direct quote

Higher education in Australia: the facts (2004, p. 23) claims that "Australia is..."

Paraphrase

Australia has a role in ... (Higher education in Australia: the facts 2004). 
 

Notes:

  • Use the title and the year in place of the author. Do not place a comma between the title and year.

  • List the item alphabetically in your reference list by the title.

  • Italicise the title, but do not italicise the year of publication.

  • Do not use Anon or Anonymous.

Reference list entry

Organisation Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.

International Chamber of Commerce 2010, Incoterms 2010: ICC rules for the use of domestic and international trade terms, ICC Services, Paris.

In-text reference

Direct quote

The "seller is required to ..." (International Chamber of Commerce 2010, p. 105).

Paraphrase

The International Chamber of Commerce (2010, p. 105) established that ...

Notes:

  • Where the author is an organisation, use the name of the organisation as the author.

  • Use the same rules as for books with one author.

Reference list entry

Chapter Author, Initials(s) Year of publication, 'Chapter Title', in Editor's Initial(s) Surname (ed./eds), Book Title, Publisher, Place of publication, page numbers of chapter.

Connell, D 2012, 'Flailing about in the Murray-Darling basin', in K Crowley & KJ Walker (eds), Environmental policy failure: the Australian story, Tilde University Press, Prahran, pp. 74-87. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

"States have ..." (Connell 2012, p. 80).

Paraphrase

Connell (2012, p. 80) suggests ...

Notes:

  • Enclose the chapter title in single quotation marks.

  • After the chapter title, insert the word 'in' before the name of the editor(s).

  • Use (ed.) for a single editor and (eds) for multiple editors.

  • In your reference list, use the editor's name with initials before surname (e.g. K Crowley)

  • If there is no chapter author, use the title in place of the author in-text and in the reference list.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s), & Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title, edn (edition), Publisher, Place of publication.

McCurley, S, Lynch, R & Jackson, R 2012, The complete volunteer management handbook, 3rd edn, Directory of Social Change, London.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Volunteer programmes are ..." (McCurley, Lynch & Jackson 2012, p. 78).

Paraphrase

McCurley, Lynch & Jackson (2012, p. 78) found that ...
 

Notes:

  • The edition statement is only included if this is not the first edition (e.g. 2nd edn).

  • Insert the edition statement after the title.

  • Use the abbreviation edn (no full stop) for edition.

  • A reprint or revised version is not a new edition and does not need specific mentioning; year of publication is enough to identify a reprint.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title of the book, Series Title, vol. (if available), Publisher, Place of publication, page numbers.

Cabrera, M & Malanowski, N (eds) 2009, Information and communication technologies for active ageing: opportunities and challenges for the European Union, Assistive technology research series, vol. 23, IOS Press, Amsterdam.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Demographic challenges are ..." (Cabrera & Malanowski 2009, p. 7).

Paraphrase

Cabrera & Malanowski (2009, p. 142) explain ... 
 

Notes:

  • Insert the series title after the title of the work.

  • The series title is not italicised.

  • If the series has a number or volume, insert 'vol.' or 'no.' after the series title.

Reference list entry

'Table/graph title' [table], in Initial(s) Author Year, Title, Publisher, Place of Publication, page number(s).

'Table 1: Personality problems - behaviour predictors' [table], in R de Board 1983, Counselling people at work: an introduction for managers, Gower, Aldershot, Hants., p. 25.

In-text reference

Paraphrase

The graph (de Board, 1983) illustrates ...
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for a table/graph/image from a book, where no other part of the book is also used in the same assignment. If you use an image from one page and also information or quote from another page, then you don’t need to use this guideline — just follow the relevant guideline for the book as a whole instead.

  • Provide the bibliographic details of the image first, then the details of the information source in which it appears. If the author of the image is different to the author of the book, then guidelines similar to those for Chapter in an edited book will apply. If the year of publication of the image is different to the year of publication of the book, those different dates must be indicated in the reference list entry. 

  • Enclose the title of the graph/table/image in single quotes.

  • After the title, insert an identifier to describe what you are referencing: [table] for tables and flowcharts, [graph] for graphs, [advertisement] for advertisements, and [image] for everything else.

  • If you have one information source and use an image that was created by one person and a section of text written by a different person, or if you use two images from one source and they were both created by different people, then you will need to create separate reference list entries for each.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Ebook collection.

Appleby, G, Reilly, A & Grenfell, L 2014, Australian public law, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Ebook Central (Proquest).

In-text reference

Direct quote

Appleby, Reilly and Grenfell (2014, p. 282) express it this way: “The High Court's capacity…"

Paraphrase

Appleby, Reilly and Grenfell (2014, p. 282) state that it is essential that the High Court must…
 

Notes:

  • Use this example for ebooks sourced from Swinburne Library databases. Instead of place of publication, use the name of the ebook collection (e.g Books 24x7, Ebook Central (Proquest), eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost), etc.), as above.

  • For ebooks sourced from ereaders, replace the place of publication with the name of the ereader device (e.g. Kindle).

  • For ebooks sourced elsewhere online, use the guidelines for webpages.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Article Title', Journal Title, volume number, issue number, page numbers.

Argibay-losada, P, Suarez-Gonzalez, A, Lopez-Garcia, C & Fernandez-Veiga, M 2010, 'Flow splitting for end-to-end proportional QoS in OBS networks', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 257-269. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

"The main reason ..." (Argibay-losada et al. 2010, p. 263).

Paraphrase

Argibay-losada et al. (2010, p. 263) identified that...
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for journal and magazine articles from library databases or in print.

  • For articles freely available online, follow the example for Article on the internet below.

  • Enclose the article title in single quotes '...'

  • If there is no volume number, just list the issue number.

  • If there is no volume or issue number, list any available designation such as the day and/or month or season.

  • Some articles do not have pagination, but are instead allocated an article number. The article may then simply have its own internal pagination, or pagination using the article number as part of the pagination. If the article has an article number, but the article number is not used as part of the pagination, then simply place the article number after the volume and/or issue details, then finish with a full stop, e.g. … vol. 32, no. 5, e2600.If the article has an article number and the article number is used as part of the pagination, list the pagination as it appears on the article, e.g. … vol. 28, no. 5, 04015197-1-04015197-8.

Reference list entry

'Article Title' Year of publication, Journal Title, volume number, issue number, page numbers.

'World's oldest pills treated sore eyes' 2013, New Scientist, vol. 217, no. 2899, p. 15.

In-text reference

Direct quote

According to World's oldest pills treated sore eyes (2013, p. 15), "In ancient Rome ..."

Paraphrase

... and this treatment has existed since Roman times (World's oldest pills treated sore eyes 2013, p. 15).

Notes:

  • Where there is no author, use the title in place of the author's name.

  • For the reference list, enclose the article title in single quotes '...'.

  • In-text, the article title is not enclosed in single quotes, but is in italics instead.

  • If there is no volume number, use the issue number.

  • If there is no volume or issue number, list any available designation such as the day and/or month or season.

  • Some articles do not have pagination, but are instead allocated an article number. The article may then simply have its own internal pagination, or pagination using the article number as part of the pagination. If the article has an article number, but the article number is not used as part of the pagination, then simply place the article number after the volume and/or issue details, then finish with a full stop, e.g. … vol. 32, no. 5, e2600. If the article has an article number and the article number is used as part of the pagination, list the pagination as it appears on the article, e.g. … vol. 28, no. 5, 04015197-1-04015197-8.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Article Title', Newspaper Title, Day Month, page numbers.

Crowe, D 2013, 'Big projects ordered to buy local', The Australian, 17 January, p. 1. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Big investors will ..." (Crowe 2013, p. 1)

Paraphrase

Crowe (2013, p. 1) claims bigger investors will ....
 

Note: Newspaper articles are referenced the same as journal articles, just replace the vol/issue number with the day and month of publication.

Reference list entry

'Article Title' Year of publication, Newspaper Title, Day Month of issue, page numbers.

'Cyclists link up for homeless' 2012, Herald Sun, 17 November, p. 9.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Up to 6500 cyclists are expected" (Cyclists link up for homeless 2012, p. 9)

Paraphrase

According to Cyclists link up for homeless (2012, p. 9) 6,500 cyclists were ...

Notes:

  • Where there is no author, use the article title instead.

  • For the reference list, enclose the article title in single quotes '...'.

  • In-text, the article title is not enclosed in single quotes, but is in italics instead.

  • Magazine articles, sourced from library databases or in print, are referenced the same as journal articles.

  • If you are referencing a magazine article you found freely available online, use the example below for Article on the internet.

Reference list entry

'Table/graph/advertisement/image title' [table/graph/advertisement/image], in Initial(s) Author Year, ‘Article title’, Journal Title, volume number, issue number, page numbers.

‘Drop bear in its habitat’ [image], in V Janssen 2012, ‘Indirect tracking of Drop Bears using GNSS technology’, Australian Geographer, vol. 43, no. 4, p. 447.

In-text reference

Paraphrase

The front four fangs of the Drop Bear are very long and sharp (Janssen 2012, p. 447) and are able to tear meat...
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for a table/graph/image from an article, where no other part of the book is used.

  • Provide the bibliographic details of the image first, then the details of the information source in which it appears. If the author of the image is different to the author of the article, then guidelines similar to those at Chapter in an edited book blended with Journal article will apply. If the year of publication of the image is different to the year of publication of the article, those different dates must be indicated in the reference list entry.

  • Enclose the title of the graph/table/image in single quotes.

  • After the title, insert an identifier to describe what you are referencing: [table] for tables and flowcharts, [graph] for graphs, [advertisement] for advertisements, and [image] for everything else.

  • If you have one information source and use an image that was created by one person and a section of text written by a different person, or if you use two images from one source and they were both created by different people, then you will need to create separate reference list entries for each.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Article Title', Newspaper/Journal/Magazine Title, Day Month (or volume/issue number if applicable), page number/s (if applicable), viewed Day Month, <URL>.

Khadem, N 2017, ‘Men out-earn women by more than $26,500: WGEA 2017 gender pay gap report’, The Age, 17 November, viewed 17 November 2017, <http://www.theage.com.au/business/workplace-relations/men-outearn-women-by-more-than-26500-wgea-2017-gender-pay-gap-report-20171114-gzl5jj.html>. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

This has led to urgent action, as “More employers are analysing their pay data for gender pay gaps – it was up nearly 11 percentage points in 12 months to 37.7 per cent of employers” (Khadem 2017).

Paraphrase

37.7 per cent of employers have now examined their staff salaries for possible gaps due to gender (Khadem 2017).
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for articles freely available on the internet.

  • For articles from library databases or in print format, follow the example for journal or newspaper articles.

  • Where there is no author, use the title in place of the author's name — follow the guidelines and examples at Journal Article (no author) and Newspaper Article (no author).

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year, Title of document/webpage/website, Organisation/Host, viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

Yates, J 2009, Tax expenditures and housing, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, viewed 12 November 2013, <https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/3117/AHURI_Research_Paper_Tax_expenditures_and_housing.pdf>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Most official estimates ..." (Yates 2009).

Paraphrase

Yates (2009) looked at the equity implications of tax ...
 

Notes:

  • No author: Use the title of the webpage.

  • Organisation as author: The author may be the same as the organisation hosting the website.

  • Date: The year the webpage was created or last updated. You may use the copyright date if one is mentioned and there is no clear year of creation or year of update. Otherwise, see Dates under guidelines for reference lists above.

  • Title: The title of the webpage or document (e.g. pdf) should be in italics.

  • Organisation/Host: The organisation responsible for hosting the website and putting the information on the internet. The organisation/host may be the same as the organisation that is the author of the information.

  • URL: Include the full URL in angled brackets < > and finish with a full stop.

Reference list entry

Author(s) Initial(s) (if different to Author of webpage) Year (if earlier than Year of publication of webpage), 'Title of image' (or [Descriptive title of image]) [identifier], in Initial(s) Author(s) Year, Title of Webpage, Organisation/Host, viewed Day Month Year, <URL of .jpg/.gif/.png etc., not URL of webpage>.

Geoscience Australia & Murray Darling Basin Authority, '[Map of Murray Darling Basin]' [image], in AustralianFarmers 2019, 5 FAQs about the Menindee fish deaths, National Farmers' Federation, viewed 13 May 2019, <https://mk0australianfa1qtvu.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/murray-darling-basin-map.jpg>. 

In-text reference

Paraphrase

The two zones on the map immediately below (Geoscience Australia & Murray Darling Basin Authority 2019) show deoxygenated water… 
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for a table/graph/image/advertisement from a webpage or web document, where no other part of the webpage or web document book is used.

  • Provide the bibliographic details of the image first, then the details of the information source in which it appears. If the author of the image is different to the author of the article, then guidelines similar to those at Chapter in an edited book blended with Website will apply. If the year of publication of the image is different to the year of publication of the article, those different dates must be indicated in the reference list entry.

  • Provide the bibliographic details using the webpage the image is embedded in or viewed from, except the URL must be to the image itself, which may have a different organisation/host to the webpage (common with crosslinking).

  • Enclose the title of the graph/table/image in single quotes.

  • If the image does not have a title, create your own descriptive title and enclose it in square brackets, then immediately enclose that in single quotation marks.

  • After the title, insert an identifier to describe what you are referencing: [table] for tables and flowcharts, [graph] for graphs, [advertisement] for advertisements, and [image] for everything else.

  • If there is no author's name but only a username, use the username as the author name and use it exactly as it appears on the information source.

  • If you have one information source and use an image that was created by one person and a section of text written by a different person, or if you use two images from one source and they were both created by different people, then you will need to create separate reference list entries for each.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Blog Post Title', Title of Blog, Day Month (of post), viewed Day Month year, <URL>.

Berg, J 2013, 'Failure, organizational culture, and library management', BeerBrarian, 20 November, viewed 26 November 2013, <http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/failure-organizational-culture-and.html>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

Berg (2013) reminds us that "Failure is…"

Paraphrase

Library directors will ... (Berg 2013).
 

Notes:

  • If there is no author's name but there is a username, use the username as the author name and use it exactly as it appears on the blog.

  • If there is no author name or username, use the blog post title instead.

  • After the title of the blog, put the day and month of the individual post.

  • If an author posts multiple entries on the same day, include the time the entry was posted, e.g. 12 August, 1:24 PM.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year, Title of podcast, Title of show (if any), Name of Organisation/Website (if any), Day Month (of posting, if any), viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

Clements, S, Krone, B, Girimaji, J & Denny, M 2012, E17 – enhancing your wireless with a MSE, No Strings Attached Show, 10 December, viewed 12 November 2013, <http://nostringsattachedshow.com/2012/12/10/e17-enhancing-your-wireless-with-a-mse/>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"..." (Clements et al. 2013)

Paraphrase

Clements et al. (2013) discussed ...
 

Notes:

  • For radio podcasts follow the example for TV and radio under ‘Other Sources’.

  • Where there is no identifiable author or speaker, use the title of the podcast in place of the author. Example: Ira Flatow and the Teachable Moment 2013, Science Talk, Scientific American, 20 September, viewed 6 November 2013, <http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=ira-flatow-and-the-teachable-moment-13-09-20>.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s)/Username Year of post, Title (or brief description of post), Day Month (date of post), viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

Dent, G 2013, Grace Dent, 13 January, viewed 23 January 2013, <https://twitter.com/gracedent/status/290434401811173376>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

Dent (2013) stated that "..."

Paraphrase

(Dent 2013)
 

Notes:

  • Social media is usually cited as you would reference a website.

  • If there is no author's name use the username instead.

  • You do not need to list the name of the platform, e.g. Facebook, Twitter.

  • If an author posts multiple entries on one day, include the time after the date, e.g. 13 January, 4:25 AM.

Reference list entry

Author Initial(s)/Username Year, Title of video, Day Month (video was posted), viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

INSEADofficial 2010, Social responsibility in business today, 14 June, viewed 13 November 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qwDQN-b72Y>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"35% of GDP comes from new remittances" (INSEADofficial 2010).

Paraphrase

Chris Taylor's interview on INSEADofficial (2010) was ...

Notes:

  • Use this example for video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

  • If there is no author's name but there is a username, use the username as the author name and use it exactly as it appears on the video sharing site.

  • After the title, include the day and month the video was added.

Reference list entry

Australian Bureau of Statistics Year of publication, Title Reference period (if provided), catalogue number (if still used), ABS, viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021, Marriages and divorces, Australia 2020, ABS, viewed 25 November 2021, <https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/marriages-and-divorces-australia/latest-release#media-releases>. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) reported that "The marriage rate ..."

Paraphrase

The figures showed ... (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021).
 

Notes:

  • Use ‘Australian Bureau of Statistics’ as the author, unless an individual author or group of authors are clearly identifiable. For instance, individual authors used to write the Australian Bureau of Statistics Yearbooks, and were clearly identified on the cover.

  • Include the reference period after the title, if there is one. The reference period should be treated as part of the title.
  • Include the ABS catalogue number after the title and reference period, if the item still has one. Use the abbreviation 'cat. no.' for the catalogue number e.g. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011, Marriages and divorces, Australia, cat. no. 3310.0, ABS, viewed 14 October 2013, <http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3310.0Main+Features12011?OpenDocument>.
  • Use ABS as the organisation/host details.
Reference list entry

Title of the Act Year of publication (Jurisdiction), Location online, Section number (if applicable), viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cwlth), Federal Register of Legislation, s. 21, viewed 25 March 2019, <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018C00621>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"A person who..." (Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cwlth), s.21.019)

Paraphrase

Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cwlth) provides for ...
 

Notes:

  • Italicise both the title and year of publication.

  • List the abbreviation of the jurisdiction in brackets, e.g. for Commonwealth, use (Cwlth); for Victoria, use (Vic); for Western Australia, use (WA); etc.

  • Use 's.' or 'ss.' for the section number, e.g. s. 24 or ss. 24-56

Reference list entry

Name of the Case (Year), Report series and first page number, AustLII, viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.

R v Ramage (2004) VSC 508, AustLII, viewed 4 April 2012, <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSC/2004/508.html>.

In-text reference

Direct quote

The judge in R v Ramage (2004) VSC 508 stated the "The Court cannot allow…"

Paraphrase

The judge in R v Ramage (2004) VSC 508 acknowledged …
 

Notes:

  • For in-text references, write the full details directly into your text — only the year is enclosed in parentheses.

  • Italicise the name of the case.

  • List the report series using the abbreviation (e.g. HCA stands for High Court of Australia).

  • If a case is reported in multiple report series, list all of the report series and starting page numbers, separated by semicolons (e.g. HCA 63; 208 CLR 199; 185 ALR 1; 76 ALJR 1)

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Title of the paper', Title of the conference, Publisher, Place of publication, page numbers.

Hentschel, C, Wagner, A & Spanner-Ulmer, B 2012, 'Analysis of the application of the assembly-specific evaluation method EAWS for the ergonomic evaluation of logistic processes', Contemporary ergonomics and human factors 2012, CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 221-226.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Evaluation of logistic ..." (Hentschel, Wagner & Spanner-Ulmer 2012, p. 225)

Paraphrase

Hentschel, Wagner & Spanner-Ulmer (2012, p. 225) explain that ..

Notes:

  • If there is no identifiable author, use the title instead.

  • Date of publication may differ to the date of the conference — for conferences held in the last third of a year, the publication of the conference proceedings will be in the following year.

  • If the title of the conference also includes the place and date that the conference was held, then these should also be included in the title.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Title of entry', in Editor's Initial(s) Surname (ed./eds),Title of encyclopedia, Edition (if not the first), Volume number (if any), Publisher, Place of publication, page numbers.

Meadows, M 2011, 'Indigenous media (Australia)', in JDH Downing (ed.), Encyclopedia of social movement media, SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, pp. 247-250. 
 

In-text reference

Direct quote

Meadows (2011, p. 248) tells us that "Indigenous media ..."

Paraphrase

In Australia ... (Meadows 2011, p. 248)
 

Notes:

  • List the entry title in single quotation marks and the encyclopedia title in italics.

  • Authored entry: Use the same layout as a chapter in an edited book (as above).

  • No author: If there is no author for an entry, use the title of the entry instead. Example: 'Scherenfernrohr' 2011, in P Chamberlain & S Zaloga (eds), Encyclopedia of WWII field equipment, Wotpress, Minsk.

  • Online from Swinburne Library: If you are using an encyclopedia from a library database, replace the publisher and place of publication with the database name. Example: 'Naga' 2012, in J Bowker (ed.), The concise Oxford dictionary of world religions, Oxford Reference.

Reference list entry

Title Year of release [format], Production company, Place of Publication (if any).

Despicable me 2 2013 [DVD], Universal Studios. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

" ... " (Despicable me 2 2013)

Paraphrase

Reformation of criminals in Despicable me 2 (2013) is explored by…
 

Notes:

  • Enclose the format in square brackets, e.g. [DVD], [VHS], [Blu-ray].

  • Any other details you decide are useful to help further identify the particular source you use can be included after the Place of Publication (e.g. Director's cut). Place a full stop after Place of Publication, list the extra details and place full stops between each different set of details.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial(s)/Organisation Year of publication, Title, Library database, Report number (if any).

Allday, A 2021, Gold ore mining in Australia, IBISWorld, B0804.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Changes in world gold prices and in the value of the Australian dollar will ..." (Allday 2021, p. 9).

Paraphrase

Allday (2021, p. 5) proposes that changes in ... 
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for industry and market reports from Swinburne Library databases.

  • Where there is no author, use the organisation responsible for the report, e.g.  
    Morningstar 2021, Bank of Queensland Limited BOQ, DatAnalysis Premium.

Reference list entry

Lecturer, Initial Year, 'Lecture title', Course code and name, Location online, University name, Date of presentation, viewed Day Month Year.

Lei, Z 2021, ‘Lecture 3. Aircraft evaluation and selection’, AVA10005 Aviation regulation & operation, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 5 April, viewed 12 April 2021. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

This can be summarised as "Passenger data is not the same as seats occupied data" (Lei 2021)

Paraphrase

Lei (2021) noted that data is not always … 
 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for notes you or others made during lectures (either live in a lecture theatre or livestreamed via Confluence on Canvas), or for the Powerpoint slides from the lectures made available via Canvas.
  • If there are any other unique materials made by the lecturer specifically to support that lecture and made available via Canvas (this does not include journal articles, book chapters, documents from authors or organisations outside of Swinburne, etc.), then replace Lecture Title with the title given for the document e.g. ‘Week 3: List of famous air disasters and summaries of investigation findings’.

  • Enclose the lecture title in single quotes.

  • Course code and name are both italicised.

Reference list entry

Treat as per relevant guidelines for information source but add Swinburne Commons, viewed Day Month Year.

Louis, L 2010, Guide to road tunnels part 1: introduction to road tunnels, (AGRT01/10), Swinburne Commons, viewed 28 April 2017.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"…reinforced by 1020 bright steel mesh” (Louis 2010, p. 78).

Paraphrase

…use of reinforced concrete for culverts (Louis 2010, p. 78).

Reference list entry

Author/Organisation Year of publication, Title (or description), Publisher, Place of Publication, leaflet/booklet.

Epworth Richmond 2012?, Allergy challenge procedure, Epworth Richmond, Victoria, leaflet.

In-text reference

Direct quote

" ... " (Epworth Richmond 2012?)

Paraphrase

A brochure from the Epworth Richmond (2012?) demonstrated ...
 

Notes:

  • Use this example for flyers, information sheets, pamphlets, brochures, etc.

  • A leaflet is a single sheet of paper. A booklet is two or more sheets of paper joined together.

  • If there is no author, use the title of the pamphlet or the organisation/publisher as the author.

  • Use c. if you can determine an approximate date; ? for a possible date; and n.d. when no date can be determined at all (Use n.d. very sparingly. Most dates can be roughly determined).

  • If the publisher and/or place of publication cannot be determined, they can be omitted.

In-text reference — Author Year, Day Month

Direct quote

This was confirmed by email (Kelly 2008, 3 July).

Paraphrase

Peter Kelly confirmed this by email (2008, 3 July).
 

Notes:

  • Includes emails, letters, interviews, phone calls, conversations, presentations/public lectures, private social media communications, personal photographs that have not been published or uploaded onto Facebook or Twitter or similar social media platforms, etc. Personal communications should be written directly into your text.

  • A reference list entry is not required, unless your information sources are mostly comprised of personal communications.

  • Get permission from the person you are citing before using their details.

  • Keep hardcopies/printouts of emails and private social media communications as you may be required to prove their existence.

Reference list entry

Author Year of publication, Title, (Standard Number), Library database.


Standards Australia 2020, Risk management - Risk assessment techniques, (AS/NZS ISO 31010:2020), Techstreet Enterprise.

In-text reference

Direct quote

The recommendation from Standards Australia (2020, p. 41) is to: "(combine) with techniques such as nominal group technique ..."

Paraphrase

When determining how to mitigate this problem, the recommendation is to use multiple techniques… (Standards Australia 2020, p. 41). 

Notes:

  • Follow this example for Australian standards, IEEE, ASTM and SAE standards.

  • The standard number should be enclosed in brackets.

  • You must list the library database used to access the standard.

Reference list entry

Author, Initial/s Year of publication, 'Title of thesis', Award, Institution, Location of Institution.

Jiang, J 2013, 'Balancing the roles of paid employment and unpaid caregiving', PhD thesis, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. 

In-text reference

Direct quote

"A caregiver's propensity to leave the workforce ..." (Jiang 2013, p. 40)

Paraphrase

Jiang's (2013) research found... 
 

Notes:

  • Theses are unpublished works, so the title is in single quotes, not italics.

  • For Award, you can use relevant qualification sought, e.g. PhD thesis, Masters thesis, Honours thesis.

  • For a thesis accessed freely online, blend these guidelines with the guidelines for websites, e.g. Taylor, J 2017, 'The role of emotion regulation in compulsive hoarding',  PhD thesis, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 21 November 2017, <https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/d48bf08d-c4dd-4d08-ae2b-239203d9037e/1/Jasmine%20Taylor%20Thesis.pdf>.

Reference list entry

Series title (if any) Year of broadcast [format], Broadcasting station, Day and Month of broadcast.

RN drive 2021 [radio program], ABC Radio National, 5 November.

In-text reference

Direct quote

"Red crabs... " (RN drive 2021)

Paraphrase

Red crabs, during mating season, require special road rules … (RN drive 2021).

Notes:

  • Follow this example for referencing live broadcasts or TV and radio sourced from Library databases.

  • For format use [television program] or [radio program].

  • If there is a unique program title, then the following is used:

    Program Title Year of broadcast [format], Series title (if any), Broadcasting station, Day and Month of broadcast.

    Peter Fitzsimons on Sir John Monash and the battle of Le Hamel 2018 [radio program], ABC Radio Specials, ABC Radio National, 25 April.

  • For podcasts of radio programs, add the date viewed and URL to the podcast file. For example, a segment from a podcast of a radio program:

    How healthy are Aussie teens’ habits? 2021 [radio program], Health report, ABC Radio National, 22 November, viewed 25 November 2021, <https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2021/11/hrt_20211122_1738.mp3>.

    An example of the whole day’s episode of the exact same program (if you are using content from the whole episode):

    Health report 2021 [radio program], ABC Radio National, 22 November, viewed 6 December 2012, <https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2021/11/hrt_20211122.mp3>.

Why do you need to reference correctly?

Academic integrity refers to presenting academic work in a moral, ethical and honest way. It means using ideas, knowledge and information to develop your own insights, but not presenting someone else's work as your own or trying to gain an unfair advantage. It also means acknowledging the work of others when you include it in your work.

Looking for a different referencing style guide?

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