Harvard system of referencing

The name Harvard is often given to a system of academic referencing. Another name for this is the author-date system. The name author-date is preferable for two reasons.

First, author-date identifies the main element of the system concisely. It consists of naming a source by using only two words, in a way that allows the reader to find it more precisely. (One of the advantages of the system is that it also allows the reader to ignore the detail of the source and continue to read the text with the minimum of distraction.)

Second, the University of Harvard does not normally use the sytem. A Head of Department there said "It looks to me like what we call the Social Science system." The name may owe something to academic snobbery: Harvard is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and by using its name, sacholars and students may be seeking to bask in its reflected glory. More to the point, thes sytem seems to have been developed in Harvard

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