Referencing – Rules, Queries, Harvard etc.

Remember that the requirements to pass referencing for the RAP are that you show competence through adequate and systematic referencing. In essence a reader should be able to read a comment and by matching the intext reference to the same entry in the reference list be able from the information given to track down the original document. Therefore the threshold is lower than if you were doing a PhD

Your marker / the moderator will test some of your references accordingly (they wouldn’t have time normally to test the lot so like with audit sampling would randomly select a few). Provided the markers find the original documents most students would then pass this element (assuming there is adequate referencing in the report)

So getting back to your query: best practice is always name the authors if available to you however you may use xyz et all in the text where there are 3 or more but state the names of them all after xyz et al in the list (otherwise you are ignoring the efforts and contributions of the other 5). With the Nasdaq entry you need to ensure that each document from this source has a unique identifier (as per our Golden Rules) otherwise the markers won’t be able to find the specific one you mean – not an issue if you have only one document from Nasdaq but a definite issue if you have several

Dear traphena
Sorry for the plenty questions but I’m really confused about the graphs and spreadsheet and I could really use your help.
You mentioned in another forum inputting b/s one one tab,I/s another tab and graphs on another.is it Compulsory to type b/s or I/s considering they will be uploaded as an appendic.I just keyed in figures necessary to calculate ratios.

I just inserted graphs from the ratio tab.how do I show my graph was from excel apart from the citation ?

How do I reference the spreadsheet?Can I write source: (xxx,2017) at the top of each tab?

You mentioned something about keeping graph links on excel on another forum i just created graph from excel and pasted in word.is that ok?

Do I need to include the reference on each tab?
The graph confusion is the only issue holding me back from completing the rap but I still need to complete my sls

The reason I said about labelling spreadsheet tabs is that it helps the reader. If there are lots of tabs with no names then they have to hunt around for things. Don’t make things hard for the marker as it won’t gain you anything!

Don’t get into a panic about referencing graphs etc. As long as there are clear headings and years for the financial statements it is pretty obvious where all the figures came from. You should do graphs and ratios all in the same workbook as the financial statements in Excel, then the links will automatically be there. You can paste graphs as images in your report and presentation from Excel

Hello traphena
I want to know if there is a rule against having too many references.i didn’t copy anything and mostly paraphrased.i followed your advice about referencing every fact and I have about 70-80 references on my reference list? Is that ok?
Thanks

Hi Trephena,

Apologies for a second email, I could have included this one in the previous one.

I have to quote a website with Copywrite data is 2011-2017. I put 2017 as a date of the website. Is this the correct way, or should I indicate the range (2011-2017)

Thank you for your help

Gabbi

Hi Trephena,

Thank you very much for your clear reply.

I have another questions. It is not completely clear to me how to refer the picture and checking online I found different reply.

Referring Picture

For example

1) If I have to refer a picture that I take from the same article/website where I got the information and no data of source is available for the picture, I refer the picture with the name of the article author or website. However since I use the same source twice I differentiate them using abc… For example XYZ (2006a) for the article in the text and in the reference list treated as article and XYZ (2006b) for the picture and in the reference list treated as image.

2) if I take the picture in the website/article has the reference I will use them, which refer should I use if I found a source like : Source: Thomson Rueters; CapIQ; Other publicity available source, Strategy& analysis PWC?

Could you please help on this or if you could suggest a website which you consider reliable where I can refer to.
I am very confused how to do so.

Second source information

In addition, I have to refer a second source of information as I could not access the original and I could not find any other similar information anywhere else.

Is that correct if I write in the test something like below

Muller and Hart, 1987 criticize…. (cited in Bertram 1997)

whereas In the reference list I state only Betram 1997 and not Muller and Hart

Really appreciate you help

Gabbi

Gabbi –

1. with your first query you are are misinterpreting the Golden Rules -if the source ‘document’ is the same you use exactly the same reference as previously. You only differentiate using a, b, c etc. when you have different documents from the same author in the same year

2. I am not sure I understand your query here however the important thing to remember is that the reader needs to be able to see your reference in the text, find it EASILY in the list and then be able to track through to the original document / source. In Part 3 of our Ultimate Guide to Referencing your RAP there are some suggested links o websites about referencing

3. As you mention Bertram in the text it is fine to use this in the list

4. With the Times Don’t worry too much -it is more a concern with less ubiquitous sources (random websites) that disappear. Reference fully to the Times in your list but also put in the link which bypasses it in your list then the problem is solved

Your reference list should be one alphabetical list – DON’T segregate it into online and non online sources otherwise the marker has to hunt around to find things – keep it simple!

Hi Trephena,

Sorry for the other email.

I have a similar situation when I refer to the company website but getting information from different parts of the website which have different link.

If I use the same reference for both, examiner will be able to reach the correct source for one but not for the second. That why I use the letter a/b/c to be able to link the reference to the correct URL.

Is that correct, or is there a different way how to deal with this case

Thanks

Gabbi

Hi Trephena,

Thank you for the clarification.

I had few more doubts that I wrote in different post. I hope you could help me to clarify them as well. thanks in advance for your support

As pictures have different reference style than article, if i use the same source of reference in the text it will be not fully correct in the reference list as the picture will be refer as an article or vice versa.

What should I do in this case? Use a,b,c

In relation point 4 I did not understand fully how I should treat FT article.

In my reference list I put the link that I used to access to the article, but for some reasons it is not possible to access to the same article from the same link unless you subscribe to FT. My concern is that the examiner will not be able to get the article from the link unless they search it online by title.

Should I leave my reference list as I did?

Thank you very much for your help

Kind Regards

Gabbi

You do not need to worry about all of the minutiae.

Just get on and submit!

This question belongs on the ‘referencing thread !

It is normal to put the book or article title in italics but as I have commented in the Referencing Article (on our homepage) you are only expected to demonstrate adequate referencing skills and perfection is not demanded.

@trephena
I have a few last minute queries before I submit,
1. For website articles that I could not find a publication date, I have included the date of copyright of the website. Is that okay or should I stick to n.d
2. When referencing annual reports that I have obtained online, I have not included a page reference. The reports have more than 50 pages. From your previous posts I understand that a page reference is necessary. Could you please give me an example of how I should cite and refer annual reports with a page reference?
(Also, I have used information from the Annual Reports on multiple occasions, but only from 4 consecutive pages from the entire report. Would it be okay to reference the set of pages once instead on specifying which page exactly multiple times?)
Thank you so much for your invaluable support!

You are confusing two concepts. References relate to documents / sources that provide supporting evidence for statements made in the text – these must then be listed by title etc in the Reference list. Such documents can be financial statements.

Appendices are details that supply additional information that may be useful to the reader but would clutter up a report if included in their entirety in the report itself. They can comprise, tables, schedules, charts. They may also be the ACTUAL financial statements.

Please see the Harvard Referencing Forum and also consult the Open Tuition Uptimate Guide to Referencing your RAP
(Particularly Part 2 ) Available on our homepage http://www.opentuition.com/OBU to learn about how to reference appropriately