Thread by @drvicclarke

1/ A thread about Harvard referencing style. My message for students is always use whatever Harvard style you like just use it consistently. What I've realised is that students struggle with the consistently bit because they haven't been taught where the choices are. So here's a

2/ thread on some of these choices. First up Harvard is a generic style where you cite author name(s) + publication date in the main text & then have a separate list of references at the end. There are lots of different versions of Harvard - APA, lots of unis have their own

3/ many publishers have their own Harvard house style... so Harvard & APA are not different styles. APA is Harvard! Okay so in the main text you typically cite the author last name & publication date. Eg (Braun & Clarke, 2006)... Different versions of Harvard give you different

4/ options for formatting this - these are seriously pedantic! Do you have a comma after the author name & before the date or not? (Braun 2006) or (Braun, 2006)

If 2 authors do you use and or an ampersand (Braun & Clarke, 2006) or (Braun and Clarke, 2006)?

If 3 or more authors

5/ Say hello to et al. an abbreviation of et alia (meaning and all). Do you have a full stop after al or not? Or do you spell out alia in full (rare but not unheard of!)?

If you're quoting from a source & need to cite page numbers there are so many options for formatting these!

6/ (Braun & Clarke, 2006: 74) or (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 74) are probably the most widely used (so a colon or p. with p=page), but there are others (eg in an adverse to punctuation style Braun and Clarke 2006 p 74). In the reference list itself there are even more choices.

7/ Comma after the author name or not? Full stop after the initials or not? If 2+ initials a space between them or not? Braun, V or Braun V? Braun, V. or Braun, V? Braun, V.V. or Braun, V. V.? In a reference with 2 authors a comma after the first author or not? Braun, V., or

8/ Braun, V.? Then there's the familiar choice between and or &. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. or Braun, V. and Clarke, V.? Then you have the publication date - in brackets or not? Followed by a full stop or not? Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). or Braun V and Clarke V 2006? Now the

9/ title - all CAPS or not? CAPS on the title but not the subtitle? CAPS on first word in the title and subtitle? Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology or Using thematic analysis in psychology for eg? At the end of the title a full stop or a comma? Or nothing... It's unusual for

10/ the journal title not to be all CAPS. If there's a and/& in the title - make sure you have this right as these aren't interchangeable. So we're all CAPS for the journal title - but is it bold, italics or plain text? Abbreviated or not? Let's go with Qualitative Research in

11/ Psychology... after the journal title is there a comma or not? Next is the volume number. This can be followed by the issue number eg 3(1) You must have an issue no if the page numbers for each issue start at 0. If they run on from the previous issue (in a vol) the issue no

12/ isn't crucial but may still be preferred in some versions of Harvard. There's also variation in how the vol and issue no are formatted 3(1) or 3:1 are two common options. Do you have a comma after the vol/issue number? Finally how do you format the page span? There are so

13/ many options! 3(1), pp. 274-285 (pp = page to page) and 3(1): 274-285 are two of many possibilities. So the point of this thread isn't to provide a definitive guide to a style but to highlight where there can be variation in formatting. This variation can be hard to grasp...

14/ but when I say to my students be consistent what I'm hoping for is they spot how their chosen version of Harvard makes these decisions. Hopefully if you know whether there's a full stop after the date in the reference list it's a bit easier to check/proof read for this. I

15/ realise of course this is easier for some than others and pretty impossible for some...