Citing the work of others helps to make your work more impactful. It could be direct quotes, paraphrases of someone else’s ideas, statistical figures, or summaries of main points. There are different methods for crediting resources; Harvard referencing style (or Harvard style for short) is one such method.
Harvard style follows the author-date system and includes two types of citations:
In-text citations are included within the text of the main document. They are placed next to the information you are referencing, so the reader is clear on what information came from another source.
In-text citation example:
(Bloom, 2005) or Bloom (2005) wrote…
Every in-text citation has a corresponding reference in a reference list. A reference includes additional details about each source referenced. This enables the reader to refer to the original source, should they need to.
The reference list is a detailed list of all the works consulted while writing. It is placed at the end of the document.
Reference example for the above in-text citation:
Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) Title of the text in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Bloom, H. (2005) Novelists and novels. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
Below are Harvard referencing examples of in-text citations and reference list entries for the different kinds of sources that you might use.
In-text citation structure and example:
(Author Surname, Publication Year)
Reference structure and example:
Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) Title. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Ozeki, R. (2013) A tale for the time being. New York: Penguin Books.
For books with two or three authors, the names of all the authors are given in both the in-text citation and the reference entry.
In-text citation structure and example:
(1 st Author Surname and 2 nd Author Surname, Publication Year)
(Lodge and Wood, 2000)
Reference structure and example:
1 st Author Surname, Initials. and 2 nd Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) Title of the text in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Lodge, D. and Wood, N. (2000) Modern criticism and theory: a reader. 2nd edn. Harlow: Longman.
If the number of authors is four or more, only the first author’s name is used followed by ‘et al.’, italicised, which is Latin for ‘and others’.
In-text citation structure and example:
(1 st Author Surname et al., Publication Year)
(Akmajian et al., 2014)
Reference structure and example:
1 st Author Surname, Initials. et al. (Publication Year) Title of the text in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Akmajian, A. et al. (2014) Linguistics: an introduction to language and communication. 6th edn. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
For books with a translator, only the author’s name is included in the in-text reference. The translator is given in the reference list entry, along with the language from which it was translated. This comes right after the title.
In-text citation structure and example:
(Author Surname, Publication Year)
Reference structure and example:
Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) Title of the text in italics. Translated from the Language by Translator Initials. Surname. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Dostoevsky, F. (1993) Crime and punishment. Translated from the Russian by R. Pevear and L. Volokhonsky. London: Vintage.
Journal articles are highly credible sources of information. The example below was authored by more than three individuals, so the term ‘et al.’ is used in lieu of listing all authors.
In-text citation structure and example:
(Author Surname, Publication Year)
(Lomolino et al., 2020)
Journal reference list entries often have extra information, such as article title, volume, issue number, page numbers, or a specific date.
With journals, the volume number follows the title. If there are any specific parts of the issue, numbered or organized according to months, these details are mentioned alongside in brackets.
Reference structure and example:
Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) ‘Article title’, Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page(s). Available at: URL or DOI (Accessed: date).
Lomolino, M. et al. (2013) ‘Of mice and mammoths: generality and antiquity of the island rule’, Journal of Biogeography, 40(8), pp. 1427-1439. Available at: https://www.jstor/org/stable/23463664 (Accessed: 10 September 2020).
In-text citation structure and example:
(Author Surname, Publication Year)
Reference structure and example:
Author Surname, Initials. (Publication Year) ‘Article title’, Newspaper/Magazine Name, Day Month Published, Page(s). Available at: URL or DOI (Accessed: date).
Ingle, S. (2020) ‘Geraint Thomas insists he has nothing to prove at road world championships’, The Guardian, 24 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sprot/2020/sep/24/geraint-thomas-insists-he-has-nothing-to-prove-at-road-world-championships-cycling (Accessed: 11 October 2020).
For online articles, you should always include the URL and date of access.
In-text citation structure and example:
(Author/Poster Name, Publication Year)
Reference structure and example:
References for social media posts have a similar format to online articles. However, sometimes they don’t have a true ‘title’. For example, for Twitter posts, the full text of the tweet is used as the title, unless the tweet is overly long.
Author/Poster Surname, Initial(s). [@Handle] (Publication year) Content of Post [Social Media Site] Day Month Published. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Cramer, K. [@SenKevinCramer] (2020) Supreme Court vacancies are an important issue to the people I serve [Twitter] 24 September. Available at: https://twitter.com/SenKevinCramer/status/1308915548244398081 (Accessed: 25 September 2020).
The format for citing social media is different than the format for citing regular websites and web pages. This guide on how to cite a website in Harvard style provides details on how to cite web content that is not posted on social media.
In-text citation structure and example:
(Image Creator or Photographer Surname, Publication Year)
Print reference structure:
Author, Initial(s). (Year) Title of the Image [Photograph]. Place of Publication: Publisher (if available).
Online reference structure and example:
If the image is on the Internet, then the place of publication and the publisher name are replaced by the image URL and access date.
Author, Initial(s). (Year) Title of the Image. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Pinneo, B.J. (2020) Dusty dreams. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/2020/09/dusty-dreams/ (Accessed: 23 September 2020).
In-text reference structure and example:
(Film Title, Year Released)
(Pride & Prejudice, 2005)
Reference structure and example:
For films, the title of the film is used in place of the author name.
Title of the Film (Year Released) Directed by Director Initial. Surname. Available at: Name of Streaming Service (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Pride & Prejudice (2005) Directed by J. Wright. UK: Universal Pictures. Available at: Netflix (Accessed: 29 September 2020).
Published October 29, 2020.