Difference Between APA and Harvard Referencing

Key Difference – APA vs Harvard Referencing
 

Referencing is an important activity that should be accurately known by academic researchers and students. Academic work is supported by a massive reading of other authors in a specific research area where the work of prior scholars should be cited in the study in order to provide more credibility and to showcase gaps in existing literature. APA and Harvard referencing are two of the most popular referencing methods. Every referencing system is different from one another. The key difference between APA and Harvard referencing is that APA referencing style is mainly used to cite education, social and behavioral science related academic work whereas Harvard Referencing style is mainly used for academic scientific writing.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is APA Referencing
3. What is Harvard Referencing
4. Side by Side Comparison – APA vs Harvard Referencing in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is APA Referencing?

APA referencing was introduced in 1929 by the American Psychological Association. This style is mainly used for education, social and behavioral science. The references should be made in the body of the text in the subject material (in text) and in a separate list in alphabetical order at the end of the text. APA reference guide provides detailed information as to the way of citing from a number of sources such as journals, books, conference proceedings and websites.

In Text Reference

Single Author

“Heider’s balance and change theories in examining how a Jewish couple consciously copes with automatic-unconscious retrievals of Nazism and the Holocaust when considering the purchase of a German car (Holt, 2002)”.

Multiple Authors

“Several previous studies may introduce researcher/experimenter biases (Shimp, Hyatt, & Snyder, 1991) in informant reports”.

If there are two authors, both authors’ last name should be mentioned. If there are two to five authors, all authors should be cited by the lasts name when they are referred to for the first time; from then on, only the last name of the first author followed by the words ‘et al’. (et al. is Latin for ‘and others’) should be included for subsequent referencing. If the number of authors is six or more, only the last name of the first author followed by et al. should be mentioned throughout the text.

Reference List

Single Author

Holt, D. B. (2002). Why do brands cause trouble? A dialectical theory of consumer culture and branding. Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 70–90

Multiple Authors

Shimp, T., Hyatt, E., & Snyder, D. (1991). A critical appraisal of demand artifacts in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 18, 273–283

What is Harvard Referencing?

An ambiguity exists regarding the formation of the Harvard referencing system; certain sources state that it is said to be developed by a zoologist named Edward Lawrens Mark. Despite its origination, the style was first widely used by the Harvard University, which explains how the style got its name. Similar to APA, Harvard referencing also requires in text citation and a reference list. Harvard referencing system is widely used for citation of the source materials in scientific writing. Every referencing system is different from the other in some way.

In Text Reference

Single Author

“The aim of differentiation is to earn superior profit through, for example, reduced price sensitivity or achieving a price premium (Sharp, 2001”).

Multiple Authors

“Most of this research has studied the impact of relationship characteristics and facets of relationship management on new product development (Stump et al., 2002)”.

If there are two authors, both authors’ last name should be mentioned. If there are more than two authors, only the last name of the first author should be mentioned and ‘et al’ should be used throughout the text.

Reference List

Single Author

Sharp, B. (2001), “What is differentiation and how does it work?”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 17 Nos 7/8, pp. 739-59.

Multiple Authors

Stump, R.L., Athaide, G.A. and Joshi, A.W. (2002), “Managing seller-buyer new product development relationships for customized products: a contingency model based on transaction cost analysis and empirical test”, The Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 439-54.

Figure 01: Harvard Referencing Style

Similarities Between APA and Harvard Referencing

While there are a number of differences between the two styles, in general, both record the same types of information. These include the name of author/authors, year of publication, and name of the journal article/book chapter, name of the journal/book/report/website, volume, and issue and page numbers.

What is the difference between APA and Harvard Referencing?

Summary – APA vs Harvard Referencing

The difference between APA and Harvard referencing can be seen in a number of aspects since there are multiple minor differences between the two. The way two styles record author information is a notable difference. Both referencing styles undergo changes from time to time and the way of referencing is updated. Thus, differences can be found within the same style when comparing former and latest material.

Download PDF Version of APA vs Harvard Referencing

You can download PDF version of this article and use it for offline purposes as per citation notes. Please download PDF version here Difference Between APA and Harvard Referencing.

References:

1. “APA Referencing guide.” APA Referencing guide – University of Southern Queensland. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here. 05 June 2017.
2. “Guides: Harvard citation style: Introduction.” Introduction – Harvard citation style – Guides at University of Western Australia. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here. 05 June 2017.
3. Chernin, Eli. “The “Harvard system”: a mystery dispelled.” Bmj 297.6655 (1988): 1062-063. Web. Available here. 05 June 2017.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXFn5yrnZ6YsqOx07CcnqZemLyue8OinZ%2Bdopq7pLGMm5ytr5Wau26tz5pkmqaUYsO0eceaqa%2BZopl6s7HFnqmeppOeu6h7