By Marina Pantcheva
There are two referencing styles commonly used in scientific writing: the Vancouver referencing style and the Harvard referencing style. The two styles differ mainly in the way references are presented in the running text: in the Vancouver style, references are identified by Arabic numerals; in the Harvard system, references are identified by the name of the author(s) and the year of publication.
The Vancouver referencing style
The Vancouver referencing style is predominantly used in the health and physical sciences.
The Vancouver system is numerical; each piece of work cited within the text is identified by a unique Arabic number. The numbers are assigned in the order of citation. If a piece of work is cited more than once, the same citation number must be used.
This number is commonly enclosed in round brackets (1), but it can also be written inside square brackets [1], as a superscript1, or as a combination of brackets and superscript[1].
The name of the author(s) can be present or absent.
Example:
Smith (3) presents convincing evidence that global warming is a much bigger threat than previous research has assumed (1, 4-7, 9).
When you cite together multiple references, use a comma to separate a series of non-inclusive numbers (1, 6, 11) and a hyphen to indicate a series of inclusive numbers (4-7).
You can include the page number when you cite specific ideas or have direct quotes.
Example:
Johnson et al. (12, p23) argue, however, that our “planet has warmed by only 0.5 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the 20th century”.
Finally, for the really nerdy, it is worth noting that the number in brackets is placed after any commas and periods, but before colons and semi-colons.
Examples:
Reducing the carbon dioxide emissions is therefore important and will save lives in the long turn. (12)
This can be achieved by producing cars with low fuel consumption (13), but oil magnates seem to be strongly opposed to the development of such cars.
A list of list of references must be provided at the end of the scientific text. This list must include the full information for all the works cited in the running text. The entries in the reference list are places in the same order in which they were cited in the text. There is different formatting and type of information for the various kinds of publications. For instance, books must specify the number of the edition; journal articles must specify page numbers, etc. This link provides a detailed description of the various entries in a reference list.
Harvard referencing style
The Harvard referencing style is used predominantly in the humanities and social sciences. The works cited in the running texts are identified by the name of the author(s) and the year of publication.
For in-text citations that are part of the sentence use brackets to enclose only the year of publication like this: Smith (2009). If you put the entire in-text citation within brackets, no second pair of brackets are needed for the year, like this: (Johnson 2005).
Example:
Smith (2009) presents convincing evidence that global warming is a much bigger threat than previous research has assumed (Johnson 2005; Abugabar and Jelan 2006; Sesalem et al. 2012; Leery 2010a,b).
For works with more than two authors, use et al. after the name of the first author, like this: Sesalem et al. (2012).
Prolific authors may have many articles published in the same year. If you cite more articles of the same author that came out in the same year, you distinguish between them by using small Latin letters: a, b, c, etc., like this: Leery (2012a,b).
You may include the page number when you cite specific ideas or have direct quotes.
Example:
Johnson et al. (2010, p. 34) argue, however, that our “planet has warmed by only 0.5 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the 20th century”.
Unlike in the Vancouver system, the author-date in-text citations are part of the text and are therefore placed before any commas and periods.
Examples:
Reducing the carbon dioxide emissions is therefore important and will save lives in thew long turn (Kohlen 2012).
This can be achieved by producing cars with low fuel consumption (Pott 2010), but oil magnates seem to be strongly opposed to the development of such cars.
Note that many journals have their own styles for citations and references. Some journals require, for instance, that there is comma between the name of the author and the year of publication. Always consult the journal style before submitting a paper for review: this makes a good impression and improves the chances that your paper be accepted.
As with the Vancouver style, a list of list of references must be provided at the end of the scientific text. This list must include the full information for all the works cited in the running text. The entries in the reference list are places in alphabetical order.
There is different formatting and type of information for the various kinds of publications. For instance, books must specify the number of the edition; journal articles must specify page numbers, etc. This link provides a detailed description of the various entries in a reference list.
