Harvard Referencing & Citation – Full Guide + Examples (2024)

Harvard reference is used if you cite information that was taken from another source. Academic Integrity Rules oblige students and researchers to include in-text citations. Then they provide a full reference in their reference list.

TheHarvard styleis usually used in UK universities. However, it is also common worldwide, especially in classical educational institutions. There are two quotation formats that are usually used for most academic writings:

When integrating an author's quote in your text or retelling a source, use Harvard in-text citation. After the author's quotation, you should put parentheses and include surname. Then year and page in them, using which your reader can find the mentioned information.

If the author’s surname is already mentioned, indicate only the year of publication and pages (or a single page). This will help to avoid repetitions. The following Harvard citation example will provide you with an opportunity to understand the specifics of this format.

But what if you are using a source that has two, three, or more authors? Then you should know how to cite multiple authors in Harvard. When taking a quote from a work of more than three authors at once, specify their names, separated by commas, only then add other data.

For example, you can provide a reference that looks like:

And if you have four or more authors, include only the very first one. In order not to make a huge list of all writers, add “et al”. For example, such a quote would look like this:

You can have problems with text styling when websites are used. Websites usually don’t have page numbers. An in-text citation for sources with no page is also added to your list of sources, and you must do this in accordance with requirements.

When you take a short text, don’t indicate the page number, use only the name of the site. Long text sources require an alternative locator. It can be subheading, paragraph, or para, which can be easily identified.

This sample is very simple. However, in your general list of references, you should indicate an address from which your excerpt was taken. Most often, any citation of source with no page looks like this:

The Harvard reference list of citations is required for your readers to understand where you got this or that passage. It is indicated at the end and uses alphabetical sorting of sources. So indicate the original, if there is one.

If you want your full citations for Harvard style referencing to be correct, include the following information in your bibliography:

You can also add an edition number after the name of the publisher or editor if it is listed in a book's author list. In general, the order should be the same as in the above list. This is a correct approach to presentation of your literature list.

Here is an example.

If you are using a book, not ascientific article, you most likely want to know how to cite a book in Harvard Reference list. If it has one author, you should specify a surname and initial at the beginning. Next, specify a year of publication. Then indicate the original title (it must be italicized). After that, specify the city in which the first edition was released. Write the publisher (of the first edition) separated by a colon. Different publishers may publish texts with differences.

Check an example for book citations.

This Harvard book referencing example will work in most cases. However, multiple authors require a slightly different approach. The scheme is identical, but you should apply our recommendations that we gave you above. So, when listing up to three authors at once, use their surnames and initials consecutively. Try not to use any other elements.

If having four or more authors, use a common format for this. And you can also use it as such in your bibliography. So, our example will look like this:

In order to detail the passage, you could indicate the section of the book from which the excerpt was taken. The order is similar to the previous citation options. Thus, you don't have to think about how to reference a chapter in a book using theHarvard style. First, include details about the author. Then add a year of release, a section with the title and name of the editor. Also include the book’s title, city, publisher, and page numbers that you are using.

Such format you should use for your citation in the general bibliography. Here is an example.

If you use a translated book, you cannot indicate its original name. In this case, you need to tell about which version you have used. The citation scheme is identical, but after the book's title, you should indicate which language your text was translated from and who its translator was.

You don’t need to use brackets for any information about your translation. The original language is important here. Here is an example of such a citation.

How to cite an eBook in Harvard format? If you purchased your text from a digital store and used a gadget to read it, you may have such a question. Referring to it is slightly different from paper versions. And it’s important for readers and scientific communities. First, according to tradition, indicate the name and initials of the author. Second, year of publication in brackets. And third, the title of the book and the number of publication.

The format of the book (ebook or pdf) must be placed in square brackets. You put a link where you can find the book after the city and the publisher. In case your link stops working, include an accessed date (when you last accessed this book).

Put a link based on this example.

If you rely heavily on websites to gather your information, learn how to reference a website in Harvard. This set of information is similar to a bibliography, but there are some differences. In particular, you need to specify not only the link for following, where the site is available at, but also the time when you have last accessed this resource. This will help in case your article or site are no longer available. You will show that you were able to enter that portal and study the information.

Example of referencing a website in Harvard style looks like this.

What if you used material from a site where no author indicated? We will tell you how to reference a website with no author in Harvard style below. You should write the organization, that is, the site’s name from which the information is replaced, the title of the page, and be sure to write “online” in square brackets. You should also add the source and the date of access to it, as in the previous quotes.

Use this example for citation.

It will be different, if you need to know how to reference a website with no date in Harvard, it happens when there is no publication date. For example, it can be a historical document or a blog of a famous scientist, which has no analogues. Then, instead of the date of creation of this information, you should indicate “n.d”.

Follow our example for correct styling.

The Harvard reference for journal article styling is not very different from other citations. In case of printed editions, you need to indicate the name and initials of their author. After that, the year of publication, and the title of the article. In addition, write the name of the magazine itself. Then its volume (issue) and page that contains the material.

Use italics for titles of publications in order to separate them from other logical blocks. Here is an example of a reference for a journal article.

Before learning how to cite an online article in Harvard, you should take the available information. If you capitalize material from a regular Internet site, indicate your reference according to our model given above. In a situation where you have used a database or website with official scientific materials, proceed a little differently.

As usual, indicate the author's surname and initials. Then a year of publication, article title, journal title, and number. Write what pages of material were used for your research, and at the end, mark the DOI. Be sure to indicate when and where you have accessed scientific information.

Here is our sample to help you compile a bibliography.

It’s quite easy to cite a newspaper article in Harvard Reference List. You need to indicate the surname and initials of the author, the year of publication, article title, newspaper title, as well as pages where it’s placed. This applies to paper printed versions. If it is an Internet article, provide a link to its written material. Then people can follow this link to access the information.

Here is an excellent working example.

If you use magazine articles, you need to know how to reference a magazine in Harvard style. This format is simple. And it’s different from newspaper extracts. The main difference is that you need to specify the name of the magazine itself. You also have to write its volume in your citation. It is usually placed on its cover or in editorial data.

If you still have questions about styling, pay attention to this sample.

Video is being used as a source of information more and more frequently. Therefore, people need Harvard referencing for YouTube video quite often. Use its standard format, in which you need to specify the author, company name, the year when it was uploaded, and also italicize the title or description. And, of course, insert the link to its material.

It would be useful to write such content type in square brackets so that readers understand what exactly you used in your work. Here is an example for such video.

Finally, you will learn how to reference an image in Harvard. To do this, use almost identical formula that works for videos. An online picture should be included with information about its author, year of publication, type of content in square brackets and a link where this image is available. URL of images changes quite often, so you should add your date when you accessed it.

Here is an example for your guidance.