Hi Andrew,

Do have a look at this CIPD guide on How to set out references, and this previous thread...

 RE: Harvard Style Referencing 

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Hi Steve,

Thank you, I will familiarise myself.

In reply to Andrew:

Nothing to stop others from offering their support below, of course!

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Yes, It's not so much the "Harvard referencing" physical element but more actually being able to find the relevant information needed across literature, factsheets, podcasts etc!

In reply to Andrew:

Perhaps Google Scholar could be a useful place to find information in addition to the recommended texts?

Firstly Andrew, good luck studying after a long time it takes quite some time to get back into the groove and also realise what we need to study after a long period away and working.

I appreciate this isn't about the art of referencing ..it seems more about where to find good source reference material beyond the books recommended and EBSCO - which is great. Now there is a plethora of reference material and checking it for a good evidence base is tricky. I read widely, I'm not studying so I would keep to well known sources mainly but I don't think there is a harm in referencing blogs, writers posting on their sites with clear research and materials like McKinsey and other consultancies. I regularly read blogs from Gemma Dale on Hybrid and Flexible working and 3 star learning - always well referenced and many others. If you have time to search and find things that appeal you will have more than the reference books and course material to inform and support your thinking.

Good luck.

In reply to Sharon:

Hi Andrew, looking at how to make use of summaries and paraphrasing rather than directly quoting may help with the "copy / paste" issue that you highlight. I also wonder if you may have hit the nail on the head in terms of over-thinking as some elements of referencing will be quite simple. For example if you are discussing a model such as Maslow, then your reference might simply be the publication in which his model was first put forward. Other quick wins are ensuring your reference list contains any legislation you refer to. Or if you find an article or research which includes some good statistics then you can simply point to the source of those statistics if using them as evidence in your narrative. For example, you might be discussing how the cost of living is resulting in attrition as employees seek a better salary elsewhere you can highlight what a particular report found in terms of the percentage of employees who cited this as a main reason for leaving or where a survey of people professionals noted this as the reason in x% of exit interviews conducted. I hope that helps!

Hi Andrew. I've found this pretty tricky too. I found that Peter Cheese's book (new world of work) was pretty useful as it acts like a summary of a lot of the other text books with lots of references of research/evidence and its pretty readable. I have also found it helpful to put key references in a spreadsheet so I can remember where I saw something. I also try to collate my references before I compose my arguments. This is the first few lines of my spreadsheet. Hope that this helps.

M

Macro-category Micro-category Quote or useful thing Book/source Page Module Website Logged as …. (in grey folders)
Engagement Employee experience Top employers 'super-personalise' employee experience, driven by technology CIPD website CIPD article 'revealed the UK's top employers 2023' Engagement
Wellbeing UK top employers lead the rest of the world when it comes to employee wellbeing' including they have wellbeing champions CIPD website CIPD article 'revealed the UK's top employers 2023'
"it is the idea that the command and control way of doing things is not right. It doesent work and it infringes people desire for autonomy, respect and dignity. CIPD website 15 mins with matthew taylor (NHS CEO