In a QCAA assessment, anything you take from another source (its words, ideas, data, images or audio) needs an in-text citation that points to a full entry in a reference list, written in the referencing style your school has chosen. “Harvard” is the usual name for author–date referencing, but it comes in several versions, so your school’s guide beats any website’s, including this one.
This guide covers what to cite, how to quote, paraphrase and summarise without patchwriting, Harvard patterns for nine source types, a note-taking log and a five-minute final check. The misconduct definitions and AI attribution rules sit in our QCE academic integrity guide, so we do not repeat them.
Do you have to reference in a QCAA assessment?
Yes, whenever a response uses material that is not yours and the task allows outside sources. Your task sheet says what a task expects, so ask your teacher before you draft. One line in QCAA’s handbook applies to every school:
That quotation is from version 6.0. QCAA has since released version 7.0 (January 2026), which is the current handbook, and we could not open its text. Check that the current handbook section 8.1 page still says this. Version 6.0 does not name one required referencing system for every subject. It leaves the choice to schools, and the task wording in our criterion guides either says “a recognised referencing system” (history) or gives APA or Harvard only as examples of an accepted style (science research investigation). Referencing is also marked, not just expected:
| Task | Where it is marked | Wording, as in our guide |
|---|---|---|
| Modern and Ancient History IA2 | A required feature of the investigation | “a recognised referencing system and a reference list” (humanities guide) |
| Legal Studies investigations | The 4-mark Selecting criterion | “consistent and accurate citations and a reference list” (humanities guide) |
| Science research investigation | Top band of Forming and Finding | “consistent referencing in an accepted style such as APA or Harvard” (research guide) |
| Science student experiment | Forming | “appropriate use of genre and referencing conventions” at the top band (experiment guide) |
Other subjects use other names, so find the words in your own ISMG (how to read an ISMG). Spoken and multimodal tasks are covered in the presentation guide.
What do you need to cite?
QCAA’s handbook (version 6.0) treats plagiarism or lack of referencing as copying or altering another person’s work without attribution, and says this may include text, audio or audiovisual material, figures, tables, design, images, information or ideas. So it is not limited to words. As a working list:
| What you used | Cite it? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A direct quotation | Always | Exact words, quotation marks, citation and page number. |
| A paraphrase or summary | Always | No quotation marks, same citation. New wording does not make the idea yours. |
| A number, statistic or dataset | Always | Name the report or dataset, and the page or table. |
| An image, chart, table, audio or video | Always | Label images (Figure 1), put the source in the caption, list the full reference. |
| An argument you picked up while reading | Always | Even with no copied words. ANU: if others inspired or influenced an idea, reference them. |
| Your own opinions, experiences and results | No | A graph of your own data needs a caption, not a citation. |
| Common knowledge | Usually not | Use the test below. |
Quote, paraphrase or summarise?
All three bring a source into your writing, and all three need a citation. These definitions follow ANU’s summarising and paraphrasing and quoting pages.
Quote
The author’s exact words, in quotation marks, copied exactly (spelling and mistakes included), with a citation and page number.
Use it when: the language is particularly effective, or paraphrasing would distort the meaning. Introduce it, then explain why it matters. Quoted words count towards your limit (word count rules).
Paraphrase
One idea or short passage in your own words and sentence structure, with a citation.
Use it when: you need the detail of a specific claim or finding. ANU notes that paraphrase and summary are used much more than quotation because they show your understanding.
Summarise
The main point of a whole chapter, article or report in a sentence or two of your own words, with a citation.
Use it when: you need the big picture. ANU suggests summarising rather than paraphrasing sentence after sentence, which tends to copy the source’s structure.
How to paraphrase without plagiarising
The common failure is not pasting a paragraph. It is patchwriting: keeping the author’s sentence, swapping in synonyms and adding a citation. ANU’s using sources appropriately page is blunt: “It is not enough to substitute synonyms for key words.” You must change wording and structure, not meaning. UWA’s STUDYSmarter guide marks a synonym-swapped example as not changed enough. The sentences below were written for this article; “Surname 2020” is a placeholder, not a real source.
The railway changed the town less through its tracks than through its timetable: because trains arrived at fixed times, shopkeepers began to organise the working day around the mail train rather than around daylight.
Illustrative source sentence, written for this article. Imagine it is on page 14 of Surname (2020). The marked clause is the idea worth taking.
Patchwriting, even with a citation
The railway altered the town less by its rails than by its schedule: since trains came at set times, shop owners started to arrange the working day around the mail train rather than the daylight (Surname 2020).
A paraphrase
Surname (2020:14) places the railway’s impact in time, not transport. Once trains ran to a fixed timetable, the arrival of the mail train, rather than daylight, became the point around which traders planned their hours.
The first keeps the original’s skeleton: same clause order, same contrast, words swapped one for one. The second starts from the conclusion, takes a new shape and keeps the author’s name in the sentence, so your next sentence can say what the idea does for your argument.
Read until you could explain it aloud
ANU says to read the passage, several times if needed, and take notes until you fully understand it. You cannot skip this.
Close the source
Put it away or cover it. UWA agrees: close the text and make notes in your own words, then check them against the original.
Write from your notes, starting from your point
ANU suggests describing the idea to an imagined friend. Start where your argument needs it, not at the author’s first word.
Compare it with the original
Is the structure different, the meaning kept, the wording new? Technical terms can stay. Put quotation marks around any exact phrase you kept.
Cite it, then use it
Add author and year, plus a page number for a specific claim. Guides differ: Monash asks for page numbers on direct quotes only, ANU’s steps end with a citation “including the page number”. Follow your school’s guide.
Harvard referencing: which guide, and whose rules win?
Harvard is an author–date system: surname and year in the text, full details in a reference list at the end. Two Australian university library guides open with the same warning.
The patterns here follow the Monash University Library Harvard guide, built on the author–date system in the Australian Government Style Manual. The Bond University Harvard (Aus) guide is also Australian and also Style Manual-based, yet the two differ:
| Detail | Monash guide | Bond guide |
|---|---|---|
| List entry layout | Surname A (Year) Title, Publisher, Place. | Surname, A Year, Title, Publisher, Place. |
| Page number on a quote | (Surname Year:page) | (Surname Year, p. page) |
| Two authors in brackets | (Surname and Surname Year) | (Surname & Surname Year) allowed |
| Use et al. for | Three or more authors | More than three authors |
Neither is wrong; they are house styles. Use the guide your school gives you, copy its patterns exactly and stay consistent. If you have not been given one, ask. As of October 2026, Monash says it will stop supporting Harvard from January 2027 and retire this guide, pointing to APA 7th, Chicago 18th and MLA 9th as author–date styles with standardised rules. If the link has moved, use your school’s guide.
Harvard in-text citations: the patterns
An information-prominent citation puts the source in brackets, as in (Jones 2017). An author-prominent citation names the author in your sentence with the year straight after, as in Jones (2017). Both are fine, and you can mix them. The names and years below are the guide’s generic examples, not real sources.
| Situation | Pattern | Placeholder example |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Surname Year) | (Jones 2017) |
| Two authors | (Surname and Surname Year) | (Francis and Black 2019) |
| Three or more authors | (Surname et al. Year) | (White et al. 2016) |
| Organisation | (Abbreviation Year), or the full name | (DFAT 2016) |
| No date | (Surname n.d.) | (Francis n.d.) |
| No author | Title in quotation marks (up to ten words), then year | (‘This is the end’ 1968) |
| Same author, same year | Letter after the year, in the list too | (Wright 2015a) … Wright (2015b) |
| Direct quotation | Page after a colon | (Green 2018:33) |
Per Monash’s in-text page, page numbers are required when you quote directly, and some teachers want them every time.
Reference list entries for common source types
Monash’s reference list page sets out the layout rules:
- A new page after the body and any appendices, alphabetical by first author’s surname or organisation name.
- Year in brackets; commas after the title; a full stop at the end unless the entry ends in a DOI or URL.
- Capitalise only the first word of a title and proper nouns. Italicise whole works; put parts (articles, chapters) in single quotation marks.
- URL last, as plain text (for a PDF, the page that hosts it). Prefer a DOI, written doi:10.xxx. When you give a URL instead, add the accessed date before it.
Every example is a real source whose details we checked on 2 October 2026, so the accessed date on online entries is that day; write the day you read yours. Only the interview card is a placeholder.
Book
Surname A (Year) Title of book, Xth edn, Publisher, Place.
Example: Mackenzie J (2011) The editor’s companion, 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne.
In text: (Mackenzie 2011), with a colon and page number added for a quotation. Leave the edition out for a first edition.
Journal article
Surname A, Surname B and Surname C (Year) ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal, Volume(Issue):pages, doi:10.xxx
Example: Dunlosky J, Rawson KA, Marsh EJ, Nathan MJ and Willingham DT (2013) ‘Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology’, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1):4–58, doi:10.1177/1529100612453266
In text: (Dunlosky et al. 2013). List every author in the list; use et al. only in the text.
Website
Author or organisation (Year) Title of page, Name of website, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: Monash University Library (2026) Harvard, Monash University, accessed 2 October 2026, https://guides.lib.monash.edu/harvard
In text: (Monash University Library 2026). We used 2026 because the guide’s footer reads “Last Updated: Aug 28, 2026”. If a page shows no date at all, write n.d. (no date) in place of the year in both the text and the list, as in (Francis n.d.). Whether a last-updated date counts as the year is a house-style call, so check your school’s guide. No named author: use the organisation.
Government report
ABBREV (Full agency name) (Year) Title of report, Agency, Government, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: GBRMPA (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) (2024) Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2024, GBRMPA, Australian Government, accessed 2 October 2026, https://hdl.handle.net/11017/4069
In text: (GBRMPA 2024). A report number goes straight after the title.
News article
Surname A (Day Month Year) ‘Headline’, Name of newspaper, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: Mackay M, Price N and Mulheron A (23 January 2024) ‘Living through Antarctic snowstorms, Australian scientists are undertaking some of the ‘most ambitious’ research’, ABC News, accessed 2 October 2026, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-23/australian-scientists-discover-east-antarctica-is-losing-ice/103377816
In text: (Mackay et al. 2024). News entries carry the full date.
Image or figure
Creator or username (Year) Title or description [photograph], Name of website, © Copyright holder, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: Kgbo (2019) Story Bridge at night, Brisbane 03 [photograph], Wikimedia Commons, © Kgbo (CC BY-SA 4.0), accessed 2 October 2026, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Story_Bridge_at_night,_Brisbane_03.jpg
Caption: Figure 1: The Story Bridge at night. Source: Kgbo (2019). A graph of your own data needs only “Figure 2: Brief description”; one drawn from published data adds “Data obtained from” and the dataset reference. We added the licence name to show the terms of reuse.
Dataset
Creator or agency (Year) Title of data set [data set], Name of website, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2025) Regional population, 2023-24 financial year [data set], accessed 2 October 2026, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/2023-24
In text: (ABS 2025). Leave out the website name when it matches the author. This release page packages tables and data downloads. If you cite its commentary instead of the data, Monash’s ABS pattern has no [data set] tag.
Video
Creator or channel (Day Month Year) ‘Title of video’ [video], Name of channel or owner, accessed Day Month Year, URL
Example: libncsu (1 May 2014) ‘Peer review in 3 minutes’ [video], YouTube, accessed 2 October 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOCQZ7QnoN0
In text: (libncsu 2014). When the channel is the creator, its name takes the author position. Podcasts, radio and TV: see Monash’s audiovisual page.
Interview or personal communication
In text only: (A Surname, personal communication, Day Month Year). No reference-list entry.
Placeholder example: (J Citizen, personal communication, Day Month Year)
Notes: Monash counts unarchived emails, private memos and unrecorded interviews as personal communication and leaves them out of the list. If an interview is central evidence in your task, ask your teacher whether your school wants more, such as a transcript in an appendix. Ask the person’s permission before you quote them, and check your school’s rules for interviews.
If your task draws on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, Monash has a page on citing Indigenous Knowledge. It points to the Indigenous Knowledges Attribution Toolkit and advises naming the person’s Nation, Country or Language group when known and confirming details with the Elder or Knowledge Keeper. Raise it with your teacher early.
What if you read a source inside another source?
Your textbook quotes a historian and you want the historian’s point. You have read the textbook, not the historian, so the citation names both. The pattern below is Monash’s, with placeholder names.
In the text
(Thomas 1980 as cited in Williams 2015)
In the reference list
Only Williams (2015), the source you read. Do not list Thomas.
Monash says to use a secondary citation only when the original is unavailable, and Bond recommends tracking the original down. A list that includes sources you never opened is one way fabricated references creep in, a category the integrity guide covers.
How to take notes from sources without losing the source
A common way to lose a source is to write down a good sentence with no name attached. QCAA’s handbook lists note-taking and summarising among the skills behind academic integrity: “independently synthesising research or gathering information into a new idea or summary” (version 6.0). A source log fixes the missing name. Create the row before you read; UWA’s guide gives the same advice.
| Field | What to record | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | S1, S2, S3, repeated beside every note from that source | A note cannot drift from its source. |
| Creator and date | Person or organisation as printed; publication or last-updated date, or n.d. | They open the citation and the entry. |
| Title, container, publisher | Page or article title; the site, journal, book or channel; publisher, volume, issue or edition as the type needs | Entry elements, and how you find it again. |
| Link or DOI, and date accessed | For a PDF, the page that hosts it. Today’s date | Entries that give a URL need an accessed date. |
| Page or timestamp per note | p. 14, or 03:25 in a video | Quotations need page numbers. |
| Credibility and use | Who published it, what it rests on, where you will use it | Stops you hoarding sources you cannot judge. |
ANU’s writing from notes page recommends copying word for word only what you intend to quote, using dot points in your own words, and noting your critical reaction. We suggest also tagging every note with one letter:
- Q for exact words: quotation marks and a page number, every time.
- P for a paraphrase or summary: your wording, plus the page.
- M for my own thought, such as a disagreement or a link to another source. It needs no citation, and it is where analysis starts.
A line might read: S3, p. 14, P: the timetable, not the rails, changed the town’s day. M: compare with S5. Do it the day you find the source; the IA timeline makes the same point about keeping reference details as you go.
Reference list or bibliography?
UWA’s referencing FAQ gives the distinction: a reference list is a complete list of the sources actually cited in your text, and a bibliography lists sources you have read but do not cite. The Monash and Bond Harvard guides both describe a reference list. Submit whichever your task names; the history IA2 wording above asks for a reference list.
Every in-text citation needs a list entry and every list entry needs an in-text citation. QCAA excludes both the bibliography or reference list and in-text citations from the word count, so do not cut references to save words (word count rules).
The referencing mistakes that cost marks
We have no marker-level data and will not pretend to. These come from what the library guides and QCAA’s own definitions single out, and each is cheap to fix.
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Synonym-swap paraphrase | ANU and UWA both reject it as a real paraphrase. | Close the source, write from notes, compare. |
| A citation with no list entry, or the reverse | The two halves no longer match. | Tick citations against the list, then entries against the text. |
| A quotation with no quotation marks or page | The reader cannot tell it is not yours, or find it. | Marks, exact words, citation, page. |
| One citation at the end of a long paragraph | ANU: with no citation, work is assumed to be your own idea or common knowledge. | Name the author early; cite again when the source changes. |
| A source you did not read, or one a chatbot invented | QCAA’s misconduct list includes incorrect or fictitious references, including AI-generated ones. | Open every source you list. Use “as cited in” for second-hand ones. |
| Two styles in one list, a bare URL, or an uncaptioned image | The science wording rewards consistency; QCAA’s plagiarism definition names images, figures and tables. | One guide, copied exactly. Label images and give sources. |
A five-minute final referencing check
Run this after your last edit, once the content is settled.
- Minute 1
Find every number, name and “research shows”. Is a citation beside each?
- Minute 2
Match citations to list entries, then entries to the text. Check the order is alphabetical.
- Minute 3
Spot-check three entries of different types against your school’s guide.
- Minute 4
Check quotation marks, page numbers, and a caption and source on every image, table and figure.
- Minute 5
Open two or three links or DOIs. Confirm you have seen every source you list.
The night-before submission checklist puts this beside the other mechanical checks, and why drafts matter explains why to leave a day after your last edit.
