Referencing with the Harvard System

Catseyez

SamMoffatt28 wrote: »

I have had this debate with my tutor and how I understand it is this ..

The quote "blah blah blah, whatever, etc" is counted in the word count however the reference i.e (Watkins:1996: P 23) is not included in the word count but should be properly referenced in the bibliography at the back. Bibliography is also not included in word count.

I hope this makes sense ?

Good luck xxx

That is precisely what my friend does. I'm going to speak to my lecturer and double-check!

xplizit

wow you guys are meticulous! :eek:

surely they don't actually count the words as long as it looks about the right lengh. can't believe some of you are bothering with the whole deducting the (J. Smith, 2005) bits!

unless you're asked to display the exact word count at the end of your essay which i've only been asked to do once but still!

Catseyez

xplizit wrote: »

wow you guys are meticulous! :eek:

surely they don't actually count the words as long as it looks about the right lengh. can't believe some of you are bothering with the whole deducting the (J. Smith, 2005) bits!

unless you're asked to display the exact word count at the end of your essay which i've only been asked to do once but still!

We have to state the word count on every essay. I've just finished one tonight and it's within 35 words of the maximum word count (that's including the 10% allowance to go above)! :eek:

kelloggs36

Mine are always over, even over 10% but not by much. Our lecturers say that provided that it isn't obviously over by too much, they aren't bothered, but if it was over by say, 25% then they would say something!

pinginal

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I'm pretty sure that '(Dawkins 1996: 37)' should be included in the word count, the same way that footnotes are counted when using that type of referencing. As people have said it really doesn't matter as long as you're not absurdly over or under. Even if you do have to give a word count, just pick a number that sounds right, they don't count every single word.

bestpud

SamMoffatt28 wrote: »

I have had this debate with my tutor and how I understand it is this ..

The quote "blah blah blah, whatever, etc" is counted in the word count however the reference i.e (Watkins:1996: P 23) is not included in the word count but should be properly referenced in the bibliography at the back. Bibliography is also not included in word count.

We don't have to count short quotations either.

For example, if we wrote:

It has been argued "universities should be more clear about what they expect from students" (Jo Bloggs, 2005: p.34).

then we would not count the quote or the reference in brackets.

We do have to count bigger quotes though, as in ones that don't sit within sentences, if that makes sense?

Hth

Bestpud

cheekyweegit

I'm a law student and with regards to word count our courseworks are scanned to check the word count and for plagerism so be careful.

Anything in the main body of the coursework is counted in the word count for us, but we are allowed free reign within reason to expand on a topic in the footnotes which can be a huge life saver as it's not counted as part of the main body so if this is the case with you - utilise them to maximum benefit.

As for the bibliography - it's not counted either.