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

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The '''author-date system''' is an alternative way of referring to the [[Harvard referencing|Harvard system]] of [[academic referencing]].  It seems a better name, for two reasons.
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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.'')
  
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First, it is more logical.  The name '''author-date''' points to one of the distinguishing features of this way for academics to refer to their sources.  It is designed to interrupt a paper 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. These two words point to a '''List of References''' at the end of the paper or book being written. The '''Reference List''' gives all the bibliographical information needed for the reader to track down the source being used, whether to check it or to find further information.
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*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 [[bibliography|bibliographical detail]]s in the List of References. For more detail on how to put a reference in the <u>text</u> of your writing, see [[Author-date in your text]].  
  
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The second reason for preferring the name '''author-date system''' is that Harvard University (in the United States) does not universally recognise this name.  The way of referring to a source in the abbreviated way of using only these two pieces of information seems to have been used first at Harvard; but according to at least one of the staff ('Faculty') there, "It sounds like what we call the Social Science system".  The referencing system was apparently first used[1] by Edward Laurens Mark (1847-1946), professor of anatomy and director of the zoological laboratory at Harvard University in a paper published in 1881.[2] The system was developed by Mark from the cataloguing system of the library in the laboratory of which he was director
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*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]].
  
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==References==
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To put that in another way:
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1 Chernin, Eli. "The "Harvard System: a mystery dispelled," British Medical Journal vol 297 October 22, 1988, 1062-1063.  
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*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.
  
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2  Mark, Edward Laurens. "Maturation, fecundation, and segmentation of Limax campestris', Binney, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 1881;6 (part 2, No 12): 173-625.  
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(''The reason for preferring the name '''author-date system''' is that Harvard University (in the United States) does not use this system.)
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[[category:referencing]]
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[[category:referencing]] [[category:Academic culture]] [[category:Academic English]]

Latest revision as of 15:53, 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.)

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