Please note that for the new 2023/24 academic year UHI will move to a new Harvard referencing system known as Cite Them Right (12th edition). This page introduces the Harvard referencing system and outlines the support available in the Cite Them Right website.
When you submit work for assessment it is important that you credit where the ideas and information you have used originated. This could be from books, journals, websites, lectures, television programmes and so on. Most of the courses at the University of the Highlands and Islands require you to use the system called Harvard Referencing.
It also demonstrates to your lecturer that you have carried out background reading and have a thorough understanding of the issues being discussed. Anyone who reads your essay or assignment in future can then follow your work and find the references you used to construct your arguments. Perhaps most importantly, it shows you are not passing off someone else's work as your own. Plaigarism is covered in the second section of this guide.
Please jump down to Other referencing styles to see alternatives to Harvard used on History, Theology and Psychology degrees.
This video introduces the key concepts of referencing and provides a brief overview of the materials and support available on the Cite Them Right website.
Harvard Referencing is a two-part system where you indicate briefly in the text of your assignment that you are using someone else’s idea (an in-text citation), and then provide a List of References at the end of your work, giving full details of everything you have cited. You need to do this not just when you quote directly, but also when you summarise or paraphrase ideas attributable to someone else.
UHI is adopting Harvard Cite Them Right (12th edition) as its main referencing system from August 2023.
Cite Them Right is a referencing guide and website which details how to cite and reference a wide variety of sources, including books, eBooks, articles, websites, images and much more. If you are unsure how to acknowledge any source, Harvard Cite Them Right is the best place to check. In this example, the site provides the format for the in-text citation and the entry on the reference list.
In addition to this, there are a number of short articles that will help you with various aspects of referencing including:
RefWorks is a web-based reference management tool that allows you to manage your references. You can use it to organise, store and share your references, and to quickly create citations and bibliographies.
If you are new to referencing, you might consider completing the Cite Them Right tutorial which covers the main principles.
The tutorial takes roughly one hour to complete and is broken down into shorter sections of around five minutes. Along with introducing the main aspects of referencing, there are quizzes throughout to test your knowledge an understanding of the subject. Please note that you will have to create an account on the Cite Them Right website in order to save you progress when undertaking the assessment. A personal account is not required to view the tutorial.
When you launch the tutorial, it will ask you to choose which referencing style you are using. This will be Harvard unless you have been instructed to use something else by your tutor/lecturer.
In addition to the Cite Them Right website, the library service has multiple copies of the accompanying Cite Them Right textbook (12th edition) and also an electronic version of the book which can be accessed via Library Search. If you are using it throughout your course, you might consider purchasing a copy of the textbook which is available for around £15 at many retailers.
Cite Them Right by Although Harvard Cite Them Right will be the main style that is recommended and supported by the university and library service, a number of courses use alternative styles. These include, but are not limited to:
Cite Them Right supports other non-Harvard styles and information will be available on the support site. Please check with your lecturer/tutor to ensure that you are using the correct style for your course.
Please note that students at Highland Theological College should refer to the CIte Them Right MHRA style which differs from Harvard.
Students on these courses will also use the Cite Them Right MHRA
Psychology courses use APA style from 1st year and it is also used in the MSc conversion course. The guide produced by the Psychology Department is available in the Psychology Cybercafe on Brightspace, and in each of the psychology modules. Further details can be found on the American Psychological Association's extensive website APA Style.
Cite Them Right can also be used to produce APA 7th edition references.
History
All History/Scottish History modules use the Humanities Referencing style and you can find a full referencing guide for this style below. Please speak to your tutor if you are unsure which referencing style to use for your module.
Although UHI Harvard will no longer be updated or supported, it is at the tutors' discretion as to whether they accept submissions using UHI Harvard in the third and fourth year of courses and postgraduate courses or move immediately to Cite Them Right. Please check with them to ensure you are using the correct system. A link will be provided to the old UHI Harvard guide on these pages for those who still require it. This link will be removed at the end of the 24/25 academic year.
From 25/26 all students will be using Cite Them Right with some small exceptions that are outlined above.
Full UHI Harvard referencing guide (English version):
