Referencing styles

Different organisations have developed different referencing styles. The style you have to use is prescribed by your academic department or faculty. A specific style is usually also prescribed by the publisher or the journal for which you are writing, if you intend publishing. Style manuals are published and updated by the originating organisations. They are available in printed format but also online on the Internet. Two examples of referencing styles are:

	Style name		Developed by
	Harvard Style		Harvard University
	Vancouver Style		International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and National Library of Medicine

The most-used style at Cape Peninsula University of Technology is the Harvard Referencing Style, but the medical field uses the Vancouver Referencing Style. Check with your lecturer which style you should use. Styles are never mixed - once you have decided on a style you follow that style only and you follow it to the letter. In other words you should follow it exactly.