Harvard Citation Generator
Your bibliography
0 sourcesHarvard citation generator is a free tool that builds accurate Harvard (Cite Them Right) in-text citations and reference-list entries. Paste a URL, DOI, ISBN or title, pick the source type, and copy a correctly formatted, ready-to-use reference in seconds.
How do I use this Harvard citation generator?
Choose your source type, enter a URL, DOI, ISBN or article title, and the generator retrieves the metadata and formats it into Harvard (Cite Them Right) style automatically. You then copy the reference entry and the matching in-text citation straight into your document.
- Select the source type — website, book, journal article, chapter, video or report.
- Paste an identifier (DOI, URL, ISBN) or type the details manually.
- Check the auto-filled fields; correct any author, date or title errors.
- Copy the formatted reference and its in-text citation into your work.
- Repeat, then sort your reference list alphabetically by author surname.
The tool never limits how many citations you create and never adds watermarks or advertisements to your output.
What is Harvard referencing?
Harvard is an author–date referencing system that names the author and publication year in the body text, then lists full source details alphabetically at the end. It is a style family rather than one fixed standard, so most UK universities follow the Cite Them Right interpretation as their default.
Unlike APA or MLA, “Harvard” has no single governing body. This page follows Cite Them Right (Pears and Shields), the most widely adopted and taught version across British and Australian higher education. Always confirm your department’s own guide, because small punctuation and capitalisation choices vary between institutions.
How do Harvard in-text citations work?
A Harvard in-text citation gives the author surname and year in brackets, adding a page number for direct quotations. You place it next to the borrowed idea, either integrated in the sentence or in parentheses at the end before the full stop.
- Paraphrase: Learning improves with spaced practice (Bell, 2014).
- Direct quote: Bell (2014, p. 12) argues that “planning is everything”.
- Narrative: As Bell (2014) explains, small studies still yield insight.
- No date: use
(Scope, no date)when no year is available. - Page ranges: use
p.for one page andpp.for several.
Every in-text citation must have a matching entry in the reference list, and every reference-list entry must be cited at least once in the text.
How do I build a Harvard reference list?
A Harvard reference list appears on a new page headed “Reference list” or “References”, arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname. Each entry begins with the author, then the year in brackets, then the title and source details, with the book or journal title in italics.
Do not number entries, and do not split them by source type. Use a hanging indent so the second and later lines of each reference are indented, which makes surnames easy to scan. Where an author has several works, order them by year, oldest first, and add a, b, c after the year for works published in the same year.
| Element | Harvard (Cite Them Right) rule |
|---|---|
| Author | Surname, then initials with full stops: Bell, J. |
| Year | In round brackets after the author: (2014) |
| Title case | Sentence case; only the first word and proper nouns capitalised |
| Italics | Book, journal, website and video titles; article/chapter titles take single quotes |
| Online sources | End with Available at: URL (Accessed: day month year) |
What are the parts of a Harvard reference?
- Author — surname then initials; join two authors with “and”.
- Year — publication year in round brackets.
- Article title — sentence case, wrapped in single quotation marks.
- Source — italic journal title, then volume(issue) and page range.
- DOI — the digital object identifier for online articles.
How does Harvard handle multiple authors?
Harvard lists up to three authors in full in both the text and the reference list; for four or more authors, the in-text citation uses the first author followed by et al. The reference list under Cite Them Right still names every author where practical.
| Authors | In-text citation |
|---|---|
| One | (Bell, 2014) |
| Two | (Smith and Jones, 2019) |
| Three | (Smith, Jones and Brown, 2019) |
| Four or more | (Smith et al., 2019) |
| Organisation | (Office for National Statistics, 2021) |
When no author is named, use the organisation or the title in its place, and never invent “Anon.” unless your source itself is credited that way.
Harvard reference examples by source type
These copy-ready examples follow Cite Them Right. Italic titles are shown in italics; match the punctuation exactly, including the full stop that closes each entry.
BookBell, J. (2014) Doing your research project. 6th edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
E-bookCarter, R. (2018) Language and creativity. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com (Accessed: 3 May 2023).
ChapterFranklin, A.W. (2012) ‘Management of the problem’, in Smith, S.M. (ed.) The maltreatment of children. Lancaster: MTP, pp. 83–95.
JournalShirazi, T. (2010) ‘Successful teaching placements in secondary schools’, Journal of Learning Development, 15(6), pp. 321–333.
Journal (DOI)Kaya, T. and Sagsan, M. (2019) ‘The concept of digital citizenship’, Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(2), pp. 179–190. doi: 10.1080/0144929X.2018.1494320.
WebsiteScope (2019) Types of disability. Available at: https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/disability (Accessed: 4 September 2019).
NewspaperMansell, W. (2020) ‘Coronavirus: how schools are coping’, The Guardian, 24 March, p. 9.
YouTube videoCrashCourse (2019) The Industrial Revolution: Crash Course European History #24. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5DCizj5c (Accessed: 21 August 2019).
ReportDepartment for Education (2021) Special educational needs in England. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sen (Accessed: 12 January 2022).
ThesisLeach, J. (2019) Improving reading fluency. PhD thesis. University of Leeds. Available at: https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk (Accessed: 8 June 2022).
How should a Harvard paper be formatted?
Cite Them Right sets no strict page layout, so follow your institution’s template while keeping the reference list consistent. Most guides ask for a readable serif or sans-serif font at 11–12 point, double or 1.5 line spacing, and a hanging indent on every reference.
- Head the final list “Reference list” or “References”.
- Order entries alphabetically by first author surname, letter by letter.
- Keep a separate “Bibliography” only if your tutor asks for background reading too.
- Write access dates in full:
(Accessed: 4 September 2019).
Which version of Harvard should I use?
Because Harvard is not centrally governed, versions differ in small details such as whether the year sits in brackets, how DOIs are shown, and whether “and” or an ampersand joins authors. Cite Them Right is the safest default, but your university library may publish its own variant that overrides it.
Common differences you will meet include doi: versus https://doi.org/, “edn.” versus “ed.” for edition, and bold versus plain volume numbers. Pick one guide, apply it consistently, and set this generator to Cite Them Right unless your course specifies otherwise.
What are the most common Harvard mistakes?
- Title case errors: Harvard uses sentence case, not capitalising every major word.
- Missing access dates: every online source needs
(Accessed: …). - Wrong italics: italicise the book or journal, not the article title.
- p. vs pp.: a single page takes
p.; a range takespp. - Ampersands: Cite Them Right uses “and”, not “&”, between author names.
- Orphan entries: a reference with no matching in-text citation, or vice versa.
How accurate is this generator?
The generator formats reliable metadata correctly, but it is only as accurate as the data it receives. Publisher records sometimes carry missing initials, wrong dates or all-capitals titles, so you must proofread every entry against the Cite Them Right rules above before submitting.
Automated tools cannot judge whether a source deserves to be cited, cannot always detect an author versus an editor, and cannot reliably fix sentence case for you. Treat the output as a fast, accurate first draft rather than a final answer, and verify anything the tool flags as incomplete.
Harvard referencing FAQ
Is Harvard the same as APA?
No. Both are author–date systems, but APA is a single fixed standard from the American Psychological Association, whereas Harvard is a style family with several interpretations. Cite Them Right is the most common Harvard version in the UK.
Do I need a page number in every Harvard citation?
No. You only need a page number for direct quotations or when pointing to a specific passage. Paraphrases and summaries require just the author and year, such as (Bell, 2014).
How do I cite a source with no author in Harvard?
Use the organisation responsible, or the title if there is no organisation, in the author position. If no year is shown, write “no date” in place of the year, for example (Scope, no date).
Is this Harvard citation generator really free?
Yes. Every feature is free with no account, no export limit and no advertisements. The tool builds unlimited Harvard citations and lets you copy them straight into your document.
Which Harvard version does the generator use?
It follows Cite Them Right, the interpretation taught at most UK and Australian universities. If your department uses a local variant, adjust punctuation such as the DOI format to match your own guide.
How do I reference a website in Harvard style?
Give the author or organisation, the year, the italicised page title, then “Available at:” the URL and the access date in brackets — for example Scope (2019) Types of disability. Available at: URL (Accessed: 4 September 2019).