Harvard Citation: Format, Rules and Examples
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0 sourcesHarvard Citation is an author-date referencing system. You cite a source in the text with the author’s surname and year, such as (Smith, 2021), then give full publication details in an alphabetised reference list at the end of your document.
What is Harvard citation style?
Harvard is an author-date citation system, not a single fixed manual. You acknowledge a source twice: a brief in-text citation with author surname and year, and a full entry in the reference list. Because “Harvard” is a family of styles, most institutions specify a version. The dominant standard is Cite Them Right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields, which this page follows.
How do you write a Harvard in-text citation?
A Harvard in-text citation gives the author’s surname and the year of publication in parentheses. Add a page number after a comma for direct quotations. You can integrate the author into your sentence or place the whole citation at the end, before the full stop.
ParentheticalReflective practice improves clinical judgement (Johns, 2020).
NarrativeJohns (2020) argues that reflective practice improves clinical judgement.
Direct quoteReflection is “a personal process of learning” (Johns, 2020, p. 14).
Use p. for a single page and pp. for a range. When you cite two works by the same author from the same year, add lowercase letters to the year: (Miller, 2019a) and (Miller, 2019b).
What goes in the Harvard reference list?
The reference list appears at the end of your work under the heading Reference list or References. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author surname, not numbered. Each entry gives the full details a reader needs to locate the source. Titles of books, journals and websites are italicised; article and chapter titles sit in single quotation marks.
- Author — surname then initial, followed by a full stop
- Year — publication year in round brackets
- Article title — single quotation marks, sentence case
- Source — italic journal name, then volume(issue) and pages
- DOI/URL — the digital object identifier or access link
How do you cite a book in Harvard?
A Harvard book reference lists the author, year in brackets, italicised title, edition if not the first, and the publisher. Under the 2025 Cite Them Right update, the place of publication is no longer required for printed books.
| Element | Format |
|---|---|
| Order | Surname, Initial. (Year) Title. Edition. Publisher. |
| Edition | Only if not the first, e.g. 3rd edn. |
| Chapter | Add ‘Chapter title’, in Editor (ed.) Book, pp. x–y. |
BookPears, R. and Shields, G. (2022) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 12th edn. Bloomsbury Academic.
Edited chapterOkri, B. (2018) ‘Storytelling and memory’, in Adebayo, D. (ed.) Writing the self. Manchester: Comma Press, pp. 44–59.
E-bookAtwood, M. (2019) The testaments. London: Chatto & Windus. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle (Accessed: 3 March 2024).
How do you cite a journal article in Harvard?
A Harvard journal citation gives the author, year, article title in single quotes, italicised journal name, volume and issue, and page range. Add the DOI as a link for online articles. Where an article has an article number instead of pages, cite it as article 12.
Print journalShirazi, T. (2019) ‘Successful teaching placements in secondary schools’, Journal of Education for Teaching, 36(3), pp. 355–357.
Online journalAinsworth, P. (2019) ‘Rethinking urban green space’, Journal of Environmental Planning, 62(4), pp. 501–518. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2018.1500000 (Accessed: 9 January 2024).
How do you cite a website in Harvard?
A Harvard website reference lists the author or organisation, the year the page was published or last updated, the italicised page title, the URL after Available at:, and the date you accessed it. If no author is named, begin with the organisation responsible for the site.
- Author — person or organisation responsible
- Year — published or last-updated year
- Title — italicised page title
- Available at — the full URL
- Accessed — the date you viewed the page
WebsiteNHS (2023) Healthy eating. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well (Accessed: 12 July 2024).
Online newsHarding, L. (2024) ‘The rebuilding of a city’, The Guardian, 4 February. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world (Accessed: 5 February 2024).
How do you handle multiple authors in Harvard?
Harvard changes how you list authors depending on how many there are. In the reference list you name up to three authors; for four or more you may list all or use the first author and et al. In text, always shorten three or more authors to the first name plus et al.
| Authors | In text | Reference list |
|---|---|---|
| One | (Johns, 2020) | Johns, C. (2020) |
| Two | (Bell and Waters, 2018) | Bell, J. and Waters, S. (2018) |
| Three | (Ridley et al., 2021) | Ridley, D., Patel, S. and Cho, M. (2021) |
| Four or more | (Sinha et al., 2019) | Sinha, R. et al. (2019) |
How accurate is this guide, and what are its limits?
These rules follow Cite Them Right, the most common Harvard standard, and reflect the 2025 revisions. However, “Harvard” has no single governing body, so your university may use a local variant with small differences in punctuation, italics or the use of “p.” Always check your department’s referencing handbook, because markers apply the version they teach. Where a source type is unusual, such as social media, datasets or AI tools, confirm the exact template in the current edition before submitting.
Our generator builds Harvard references from the details you enter, but it cannot verify facts it was not given. Check author spelling, capitalisation and page ranges against the original source, and confirm that italics survived any copy-paste into your document.
Harvard citation FAQ
Is Harvard the same as APA?
No. Both are author-date systems and look similar, but they differ in punctuation, capitalisation and author rules. APA is governed by a single manual; Harvard is a family of styles, most often the Cite Them Right version.
Do I need a page number in every Harvard citation?
No. A page number is only required for direct quotations or when you point to a specific passage. General references to a whole work need just the author surname and year.
How do I cite a source with no date?
Use (no date) in place of the year, for example (Owen, no date). Try first to find a publication or last-updated date, and only use “no date” when none exists.
Reference list or bibliography?
A reference list contains only the sources you cited in the text. A bibliography may also include background reading you consulted but did not cite. Most Harvard courses ask for a reference list.
Are Harvard references numbered?
No. Harvard is author-date, so entries are arranged alphabetically by surname, never numbered. Numbered references belong to systems such as Vancouver or IEEE.