Skip to Main Content
Middlesex University LogoMy Subject

Product Design and Design Engineering: Referencing for Art & Design

Cite Them Right

We ask our undergraduate and MA students to use the Harvard standard laid out in Cite Them Right.

Cite Them Right is also available in book form, and there are copies available in the library at 016 PEA (First Floor).

Referencing for BA Interior Design/Architecture

Undergraduate students on Interior Design or Interior Architecture programmes are encouraged to use footnotes in their referencing. For an explanation and examples of this, click below to access the guide.

Some Basic Examples

'Cite Them Right' Harvard Style - with some basic examples

The author-date (Harvard) system of referencing involves two elements:

1) In the text itself, you include brief citations in brackets identifying the sources you have used.

2) At the end of the essay you include a reference list. This includes full details of all the texts you have cited, ordered alphabetically.

In Text Citations

Your citations should include the surname of the cited author(s), the date of the publication in question, and the page(s) on which the cited quote or information occurs. You can either flow the author's name naturally in to your sentence, with the date and page number in brackets next to it, or alternatively, where you prefer, all three elements can be placed in brackets.

Examples:

According to Martha Buskirk (2003, p.34), 'No work of art is immune to the circumstances of its presentation'.

The authors of A thousand plateaus propose that though capitalists may rely on a mastery of surplus value itself and the ways in which this is distributed, they nonetheless cannot control the libidinal, vital and material flows from which this value is ultimately derived (Deleuze and Guattari, 1988, p.226).

The birth of the notion of the flaneur can be traced back to the writings of Edgar Allan Poe (Milliard, 2010, p.2).

What is Referencing?

What is Referencing? Why do you need it?

At University it is very important that your work is fully referenced. This means you must provide details of your sources wherever you draw arguments, ideas, facts or quotations from other authors.

This shows your tutors the valuable research that has informed your writing, and helps back up the arguments you put forward in your work. Giving detailed references is also necessary to avoid plagiarism. lf you are worried about this issue, please see our Library Subject Guide on Referencing and Plagiarism.

In learning to reference sources, you are expected to master academic conventions for the documentation of your research. There are a number of competing versions of these academic conventions.

 

Art & Design Referencing Guide

Your Reference List

Your essay should also conclude with a reference list. This includes full details of the sources you have cited.

The following examples cover some of the most commonly cited types of source, but are not intended to be exhaustive of the kinds of material you may be citing. For further guidance, please refer to Cite them Right.

A book

Example 1 - simple example

Buskirk, M. (2003) The contingent object of contemporary art. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Example 2 - a book with 2 authors and a translator.

Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1988) A thousand plateaus. Translated by B. Massumi. London: Athlone Press.

An essay in an edited book

Example

Foucault, M. (1995) 'Truth and power', in Tallack, D. (ed.) Critical theory: a reader. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 66-77.

An article in a journal

Example 1 - an academic  journal with volume and issue numbers

Turner, B.S. (2005) 'Bodily performance: on aura and reproducibility', Body and Society, 11 (4), pp. 1-17.

Example 2 - a magazine with issue and month

Milliard, C. (2010) 'Walks of life', Art Monthly, 337 (June), pp. 1-4.

A newspaper article

Example - NB: this js an article in a special separately numbered section of the paper ("G2")

Jones, J. (2003) 'He's gotta have it' The Guardian: G2, 4 April, pp.  2-16.

Main Referencing & Plagiarism guide

Harvard Referencing

The Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries uses the 'Harvard' style of referencing (also called author-date referencing) as our preferred and supported referencing style. We ask our undergraduate and MA students to use the Harvard standard laid out in Cite them right - a widely available guidebook for referencing.

We have adopted this as the most user-friendly system of referencing. The use of this system means footnotes are not necessary to cite sources, although within Art and Design you are still free to use footnotes to give further explanation of your arguments or details of your research.

Referencing Quiz

Someone writingImage Credit: Green Chameleon

It is important to properly reference your work. These quizzes are a good way to practice! Use Cite Them Right if you need to check any details.