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Referencing and Plagiarism: Frequently asked questions

'Old' texts

When citing and referencing ‘old’ texts, such as the works of Shakespeare, Plato or Marx, it is important to refer to the version of the text that you’ve read. For example, although the original copy of a text may have been published in 1867, if this isn’t the edition you’ve read, you need to reference the edition you consulted, stating which edition it is and the year it was published.

Communicating the gender of authors

It is important to use the Harvard style in your reference list, which means you only use the initial letters of the author’s given name. If you wish to communicate the gender of the authors, you can do this in the body of your work by referring to the full name of the author:

A recent study by Carol Smith (Smith, 2020) revealed that blue eyes were more common than brown eyes in the U.K. However, the findings were challenged in a study funded by the Ophthalmic Lens Association (Jones, 2015) …

Publications in a language other than English

If you are referencing a book or journal article written in a language other than English, you should either give the title exactly as it appears on the page, or an English translation of it with the original language acknowledged.

Whichever method you choose, you must be consistent with all other references to such works in your reference list.

Exactly as it appears on the page:

Garcia, M. and Martin, F. (2009) Socios 2: curso basico de espanol orientado al mundo del trabajo: libro del professor. Barcelona: Difusion.

English translation with the original language acknowledged:

Garcia, M. and Martin, F. (2009) Series 2: basic Spanish course about the world of work: tutor book (in Spanish). Barcelona: Difusion.

Publications translated into English

For a book or journal article translated into English you should include the translator’s details and the original language from which it has been translated:

Canetti, E. (2000) Crowds and power. Translated from the German by Stewart, C. London: Phoenix.

Note: The date given will be the date of the translation you have used, not the date of first publication of the work in the original language.

Publications with multiple places of publication

Sometimes books have information about the location of several places of publication. For example, they may list London and New York. You should choose the place that appears most prominently. If two or more place names appear equally prominently in association with one publisher, distributor, producer, etc., only the first place name should be given.