A Few Differences Between the Harvard System and the APA System

Ke Ping

Frequently used in Translation Studies, the Harvard Referencing System is like the APA Referencing system in that both are Name and Date systems. It is basically the same as the APA System (which is also used in Translation Studies). A few differences, however, exist between the two systems, which may be regarded as indicators of the kind of specific standard format (writing style) a thesis, a paper, or a book uses:

(1) The list of references included at the end of a document is named “Reference List” in the Harvard System instead of “References” as in the APA System.

(2) The title of a paper is enclosed within quotation marks in the “Reference List” in the Harvard System, but not done so in the APA System.

(2) An edited work is marked with “ed[s].” or “edited by {NB: the first letter is not capitalized}” in the “Reference List” in the Harvard System but “(Ed[s].).” in the “References” in the APA System. The “ed[s].” or “edited by” indicator and the name[s] of the editor[s] follows the title of the edited work in the Harvard System but precedes the title of the edited work in the APA System.

(3) The first letter in each content word in the title of a citation (cited source) in the Harvard System is sometimes capitalized. In the APA System, however, only the first letter of the first word in the title and subtitle of a citation is capitalized. The date of publication of a citation is sometimes NOT parenthesized in the “Reference List” in the Harvard System but always parenthesized in the “References” in the APA System. Also, in the Harvard System the page number of the cited work in the in-text citation is sometimes introduced with a colon, e.g. “(Mundy, 2001: 30)”, instead of “p.” or “pp.”, e.g. “(Mundy, 2001, p. 30)”, as in the APA System. For examples, consult the References section of most books on translation studies published by St Jerome Publishing and visit the University of Auckland Library’s “Harvard Referencing Style” page (http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/cite/harvex.htm; http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/ref/harvard.htm), and the Queensland University of Technology Library’s “Referencing Using Harvard Style” (http://www.library.qut.edu.au/subjectpath/Harvard.jsp).

Examples from a reference list in the Harvard Style:

Blaxter, M. 1976. Social class and health inequalities, in Equalities and inequalities in health, edited by Carl J. Carter. London: Academic Press: 120-135.

Wharton, N. 1996. Health and safety in outdoor activity centres. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership, 12(4): 8-9.

Sopensky, E. 2002. Chocolate makes money, Business Journal. 3(1): 20-24. (accessed April 14, 2004, from ProQuest database).

Dawson, J., Deubert, K., Grey-Smith, S. & Smith, L. 2002. 'S' Trek 6: Referencing, not plagiarism. [Online]. Available from: http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/guides/studytrekk/strek6.html. [4 September 2004].

(4)* To provide the access information when referencing electronic sources, “Retrieved __[Month]__[Day], __[Year], from __[Url] ” is used in the APA System, while in the Harvard System, the following format is used:

Lindfors, A-M. (2001). Respect or Ridicule: Translation Strategies and the Images of A Foreign Culture. Helsinki English studies [online], I. Available from: http://www.eng.helsinki.fi/hes/Transltion [Accessed 12 July 2001].

In the case of personal electronic communication, the sequence is:

Bowker, L. (Ibowker@uottawa.ca), 5 October 2001. RE: Corpus-based Translation Studies. E-mail to J. Williams (jenny.williams@dcu.ie).

* The examples under (3) and (4) are taken respectively from the University of Auckland Library’s “Harvard Referencing Style” page (http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/ref/harvard.htm) and Jenny Williams & Andrew Chesterman’s A Beginner’s Guide to Doing Research in Translation Studies. (Manchester, UK: St. Jerome Publishing. 2002).

Drafted on December, 2004. Revised on January, 2007.