

Written by
Dr Jana Martiskova
The most common style of referencing,which is most commonly used in dissertations is the Harvard referencing system.
Here’s why!
The main purpose of a research report, thesis or dissertation is to make original discovery which makes a significant impact on the field that the research is conducted on.
The most important feature of the research report is originality which means that if there are any direct or indirect quotes that have been taken from another source, it needs to be acknowledged so to avoid plagiarism.
Hence, dissertation referencing is one of the most important components of a research document. The Harvard referencing style is one of the most commonly used referencing methods, which consists of the author-date style of citation, where the name of the author and the date of the publication are mentioned after the paragraph that has been referred which is later described in the appendix section of the dissertation.
For example, Jones, Harris, Smith, Gold (1992) – this you will use the first time in your dissertation.
You will use Jones et al (1992) throughout the rest of the document
Author or editor’s name (or names), year the book was published, title of the book (mention edition if it is other than first) and the name of the publisher.
In conclusion, one way to make sure that you don’t miss out on providing a proper dissertation reference for any direct quotes in your dissertation is by noting down the sources (for example, you can note down the book name with author) from the beginning of your research process and maintain a separate sheet for the references. This sheet can later be merged and coordinated with your dissertation report.