The ultimate guide to citing in Harvard
When you reference a work, you are acknowledging other people's contributions to your research. References can provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer important definitions and data. Referencing also shows that you have personally read the work.
When using the Harvard referencing style, you identify the sources you have used by citing them in text, enclosing partial citations within parentheses embedded in the text, either within or after a sentence. This referencing system is called the author-date system.
The in-text citations are followed by a full, alphabetised list of references in an end section. We will explain this in further detail below with plenty of examples.
Citing can be very complex, which is why we have created the BibGuru Harvard reference generator to help you focus on the content of your work instead of worrying about how to get your reference list done correctly.
Learn everything you need to know about Harvard citations on this page and in our Harvard citation guide. This guide is based on the 11th edition of Cite Them Right.
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What is Harvard referencing?
The Harvard style is one of the most widely used referencing styles in the world. This is most likely due to its simplicity and ease of use. There is no official manual, but many institutions offer their own Harvard reference style guides, which of course leads to slight nuances when it comes to punctuation and formatting rules.
The Harvard referencing style uses the author-date system for in-text citations, which means the author's surname and the year of publication in round brackets are placed within the text. If there is no discernible author, the title and date are used.
The reference list outlines all the sources directly cited in your work. It should be ordered alphabetically by the surname of the first author of each work. References with no author are ordered alphabetically by the first significant word of the title. Only the initials of the authors' given name are used, with no full stop and space between the initials.
Here is an example:
EXAMPLEIn-text citation
There are five strategies to implement Diversity Management in companies (Cox, 2001).
EXAMPLEReference list
Cox, T. (2001). Creating the multicultural organization. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.50.
How do I reference in Harvard?
When you cite you are referring to someone else's work or ideas in your text. In-text references give brief details of the work that you are quoting from, or which you are referring to, in your text. These references will then link to the full reference in the reference list at the end of your work. Footnotes or Endnotes are not used in the Harvard or other author-date citation styles.
When citing in-text, provide the author's surname and date of publication in brackets right after the borrowed information or at the end of the sentence. If you have already mentioned the author's name in the text, you only need to place the date of publication in brackets directly after where the author's surname is mentioned.
If you are only quoting a particular section of the source, instead of the whole book, you should also include a page number or range after the publication date. If the book has more than four authors, you do not need to write out all of their surnames. Use the first author’s surname followed by the abbreviation ‘et al.’, which means 'and others'.
The reference list at the end of your work should start on a new page and be arranged in alphabetical order. Italicise the titles of books, reports, etc. Beware that for journal articles, the name of the journal should be italicised instead of the title of the article you are citing. Make sure to capitalise the first letter of the publication title, the first letters of all main words in the title of a journal, and all first letters of a publication place and publisher.
How to use Bibguru for Harvard citations
Harvard referencing examples
- Printed books
- Journals and
Magazines - Theses
- Webpages
and Websites - Media
- United Kingdom
Legal Sources
The general referencing order for a book in Harvard for your reference list is:
- Author/editor
- Year of publication (in round brackets)
- Title (in italics)
- Place of publication: Publisher
- Series and volume number (where relevant)
EXAMPLEBook with one author
In-text
All of those factors contribute to climate change (See, 2012).
Reference list
See, M. (2012) Greenhouse gas emissions: Global business aspects. Berlin, Germany: Springer.
EXAMPLEBook with two authors
In-text
Auerbach and Kotlikoff (1998) explain that a higher level of labor productivity means more output per person.
Reference list
Auerbach, A. J. and Kotlikoff, L. J. (1998)Macroeconomics: An integrated approach. 2nd ed. London, England: MIT Press.
EXAMPLEBook with an editor and multiple authors
In-text
.. as claimed by the authors (Raabet al., 2015).
Reference list
Raab, M.et al.(eds.) (2015)Performance psychology: Perception, action, cognition, and emotion. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
EXAMPLEEbook
In-text
.. as claimed by the authors (Christian and Griffiths, 2016).
Reference list
Christian, B. and Griffiths, T. (2016)Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions. London, England: William Collins. Available at: http://a.co/7qGBZAk.
Many journals have print and online equivalents, or they may just be available in print or in online editions. You should reference the version that you are using. As long as the journal reference provides enough bibliographic information for the article to be located by the reader, other elements - e.g. database title or URL - don't need to be included. However, if the article you are citing is only available online, you have to include the DOI or URL.
The general referencing order for a journal article in Harvard is:
- Author (surname followed by initials)
- Year of publication (in round brackets)
- Title of article (in single quotation marks)
- Title of journal (in italics - capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words)
- Issue information (volume (unbracketed), and, where applicable, part number, month or season)
- Page reference (if available)
- If accessed online: DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEJournal article
In-text
In their review of the literature (Norrie et al., 2012)..
Reference list
Norrie, C. et al. (2012) 'Doing it differently?' A review of literature on teaching reflective practice across health and social care professions', Reflective Practice, 13(4), pp. 565-578.
EXAMPLEJournal article with DOI
In-text
(McCauley and Christiansen, 2019)
Reference list
McCauley, S. M. and Christiansen, M. H. (2019) “Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development,”Psychological review, 126(1), pp. 1–51. doi: 10.1037/rev0000126.
Magazine articles
To cite a magazine article in Harvard, follow this citation order:
- Author (surname followed by initials)
- Year of publication (in round brackets)
- Title of article (in single quotation marks)
- Title of magazine (in italics - capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words)
- Issue information (volume (unbracketed), and, where applicable, part number, month or season)
- Page reference (if available)
- If accessed online: DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEElectronic magazine article
In-text
The southern part of Kalahari has characteristics of a dry savanna ecosystem (Joubert, 2021).
Reference list
Joubert, L. (2021) 'Rising heat puts the Kalahari’s ecosystem on the edge of survival', National Geographic, 27 July. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/rising-heat-puts-the-kalaharis-ecosystem-on-the-edge-of-survival-feature (Accessed: 28 July 2021).
The citation order for theses is the following:
- Author (surname followed by initials)
- Year of submission (in round brackets)
- Title of thesis (in italics)
- Degree statement
- Degree-awarding body
- If accessed online: DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEDoctoral thesis
In-text
All of those factors contribute to climate change (See, 2012).
Reference list
Pradhan, S. (2021) Impacts of road construction on landsliding in Nepal. Doctoral thesis. Durham University. Available at: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14069/ (Accessed: 28 July 2021).
When referencing information from the internet, make sure to distinguish what you are referring to. The internet is made up of a broad range of material - from journal articles to government publications, blogs, and images. This section shows you how to reference internet sites or web pages produced by individuals or organisations.
As always, the information you provide should be just enough for the reader to find the source. As material on the internet can be removed or changed, also note the date when you have accessed the information.
The defining element in referencing a website is the URL. It should be included in your reference list, but not in your in-text citation.
Citation order of a website with individual authors:
- Author (surname followed by initials)
- Year that the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
- Title of web page (in italics)
- Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEWebsites with individual authors
In-text
McCarthy (2021) also says that wasted food significantly impacts climate change.
Reference list
McCarthy, S. (2021) Over 1 Billion Tonnes More Food Being Wasted Than Previously Estimated, Contributing 10% of All Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/over-1-billion-tonnes-more-food-being-wasted-than-previously-estimated-contributing-10-of-all-greenhouse-gas-emissions (Accessed: 27 July 2021).
EXAMPLEWebsites with organisations as authors
In-text
After identifying symptoms (National Health Service, 2018)...
Reference list
National Health Service (2018) Check your symptoms. Available at: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/checkyoursymptoms (Accessed: 17 October 2018).
EXAMPLEWebsites with no authors
In-text
.. and is considered a virtue (Altruism, 2021).
Reference list
Altruism(2021)Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism (Accessed: August 24, 2021).
Blogs and Vlogs
Beware that blogs and vlogs are someone's opinion, and therefore might not provide objective, reasoned discussion of an issue. Use them together with reputable sources. This is the citation order for blogs:
- Author (surname followed by initials)
- Year that the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
- Title of message (in single quotation marks)
- Title of internet site (in italics)
- Day/month of posted message
- Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEBlog
In-text
Social channels help us share common interests (Liegl, 2021)
Reference list
Liegl, J. (2021) 'Communicating with humanity', Several People Are Typing, 2 July. Available at: https://slack.com/intl/en-at/blog (Accessed: 28 July 2021).
Social Media
This would be the citation order for an Instagram post, but other social media websites follow the same order:
- Author (Instagram account holder/poster)
- Year posted (in round brackets)
- Title of post (in single quotation marks)
- [Instagram]
- Day/month of posted message
- Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEInstagram post
In-text
.. by painting a sea horse (VeganArtShare, 2021).
Reference list
VeganArtShare (2021) 'Tiny dancer of the sea.' [Instagram]. 25 June. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQjWYSWJDqT/ (Accessed: 24 August 2021).
Photographs
To reference a photograph from the internet, follow this citation order:
- Photographer
- Year of publication (in round brackets)
- Title of photograph (in italics)
- Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEPhotograph from the internet
In-text
His beautiful photograph (Kitto, 2013)...
Reference list
Kitto, J. (2013) Golden Sunset. Available at: http://www.jameskitto.co.uk/photo_1827786.html (Accessed: 14 June 2018).
Television programmes
When viewing a television programme through a streaming service (e.g. Netflix), use the following citation order:
- Title of programme (in italics)
- Year of original broadcast (in round brackets)
- Name of transmitting channel
- Date and time of transmission (if available)
- Available at: Name of streaming service (Accessed: date)
EXAMPLEProgramme on Netflix
In-text
While this show is set in the Cold war era (The Queen's Gambit, 2020),..
Reference list
The Queen's Gambit (2020) Netflix Original, 12 January, 20:00. Available at: Netflix (Accessed: 24 August 2021).
There is a multitude of different legal sources in the UK that we can use to explain referencing in Harvard. The safest way to get the correct reference is to use the BibGuru Harvard reference generator.
This is the citation order for papers from the House of Commons and House of Lords:
- Parliament. House of ...
- Year of Publication (in round brackets)
- Title (in italics)
- Paper number (in round brackets) - for House of Lords papers, the paper number is also in round brackets to distinguish it from identical House if Commons paper numbers
- Place of publication: Publisher
EXAMPLEPapers from the House of Commons and House of Lords
In-text
Parliamentary reports for the year included the criminal justice system (Parliament. House of Commons, 1999) and renewable energy (Parliament. House of Lords, 1999).
Reference list
Parliament. House of Commons (1999) Criminal Justice: working together, Session 1999-2000. (HC 1999-2000 29). London: The Stationery Office.
Parliament. House of Lords (1999) Electricity from renewables: first report from the Select Committee on the European Union. (HL 1999-2000 (18)). London: The Stationery Office.
While there is a multitude of details and specific rules on how to cite various publications or works in Harvard (magazines, online books, the internet, social media, legal sources, movies, etc.), you do not need to worry about getting your citations wrong with BibGuru. Use our BibGuru Harvard reference generator to create the fastest and most accurate Harvard citations possible.
Ditch the frustrations for stress-free citations
Helpful resources on Harvard style
From our blog
How to read a scholarly article
How many sentences are in a paragraph
What is an annotated bibliography
How to ask for a letter of recommendation
More Bibguru Harvard guides
How to cite a reprinted book
How to cite a newspaper article
How to cite a Tweet
How to cite a magazine article
General Guides (UK)
- Dundalk Institute of Technology Library
- Anglia Ruskin University Library
- University of York Library
- Birmingham City University Library
- University College, London Library
- Imperial College, London Library
- University of Bolton
General Guides (Australia)
Cite Them Right Specific Guides
FAQs
🙋♂️ Is the Harvard citation style the same as APA?
The APA style is a variant of the Harvard style. Both styles use author-date references in brackets right after the borrowed information or at the end of the sentence, and full references in the reference list. There are a few differences between APA and Harvard, you can learn more about them here.
🌸 Is the Harvard referencing style double-spaced?
Your Harvard paper should be double-spaced with smooth left margins. The Harvard Reference list is double-spaced too.
📎 Do you indent the Reference list in Harvard style?
The Reference list is alphabetised by the author's surname and is double-spaced with a hanging indent, meaning that all but the first line have an indent. The margin can vary depending on your institution, but in general is 0.5.
🔢 How do you write numbers in Harvard style?
In general, numbers below 101 should be spelled out. The same goes for large round numbers like "one thousand" or "twenty thousand", although 250,000 would be too long to spell out. Very large numbers, like 4.3 billion, should be expressed in figures. What is most important though is consistency. However, you choose to express numbers, be consistent with them throughout your paper. You can read more about this here.
📙 Do you use footnotes for Harvard referencing?
The Harvard citation style uses the author-date system for in-text references, which means the author's surname and the year of publication in round brackets are placed within the text, not in footnotes. Only use footnotes within a Harvard formatted paper for explanatory notes that would not detract from the text, if necessary.
FAQs
How do I add Harvard referencing to Word 2022? ›
- Click on the References tab on the top menu.
- The tool you will be using is in the Citations & Bibliography section.
- The first thing you need to do is set your Referencing Style - for example, Harvard.
- Click on the button to the right of Style.
- Select Harvard.
- Mendeley Cite.
- Zotero.
- EndNote.
- Paperpile.
- Cite This for Me.
- Citation Machine.
- EasyBib.
- BibMe.
Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page reference. If accessed online: Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).
Does Microsoft Word have Harvard referencing? ›Ensure you select the correct citation style for your course, go to References in your Word Document, next to Style in the drop-down menu, select your preferred style, you can choose from Harvard, APA or IEEE.
How do I automatically create references in Word? ›In your Word document, click on the References tab in the Ribbon. In the Citations & Bibliography group, click the arrow next to Style. Click the style that you want to use for the citation and source. Click at the end of the sentence or phrase that you want to cite.
What are available free to use citation generators? ›- APA citation generator. ...
- MLA citation generator. ...
- Harvard citation generator. ...
- Chicago citation generator. ...
- Turabian citation generator. ...
- AMA citation generator. ...
- CSE citation generator. ...
- ASA citation generator.
APA (American Psychological Association)
APA referencing is a variant on Harvard style. Many of the conventions are the same, with brief author-date citations in brackets in the body of the text and full citations in the reference list.
APA (American Psychological Association) is used by Education, Psychology, and Sciences. MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used by the Humanities. Chicago/Turabian style is generally used by Business, History, and the Fine Arts.
What is a full Harvard reference? ›Harvard style referencing is an author/date method. Sources are cited within the body of your assignment by giving the name of the author(s) followed by the date of publication. All other details about the publication are given in the list of references or bibliography at the end.
DOI have to cite every sentence Harvard? ›A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source. The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence.
What is most common Harvard referencing style? ›
Harvard (Author-Date) style
The Harvard referencing style is another popular style using the author-date system for in-text citations. In-text citation: It consists mainly of the authors' last name and the year of publication (and page numbers if it is directly quoted) in round brackets placed within the text.
In the Harvard (author-date) System the list of references is arranged alphabetically by author's surname, year (and letter, if necessary) and is placed at the end of the work. A reference list is the detailed list of references that are cited in your work.
What are examples of Harvard referencing style? ›Author surname, initial. (Year) 'Article title', Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. page range. Thagard, P. (1990) 'Philosophy and machine learning', Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 20(2), pp. 261–276. This format is also used for journal articles which you accessed online but which are available in print too.
Do Harvard in text citations count in the word count? ›Are in-text citations included in my word count? Yes, they are counted in your word count. However, you reference list and bibliography are not counted in your word count.
Does Word have a referencing tool? ›Word has its own, basic referencing system available via the 'References' tab on the ribbon. This lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. References are stored in a master list, which can be used to add references to further documents.
How do you add Harvard referencing to Google Docs? ›- In the Citations sidebar, under your selected style, click + Add citation source.
- Select your source type.
- Select how you accessed your source. ...
- Enter or edit any source information in the fields. ...
- Click Add citation source.
Press Ctrl-A to select all paragraphs. Press F9 to update all cross-references. (This will also update other fields in your document, such as the table of contents.)
How do I create a quick reference in Word? ›Create a Citation: Click the References tab, click the Insert Citation button, and select Add New Source. Enter the source's information, then click OK. Insert a Citation: Click the References tab, click the Insert Citation button, and select a citation from the menu.
Is it OK to use a citation generator? ›Make sure to use reputable, accurate sources.
Citation generators work with the sources you give them. They can't evaluate whether those sources are good or not. This means that it's possible to use a citation generator to assemble a bibliography that's technically flawless, but nevertheless useless.
Adding citations and a bibliography to documents can be time-consuming. Using Google Docs' Citation Generator, you can quickly add these in your document using your preferred citation format (MLA, APA, or Chicago).
Is APA 7 the same as Harvard? ›
APA 7th edition is our official Harvard referencing scheme and the main referencing style in use at the University.
How many versions of Harvard referencing are there? ›Two versions of the Harvard Citation Style recommended by the Library are the styles developed by The University of Limerick and the Imperial College of London.
Should I use APA or Harvard? ›APA vs Harvard Referencing
APA referencing style is mainly used to cite education, social and behavioral science related academic work. Harvard Referencing style is mainly used for academic scientific writing. In APA referencing, the list of references at the end of the material is named 'References'.
- ReadCube Papers.
- Sciwheel.
- Paperpile.
- Citavi.
- figshare.
- Watch your title length and punctuation. ...
- Take advantage of preprint servers and release your results early. ...
- Avoid mentioning a country in your title, abstract or keywords. ...
- Link your paper to the supporting data in a freely accessible repository. ...
- Cut the hyphens.
A hundred citations is clearly “highly impactful” regardless of the year the paper was published. To get a better sense of papers that are above the baseline, we can take a look at the actual numbers.
What is the most popular reference? ›APA style is the most common referencing style, but different schools, departments, and lecturers may have their own requirements. APA style is commonly used in Education, Business, and some Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines.
What is the most popular citation method? ›APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences. MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities. Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
What is the latest referencing style? ›APA 7th is an 'author/date' system, so your in-text references for all formats (book, journal article, web document) consists of the author(s) surname and year of publication. The basics of an in-text reference in APA: Include author or authors and year of publication.
Do you have to list all authors in Harvard referencing? ›In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by 'et al. '
Can you reference the same source twice Harvard? ›
To cite multiple works by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters after the publication date in your in-text citations. This applies to any type of source including books, journal articles, tweets etc.
DOI need to cite a source twice? ›Appropriate level of citation
Instead, when paraphrasing a key point in more than one sentence within a paragraph, cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and do not repeat the citation in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged.
Where multiple consecutive sentences use information from the same single source, it is not necessary to provide a citation after each of the sentences. It is sufficient to place a citation at the end of the consecutive sentences, or a paragraph, to cover the citable information in the preceding text.
How do you insert a citation in Word 2022? ›Put your cursor at the end of the text you want to cite. Go to References > Insert Citation, and choose the source you are citing. To add details, like page numbers if you're citing a book, select Citation Options, and then Edit Citation.
Can you add new referencing style in Word? ›On the References tab, click the arrow next to Bibliography Style, and click the style that you want to use for the citation and source. For example, social sciences documents usually use the MLA or APA styles for citations and sources.
Is APA referencing the same as Harvard? ›APA referencing is a variant on Harvard style. Many of the conventions are the same, with brief author-date citations in brackets in the body of the text and full citations in the reference list. It is usual to include a reference list only rather than a bibliography in APA style.
How do I update all reference numbers in Word? ›5) To update all of the citations (i.e., all of the fields), click on “Ctrl” and “A” (which selects the entire document). Then click on F9 which will update all of the fields. You can also right click on any one citation and select the option to update the field, if you only wish to update that one citation.
How do I get a list of References in Word? ›Select Bibliography from the Citations & Bibliography section of the References tab, b. Select References. Note: depending on your version of Word, there might be no References option, in which case, select Works Cited or Bibliography, and simply change the title to References.
Why can I not insert citation in Word? ›If you are able to view the citations but not able to insert it, try opening Word in safe mode and check the status. Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run > type winword /safe > hit OK. If the citations work fine in safe mode, you may disable the add-ins and check if it works fine in normal mode.
How do I insert a BibTeX citation in Word? ›Open the document in Word that you want to add citations to. Press and navigate to your bibtex database file. To add a citation, position the cursor at the appropriate place in your document and press . In the dialogue box that appears type one or more BibTeX keys separated by commas.
What is the difference between bibliography and reference? ›
A reference list contains only sources you have cited in-text in your assignment. A bibliography is a list of all the sources you used to generate your ideas about the topic including those cited in your assignment as well as those you did not cite.
Can you copy and paste references in Word? ›Find the folder or group of references you are interested. Select one or more entries using your mouse (you might need to use CTRL, SHIFT and/or CMD to select multiple entries) Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+C (CMD+C for Mac) to copy. Alternatively you can use the menu “Edit > Copy”.
Can I mix referencing styles? ›No, you should never mix referencing styles. Always be consistent.
How do I apply a style to an existing Word document? ›- Select the text you want to format. Tip: If you place your cursor in a paragraph, the style is applied to the whole paragraph. ...
- On the Home tab, point to a style to preview it. If you don't see a style you want, click the More button. ...
- Select a style.
Author's family name, Initial(s) year of publication, 'Title in single quotes', Journal Title in Italics, vol. ##, (volume number) no. #, (issue number) pp. #-# (page numbers the article covers).