Medicine & Health Sciences: Citing & Referencing

Click on the image below to access the 3rd edition of the Glucksman Library's Cite It Right: Guide to Harvard Referencing Style.

Reference management software can help you:

The Harvard UL EndNote style has been updated to reflect the changes made to the Harvard style that UL uses as laid out in the 2014 edition of Cite It Right 3rd Edition.

To install Harvard UL_2014, download the style below and open the file in EndNote Desktop. Then follow the instructions for adding an additional referencing style to Endnote detailed in the box above.

The PDF document below details some additional instructions on how to use the different reference types in EndNote Harvard UL_2014 style in order to match exactly the item types included in the Cite It Right 3rd Edition.

Referencing acknowledges the books, articles, websites, and any other material used in the writing of a paper, essay or thesis.

1. Essential Elements of Referencing

• Citing: referring to sources you quote within your document. This brief citation refers the reader to the exact place in your reference list or bibliography where you will provide the extended details of the source.
• Reference list: the detailed list of sources that have been cited within the text. Every reference must have enough information for the reader to find the source again.
• Bibliography: a list of all references consulted in preparing the document, whether cited or not.

This is an example of in-text citing (citations are in bold for demonstration only):

The early 21st century has seen the development of a global epidemic of obesity, as emphasised by a growing body of articles, popular books, and most recently the movie Supersize Me (Spurlock 2004). To prevent obesity, habits need to be changed and dietary education as part of the school curriculum is key (MacDonald 1997, p.78). It is clear that to decrease obesity levels in populations, significant sociological changes will need to take place.

This is how the entries would look in your reference list:

Macdonald, G. (1997) ‘Innovation diffusion and health education in schools’, in Sidell, M., Jones, L., Katz, J. and Peberdy, A., eds., Debates and dilemmas in promoting health, London: Open University, 55-83.

Spurlock, M. (2004) Supersize me: a film of epic proportions [film], Beverly Hills: Roadside Attractions.

2. Plagiarism

Passing off another scholar’s work as your own is plagiarism and is considered a major disciplinary offence. Read more about plagiarism in Chapter 6 and Appendix 3 of the UL Student Handbook.

Turnitin.com is used at the University of Limerick to check for instances of plagiarism in students’ work. Check with your department with any questions about the use of Turnitin.

3. Harvard (Name-Date) referencing style

Many departments in the University of Limerick recommend a style based on the Harvard (Name-Date) referencing style. There are variations and interpretations within the Harvard referencing style. This guide gives you a version of Harvard based on ISO 690:2010 and BS 5605:1990 approved by UL, hereafter called Harvard UL. However, you should check which style or variation your department or thesis supervisor recommends. Whatever referencing style you are required to follow you must ensure:

• Consistent application of the rules of whatever variation you are following;
• Acknowledgement of all sources;
• Sufficient bibliographic detail to enable your reader to locate the item to which you are referring.

4. Referencing styles by discipline or subject

In addition to the Harvard UL style, there are several other styles used in the University of Limerick as other styles are more appropriate to specific disciplines or subjects such as:

• History – The Irish Historical Society (IHS). See the Rules for Contributors on http://irishhistoricalstudies.ie/.
• Law – OSCOLA Ireland based on the OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) standard. See http://www.legalcitation.ie/ for more information.
• Culture and communication – MLA Style (Modern Language Association)
• Psychology – APA Style (American Psychological Association)

There are thousands of other referencing styles including:

• ASME Citation Style (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
• Chicago Manual of Style / Turabian Citation Style
• IEEE Citation Style (Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers)
• Vancouver Citation Style

If submitting a paper to a publisher, you should check with them to see if there is a particular style that they would like you to use.

For further information on how to cite and sample references see Cite It Right.

In addition to Cite It Right there are several other referencing guides available in the Library and these can be found at shelfmark 808+. Some examples are shown below: