Library Assist: Answers

Your reference list should be arranged in alphabetical order by author. An example of one is available in the section 'Sample text and reference list using the Harvard style' (login required) in the online guide for Cite Them Right (CTR).

But not all items fit neatly into an A-Z structure and the online CTR guide can be awkward to use to find the answers to some questions, or it may not have an explanation at all.

This FAQ has pulled together some of the frequent questions the Library is asked - many of the answers can be found in the sections on CTR called 'Setting out citations' and 'Common questions on referencing' (login required).

Q. If the exact same author has written multiple items with different dates, how are they arranged in the reference list?

A. They should be in chronological order, with the oldest at the top.  

Reference list example:

• Singh, S. (2017) ‘Sikh costume’, Indian Journal of Design, 22, pp. 47–52.
• Singh, S. (2018) Religion in India. Delhi: Scholars Press.

For the same lead/first author, single author items precede sources with multiple authors. The order of the reference list entries for items with the same lead author is then determined alphabetically according to the second author’s surname (and so on if there are more co-authors).

Reference list example:

• Anderson, J. (2009) …
• Anderson, J. (2017) …
• Anderson, J., Connor, K. and Bell, T. (2016) …
• Anderson, J. and Tank, T. (2015) …
• Connor, K. (2017) …
• Tank, T. (2016) …

Q. If I can't find an author to use for source - how do I reference it and where does it go in the list?

A. Where the name of an author/editor cannot be found, use the title (in italic font) as the first part of your reference. Do not use 'Anon' or 'Anonymous'. The first letters of the title will then be used to alphabetise it in your list.

Reference list examples: 

• Medicine in old age (1985) 2nd edn. London: British Medical Association.
• Palladio's Italian villas (2005) Available at: http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/ (Accessed: 23 August 2018).

Q. If my author is an organisation starting with a number, where does it go in the A-Z arrangement of the list?

A. Anything with a number should go before anything with a letter, e.g. 3 would come before A. 

Q. How do you reference different authors with the same surname and initials?

A. If two authors have the exact same surname and initials, you can state the full forenames in-text and in the full reference. This allows your in-text citations to be matched to the corresponding reference list entry and provides clarity as to which citation belongs to which item. Remember to alphabetise by forename in your reference list, so in the below examples Patricia's reference would precede Peter's:

In-text citation examples: (Richards, Patricia, 2018) and (Richards, Peter, 2018)

Reference list examples:

• Richards, Patricia (2018) Getting started. London: Red Globe Press.
• Richards, Peter (2018) 101 equations. Berlin: Springer.

Q. If I have multiple authors on my source, do I write them in the order they are shown on the source, or do I have to put them in alphabetical order as well?

A. You should not change the order of the authors on any item, write them as they are shown because the authors may have been listed in order of seniority or the amount they contributed to the work. It is only the placement of the item within your list that has to be put in A-Z order.