Harvard referencing ?

nightrider1470 · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:07

Just wondering if its ok to reference information your teacher has taught you in class ? and how you would go about referencing it ?

Not sure if this allowed, it doesn't give any examples in my handbook

Psycho Sonny · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:10

nightrider1470 said:
Just wondering if its ok to reference information your teacher has taught you in class ? and how you would go about referencing it ?

Not sure if this allowed, it doesn't give any examples in my handbook

lol no, you cannot do that, it has to be from a book, article or report, etc. which has been published.

Psycho Sonny · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:11

i used this to do it correctly

http://www.neilstoolbox.com/bibliography-creator/index.htm

you type in all the info and it creates the reference for you

Morgoth · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:11

If it's well accepted information then you don't need to reference it. Otherwise, as above.

shine · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:12

Look here:

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/uniservices/infoservices/library/find/references/harvard/index.php

nydryl · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:17

Psycho Sonny said:
lol no, you cannot do that, it has to be from a book, article or report, etc. which has been published.

Referencing lecture notes can be fine, depending on the level of the work, and as long as it's done properly.

dfarrall · 29 Sep 2011 at 12:01

Referencing lectures is fine. Even well accepted information needs to be referenced to show were you learnt it from, or proof that it is well accepted.
Put it this way, you cant really over-reference.

Hunders · 29 Sep 2011 at 12:05

I'm in my second year and have been told that referencing lectures is not fine. Best to ask the lecturer/module leader/tutor if in doubt.

dfarrall · 29 Sep 2011 at 12:10

Hunders said:
I'm in my second year and have been told that referencing lectures is not fine. Best to ask the lecturer/module leader/tutor if in doubt.

Must differ per uni/module.

Probably best to ask each lecturer then.

.Lethal · 29 Sep 2011 at 12:44

Morgoth said:
If it's well accepted information then you don't need to reference it. Otherwise, as above.

You're on about common knowledge. ie: The sun is round - you wouldn't reference that.

nydryl said:
Referencing lecture notes can be fine, depending on the level of the work, and as long as it's done properly.

Referencing lecture notes is frowned upon because the information didn't come from the teacher - it came from a resource. You should speak to the teacher and ask where s/he got his information from.

Whilst some may claim to have done this, I doubt you have the same teacher that they did.

KiTBoH · 29 Sep 2011 at 13:10

Psycho Sonny said:
lol no, you cannot do that, it has to be from a book, article or report, etc. which has been published.

We were allowed to reference things that lecturers had put in writing. i.e. powerpoints and handouts.

grumpysculler · 29 Sep 2011 at 13:15

What you can reference depends on who is reading it and what they consider acceptable.

Anything you like can be referenced - with "Private Conversation" being the worst of the worst but still permissible in some circumstances and seen in papers.

If it's course notes, the same info will probably be somewhere in a textbook. Reference textbook, job done.

For a paper, I would not think for a moment about referencing lecture notes. For an internal uni assignment, maybe but it depends on what the marker thinks.

Aod · 29 Sep 2011 at 13:18

I referenced a private conversation in a piece of coursework last year at Uni. I was unsure how to proceed so i emailed my lecturer who told me to use "Private conversation" and mention the qualifications of the person i was talking with.

Worked out fine

Best bet is to ask your lecturer or Tutor as i suspect it'll vary from university to university.

Morgoth · 29 Sep 2011 at 14:26

.Lethal said:
You're on about common knowledge. ie: The sun is round - you wouldn't reference that.

Not really, I'm on about most general stuff you find in undergrad texts. Most people don't know about phases of DNA replication but you wouldn't reference it during work because it's well established fact.

.Lethal · 29 Sep 2011 at 14:28

Morgoth said:
Not really, I'm on about most general stuff you find in undergrad texts. Most people don't know about phases of DNA replication but you wouldn't reference it during work because it's well established fact.

Hmm odd that I've been told the opposite - that if it isn't common knowledge then you reference it.

This seems that its a case of where you study and what you're told to do so best case for the OP would to check with their place of study.

dfarrall · 29 Sep 2011 at 14:47

Morgoth said:
Not really, I'm on about most general stuff you find in undergrad texts. Most people don't know about phases of DNA replication but you wouldn't reference it during work because it's well established fact.

Thats a perfect example of something you would reference..

Dunks · 29 Sep 2011 at 15:00

dfarrall said:
Thats a perfect example of something you would reference..

If you were writing a paper in a closely related field, or even on DNA, you don't need to reference the 'most basic' of information.

I wouldn't reference that nor would I reference DNA even comes from for example, which seems to be the route you're going down

Morgoth · 29 Sep 2011 at 15:03

Dunks said:
If you were writing a paper in a closely related field, or even on DNA, you don't need to reference the 'most basic' of information.

I wouldn't reference that nor would I reference DNA even comes from for example, which seems to be the route you're going down

This. In each field there is a degree of assumed knowledge.