The author-date, or Harvard, style of referencing is widely accepted in academic publications, although you may see a number of variations in the way it is used.
The information and examples on these pages are based on the last print edition of the Australian Government's Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edition (2002).
This style of referencing requires that you acknowledge the source of your information or ideas in two ways:
- in the text of your work, in-text citations (using the author's surname and the year), and
- in a reference list at the end of your essay, which contains a full alphabetical list of all the references you have cited and full reference details.