Know Comparison Between Two Referencing Styles: Harvard and Chicago

Proper referencing is the most crucial aspect of academic writing for all students. When you are working on an assignment, you have to choose a particular style and follow that thought in your writing. Some students prefer the Harvard referencing generator to prepare their project work because most of them do not have the knowledge of easy styles.

There are many types of styles you can work with, but the two most common are Chicago and Harvard referencing. They are both different from each other. If you are unaware of them, this guide will give you all the information related to these referencing styles.

What Is a Harvard Referencing?

Harvard is the widely used referencing style by academic students. This type of style uses author-date citation, including in-text citations and a reference list. If you are using this referencing style in your dissertation, you have put the citation right after the quote by an author. It is totally devoid of footnotes that are mentioned at the end of your project work because it is a straightforward and economical style of referencing.

What Is a Chicago Referencing?

The type of style mainly used by American English writers to cite sources. In terms of academics, the humanities students use it in bibliography and notes. This styling method contains footnotes and endnotes that appear between and at the end of your project work to indicate a citation. It will give detailed bibliography information for the cited sources that are in alphabetical order by the author's last name.To know the proper referencing style you can seek help from the Assignment Desk.

What Are the Difference Between Harvard & Chicago Referencing?

As discussed earlier, both referencing styles are different from each other. But the purpose of Harvard and Chicago is to serve the same purpose by acknowledging sources and avoiding plagiarism. In the table below, you will see the detailed breakdown of the key differences:-

Key Elements Harvard referencing Chicago referencing

Citation Method It uses parenthetical in-text citation within the body of the text. Primarily uses numbered footnotes and endnotes to cite the sources.

Author Names Use the author's full last name and initials in the reference list. In-text citations use only the author's last name. The first note citation for a work uses the author's full name (first name first). Subsequent notes use only the author's last name.

Publication Dates The publication dates are placed directly in your document right after the author's name in both the in-text citation and the references list. The dates were mentioned at the end of the bibliography entry after the place of publication and publisher.

Discipline Preference Widely used across various disciplines, particularly in the humanities & social sciences, according to the University of York.  The Author-Date system is commonly used in the sciences and social sciences.

Guidelines for Crafting References

There are some guidelines that you need to follow to craft your paper using references; for that, you have to know the proper format of these styles. Always ensure to acknowledge the sources that inform your work are formatted according to the guidelines that are published by the academics. Thus, maintain the same format throughout your reference list, using double-spacing in that list. In the section below, you will see the format of the Harvard and Chicago referencing styles.

Format of Harvard style

The Harvard referencing style uses an author-date method. It typically includes the author's surname and the publication date of the source. The date should be mentioned directly after the author's name in both in-text citations and in the reference list. It is used across various disciplines but particularly in the humanities and social sciences. This reference helps to avoid errors and inconsistencies that could negatively affect your academic grades. Thus, do not forget to provide proper citation in your assignments.

Format of Chicago style

When you are writing a paper using Chicago referencing, you have to place a superscript number at the end of the sentence. The footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page, where you have to write the number separately. In this styling format, the subsequent citations of the same sources use a shortened version of the author's last name.  If you are writing an assignment on healthcare that covers biology, you have to focus on citing the scientists. You can also seek BTEC Assignment writing services UK.

Final Thoughts

After comparing both referencing styles, you can easily choose the easier one, which is the Harvard referencing style. If you are writing an academic project, then this will be an excellent option for you, where you have to cite the sources instantly right after the sentences. If you do not know how to reference, you can seek help from the Harvard referencing generator, which guides you to cite the author's name at the exact location of your document. After you finish writing, you can also take assistance from the experts. They will guide you to improve your styling methods if you cite it incorrectly.