I don't mind Harvard Referencing really, my uni has a really good guide so I find it pretty easy now, and I can always refer back to it if I have to reference something new. The only time I get really annoyed is when I have lost a journal article that I need to reference and I have to spend ages searching for it again.
We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken
I'm so glad that we're not allowed to include footnotes! When I was at Lancaster, I was doing three subjects and they all had different ways of referencing. It was beyond confusing! Thankfully it's just the one now, as irritating as APA is.
Urghhh I used to be able to reference however I wanted as long as it was sensible and accurate. I would also be able to hand in a typed copy/email an essay. Now I have to use the Harvard system and Turnitin. Grrrrr.
Always seem to get things just that little bit wrong.
"don't wish, don't start, wishing only wounds the heart"
We have to use Harvard Referencing for our assignments too. I HATE it.
I had the referencing guide open whilst doing my last assignment and I still couldn't get my head around it.
I also forgot to put it in alphabetical order for my other assignment. Luckily I'd handed it in early so was allowed to resubmit >.<
But... Microsoft Word has a Harvard Referencing button? My department use "a version" of Harvard British Standard referencing. There is no button for that :( I thought I'd use the nice, convenient citation tool for this essay, clicked the 'Insert Bibliography' button and then realised the bits which ought to be italicised weren't, the bold bits weren't bold, the brackets were missing... it was a disaster :(
(I think my "version of" Harvard looks pretty though... when there are no websites in my bibliography)
Footnotes are apparently worse - a few of my friends took a music course as an elective and were dying trying to work out that method of referencing xD
Mines a music course...well music technology anyway so not quite the same.
I don't get footnotes at all so I hope I don't ever have to use them.
Our tutor was really nice and told us a Mozilla add on that does your referencing for you and you can choose from a few styles but it only references books and stuff like that, not websites. It annoyed me because most of my references were from websites xD
I think some people get scared and end up over-complicated referencing. If you reference as you go, and keep a decent list of what resources you have used then things are quite straight forward.
It is a bit annoying when different departments want things referenced differently, but they know what they like and they stick with it.
I reference as I go, but then realise half way through a counselling essay that I've used education Harvard, not standard Harvard and have to edit it all again, and I get really confused about it. (And my department keep revising their referencing guide so we have to reference differently each year so there is no point whatsoever in learning how to do it cause as soon as you do, it changes!)
I don't see why they don't just make a universal referencing system though? Surely that would uncomplicate things?
I don't see why they don't just make a universal referencing system though? Surely that would uncomplicate things?
Different disciplines require different things, mainly because their work is simply laid out differently. In essay-based subjects something like Harvard (or similar) could be universal, but it wouldn't really suit law essays (which normally require footnotes), or science-based reports. And then you get those crazy folks who cross the arts/humanities/social science and reports-based science divide, who will use a referencing system most suited to their work.
" my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never, never leave you during your times of trials and suffering. When you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you" you were carried out of are lifes into the next and when its my time to leave this life I know i will be carried into the next life with you.
I wish i had my world complete again.
'Can we protend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, i could really use a wish right now' BoB
I never found referencing difficult, just annoying/time consuming. But then I mostly used to just copy and paste references from scopus etc and just re-format if necessary. Frustrating if full journal is listed and you have to reference the abbreviated version though. And I'm sure I always used to forget commas.
My favorite citation styles in order are: AAA style (a Chicago variant), Chicago, Harvard, APA, Bluebook, and last MLA. Harvard is straightforward compared to some styles.
NAME THE CITATION STYLE:
Last, FI. MI. (Year). Title. Place: Publisher.
First Last, Title (Year).
Last, First. Title. Place: Publisher, Year. Print.
Last, FI. MI. Year. Title. Place: Publisher.
First Last, Title. Place: Publisher, Year.
Last edited by Freedom Fighter : 04-01-2013 at 11:55 PM.
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"
Thomas Parke D’Invilliers
Different disciplines require different things, mainly because their work is simply laid out differently. In essay-based subjects something like Harvard (or similar) could be universal, but it wouldn't really suit law essays (which normally require footnotes), or science-based reports. And then you get those crazy folks who cross the arts/humanities/social science and reports-based science divide, who will use a referencing system most suited to their work.
But what I don't understand is why different subjects require different styles. Surely they can make an epic new type?
But what I don't understand is why different subjects require different styles. Surely they can make an epic new type?
I don't think any current referencing style really manages to properly suit all the disciplines. Some subjects (law jumps out at me, but there will be more) require footnotes for referencing specific things, whereas other subjects will use footnotes to add in some extra information. Those two methods would never be able to properly mix. Reports are laid out and written in entirely different ways from essays, and their referencing can often reflect that.
If there was a style that could be perfect for every discipline then it would probably have been created by now, or people just don't think it is really needed. As long as you are consistent in your referencing, and do it as you go, it can be quite straightforward.
