Whenever you refer to another person's work in your own essay, dissertation or article you must acknowledge them and give full details of your source. You risk being accused of plagiarism if you fail to do so.
For general information on referencing, including an explanation of different citation systems, and guidance on citing specific types of publication, see our Citing references guide.
The Department of Philosophy does not specify a particular style of referencing. The guidance given on this guide is for the Harvard style of referencing. For help with citing specific types of publication contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.
For advice on using references in your work, and how to use them to support your arguments, consult the guidance on the Study Advice website or make an appointment with them.
The examples in this box use the Harvard referencing system. This is an adaptable referencing system, using author-date in-text citations, and you may see slight differences between the Harvard style used by one University Department, compared with another. The key is to stick with one version and be consistent.
Whichever referencing system you choose to use, you must provide a page number for all in-text citations or footnotes.
This box contains reference examples of the most common publication types, using the Cite them right version of Harvard. For further help with citing specific types of publication, contact your Academic Liaison Librarian or consult Cite them right online (see below). A print and e-book version is also available via the library catalogue, Enterprise.
Cite Them Right. 12th ed. by When citing someone’s work in your assignments you should include the author(s), year of publication and page number(s) in brackets in the text, e.g.
(Stratton-Lake, 2000, p. 16).
The citation must be within the sentence to which it refers, usually either at the beginning or end of the sentence unless a comparison is being made, in which case the authors concerned must be cited as appropriate within the sentence.
When referring to edited, multi-authored books, just cite the author(s) of that chapter and only include the editor(s) in the full reference in the bibliography.
If two or more sources are cited within a sentence then they should be cited in date priority, e.g. (Williams, 1949; Evans, 1969; Jones, 1999).
If there are two references for the same author in the same year, then use a letter postscript, e.g. 2009a, 2009b, etc in your citation and in the reference list/bibliography.
Book with a single author
Citation in the text: Goldman (2013, p. 82) stated….. or “…value of such works lies in their capacity to challenge" (Goldman, 2013, p. 82).
Reference in the bibliography:
Goldman, A. (2013) Philosophy and the novel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Book chapter
Citation in the text: “….. (Judson, 2010, p. 32).”
Reference in the bibliography:
Judson, L. (2010) 'Carried away in the Euthyphro', in C. David (ed.) Definition in Greek philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-60.
Please note that the journal issue number within a volume (if needed) is within brackets. For online articles, there is no need to give the DOI or URL, unless the article is only available online.
Journal article with a single author (available in print and online)
Citation in the text: ... (Dixon, 2021, p. 208)
Reference in the bibliography:
Dixon, J. (2021) 'Moral disagreement scepticism leveled', Ratio 34(3), pp. 203-216.
Journal article with a single author (online only)
Kubala, R. (2020) 'Aesthetic obligations', Philosophy Compass 15(12), e12712. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12712 (Accessed: 13 December 2021).
You should avoid citing webpages unless you are clear of their quality and suitability for inclusion in academic work. See the link at the bottom of the page for more information about evaluating webpages.
Where citation of a web-based source is necessary, adopt the following format and citation order in the Bibliography:
Author/Organisation [if identifiable] (year) Title of article/webpage [in italics]. Available at: http: // internet address (Accessed: Day Month Year).
The citation in the text should be by author, date and page number, as with other sources. If there are no page numbers, provide an alternative, such as a line, section or paragraph number.
Citation in the text: “….. (Wenar, 2011, 2.1.7)
Reference in the bibliography:
Wenar, L. (2020) 'Rights', in Zalta, E. N. (ed.) Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights (Accessed 13 December 2021).
Can't identify the author?
If you can identify the organisation responsible for the website, then use their name as the author e.g. Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society. If this is not possible, then use the page title or an abbreviation thereof.
Citation in the text: “….. (Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, 2014, para. 3).”
Reference in the bibliography:
Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society (2018) 'Trattenbach 1920-1922 ', Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society. Available at: https://www.alws.at/de/trattenbach-1920-1922/ (Accessed 13 December 2021).
Can't tell what date is was created or updated?
Look for an updated date at the foot of the page. If you can’t find one, you may state (no date) in place of the year of publication/creation.
Given the impact of ChatGPT and other writing tools based on Generative Artificial Intelligence, students are reminded that their work must be referenced and drawn from their own research. This means that all quotes, paraphrased content, factual details and applied arguments must be referenced clearly in line with the departmental style guide and all in-text citations/footnotes should include page numbers. This allows lecturers/tutors to check and cross-reference assessed work. Students must be able to demonstrate where the information used in their work comes from, particularly if reading is drawn from outside of the module reading list.
Further information about Generative Artificial Intelligence and university study may be found via the following guide produced by the Study Advice team: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/generative-AI-and-university-study
All references cited in the text should be listed in the 'Reference list' / 'Bibliography'. They should be listed in alphabetical order by author.
When you do your dissertation you could consider using EndNote to manage your references. This bibliographic management package can be used to store references, and then insert the citation in your Word document, automatically building the bibliography for you in the correct style.
Find out more on our EndNote webpages:
For information on other options for electronic management of your references see our guide to Managing references:
