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In-text Citations in Harvard Referencing Style

When you incorporate quotes or ideas of other authors in your work, you must provide an in-text citation in order to credit those authors properly. For in-text citations, Harvard referencing style uses author-date format. In other words, Harvard style uses parenthetical and narrative citations that show the name of the author and the publication year of the source.  

Harvard style does not use footnotes or endnotes.  

For details about the in-text citation format for different types of sources, see these Harvard referencing examples .

In-text citations and references

Every Harvard style in-text citation has a corresponding reference in a reference list.  

In-text citations only refer to the author surname, publication year, and sometimes the page numbers.  Less information is included here so as not to interrupt the flow of the reader. This guide on formatting page numbers in Harvard style provides more details on how to include page numbers in your citations.

References include additional information about a source, such as its title, publisher name, location, etc. More information is given here, so the reader can track down the source, should they want to read more details. All references are consolidated into a single reference list that is placed at the end of the work.

Narrative and parenthetical citations

As mentioned above, there are two types of in-text citation: narrative and parenthetical. Both have the following source details:

  • Author surname
  • Publication year
  • Page numbers; only needed if you are using a direct quotation AND there are page numbers available

A parenthetical citation includes all of the information within round brackets in the sentence that contains the borrowed information.

(Author Surname, Publication Year)  

(Author, Year, p. nn)  

(Author, Year, pp. nn-nn)

A narrative citation includes the author’s name in the text of the sentence and the other information within round brackets.

Author Surname (Publication Year)  

(Year, p. nn)  

(Year, pp. nn-nn)

Let’s look at several examples of these citations below.

One author/company  

When you are providing a Harvard style in-text citation for a work that has only one author or one company accredited to its name, the following format is used:

Basic citation structures:  

(Author Surname or Company Name, Publication Year, p. nn)

Author Surname or Company Name (Publication Year, p. nn)

Only include a page number if you are using a direct quotation and if page numbers exist in the source.

Examples:  

“Miss Maudie had known Uncle Jack Finch, Atticus’s brother, since they were children.” (Lee, 1960, p. 48)

In the online report, Smith postulated that the cause was due to vasodilation (2019).

When including a direct or paraphrased quote that spans multiple pages, use ‘pp.’ instead of ‘p.’ to denote a range of pages.

The author talks about ‘the events of a summer in the countryside while the British army prepared for the Second World War’ (Henderson, 1955, pp. 11-21).

Two authors

Sometimes the work that you are referring to has two or three authors. In such cases, the following format is used for in-text citation in Harvard style:

Citation structure (two authors) :  

(Author 1 Surname and Author 2 Surname, Publication Year, p. nn)

Author 1 and Author 2 (Year, p. nn)

Examples :  

The stock market predictions were right, based on their educated theories (Holland and Smithson, 2011).

Holland and Smithson (2011) stated in their work that…

“The president’s predictions were right on target” (Holland and Smithson, 2011, p. 55).

Three authors

Citation structure (three authors):

(Author 1 Surname, Author 2 Surname and Author 3 Surname, Publication Year, p. nn)

Author 1, Author 2 and Author 3 (Year, p. nn)

A closer examination of the study demonstrated that researcher biases had influenced the data (Bolton, Lopez and Dawson, 2018).

Bolton, Lopez and Dawson stated that “the data was biased towards local businesses” (2018, p. 11).

More than four authors

When the work that you are citing has more than four authors, you only show the first author listed, then use the Latin term ‘ et al.’ in italics. This helps you succinctly show that the source has four or more authors.

Citation structure (four or more authors):

(Author 1 Surname et al. , Publication Year, p. nn)

Author 1 et al. (Year, p. nn)

Watson et al. found that “nothing more could be gained from continued experimentation” (1999, p. 271).

Research began because of urgings by the local ethics board (Watson et al. , 1999).

No author or editor

When the work that you are citing does not have a known author or editor, first consider that the name of the publishing company could be used in place of the author. This is often the case with reports or white papers put out by associations and organizations.

The online report showed that lychee demand increased internationally by 50 percent (Lychee Growers Association, 2002).

According to the Lychee Growers Association, international demand for lychee grew by 50 percent (2002).

If it does not make sense to use a company name, use the title of the source instead of the author’s name.

“Music is a universal language” ( Music Theory for Dummies , 2012, p. 13).

If you cannot find the date of publication of the document or paper that you are citing, then [n.d.] should be used in place of the date.

Example :  

“Nothing they said would convince them otherwise” (Cristosomo, [n.d.], p. 32).

Footnotes are used to reference quotes or paraphrases of a text used in another work. The Harvard style referencing does not use footnotes . The citation of the sources is provided in the text instead of in footnotes.

The Harvard author-date style is often used by both writers and readers of academic texts, as it does not interrupt the flow of reading. It saves time and keeps the attention focused on the text, whereas, in the styles that incorporate footnotes, the attention of the reader is constantly diverted to the footnotes.  

Published October 29, 2020.

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Harvard Formatting

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Reference : Website author (Year published/Last updated) Title of internet site . Available at: URL (Accessed Day Month Year).

Example : International tourism partnership (2004)  International tourism partnership . Available at: http://www.internationaltourismpartnership.org/ (Accessed 8 February 2009).

In-Text-Citation : (Website author, Year)

Example : Information available from their website (International Tourism Partnership, 2004) ….

Note 1 : No author? If the website author is not available, simply use the website name, e.g. (Website name, Year).

Note 2: No date? If the date of the website is not available, substitute the date with the words 'no date', e.g.  Website author (no date).

Still unsure what in-text citation and referencing mean? Check here .

Still unsure why you need to reference all this information? Check here .

Page on a website

Reference : Webpage Author(s) Last name, Initials. (Year) Page title .  Available at: URL (Accessed Day Month Year).

Example : Kelly, M. (2004) Environmental attitudes and behaviours: Ireland in comparative European perspective . Available at: http://www.ucd.ie/environ/home.htm (Accessed 8 February 2009).

In-Text-Citation :

  • Author(s) Last name (Year)
  • (Author(s) Last name, Year)
  • Kelly (2004) responded….
  • In the response (Kelly, 2004)….

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A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 15 September 2023.

Referencing is an important part of academic writing. It tells your readers what sources you’ve used and how to find them.

Harvard is the most common referencing style used in UK universities. In Harvard style, the author and year are cited in-text, and full details of the source are given in a reference list .

In-text citation Referencing is an essential academic skill (Pears and Shields, 2019).
Reference list entry Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) 11th edn. London: MacMillan.

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Table of contents

Harvard in-text citation, creating a harvard reference list, harvard referencing examples, referencing sources with no author or date, frequently asked questions about harvard referencing.

A Harvard in-text citation appears in brackets beside any quotation or paraphrase of a source. It gives the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication, as well as a page number or range locating the passage referenced, if applicable:

Note that ‘p.’ is used for a single page, ‘pp.’ for multiple pages (e.g. ‘pp. 1–5’).

An in-text citation usually appears immediately after the quotation or paraphrase in question. It may also appear at the end of the relevant sentence, as long as it’s clear what it refers to.

When your sentence already mentions the name of the author, it should not be repeated in the citation:

Sources with multiple authors

When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors’ names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Number of authors In-text citation example
1 author (Davis, 2019)
2 authors (Davis and Barrett, 2019)
3 authors (Davis, Barrett and McLachlan, 2019)
4+ authors (Davis , 2019)

Sources with no page numbers

Some sources, such as websites , often don’t have page numbers. If the source is a short text, you can simply leave out the page number. With longer sources, you can use an alternate locator such as a subheading or paragraph number if you need to specify where to find the quote:

Multiple citations at the same point

When you need multiple citations to appear at the same point in your text – for example, when you refer to several sources with one phrase – you can present them in the same set of brackets, separated by semicolons. List them in order of publication date:

Multiple sources with the same author and date

If you cite multiple sources by the same author which were published in the same year, it’s important to distinguish between them in your citations. To do this, insert an ‘a’ after the year in the first one you reference, a ‘b’ in the second, and so on:

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A bibliography or reference list appears at the end of your text. It lists all your sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, giving complete information so that the reader can look them up if necessary.

The reference entry starts with the author’s last name followed by initial(s). Only the first word of the title is capitalised (as well as any proper nouns).

Harvard reference list example

Sources with multiple authors in the reference list

As with in-text citations, up to three authors should be listed; when there are four or more, list only the first author followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Number of authors Reference example
1 author Davis, V. (2019) …
2 authors Davis, V. and Barrett, M. (2019) …
3 authors Davis, V., Barrett, M. and McLachlan, F. (2019) …
4+ authors Davis, V. (2019) …

Reference list entries vary according to source type, since different information is relevant for different sources. Formats and examples for the most commonly used source types are given below.

  • Entire book
  • Book chapter
  • Translated book
  • Edition of a book
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) . City: Publisher.
Example Smith, Z. (2017) . London: Penguin.
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Chapter title’, in Editor name (ed(s).) . City: Publisher, page range.
Example Greenblatt, S. (2010) ‘The traces of Shakespeare’s life’, in De Grazia, M. and Wells, S. (eds.) . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–14.
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) . Translated from the [language] by Translator name. City: Publisher.
Example Tokarczuk, O. (2019) . Translated from the Polish by A. Lloyd-Jones. London: Fitzcarraldo.
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) . Edition. City: Publisher.
Example Danielson, D. (ed.) (1999) . 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Notes

Journal articles

  • Print journal
  • Online-only journal with DOI
  • Online-only journal with no DOI
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), pp. page range.
Example Thagard, P. (1990) ‘Philosophy and machine learning’, , 20(2), pp. 261–276.
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), page range. DOI.
Example Adamson, P. (2019) ‘American history at the foreign office: Exporting the silent epic Western’, , 31(2), pp. 32–59. doi: https://10.2979/filmhistory.31.2.02.
Notes if available.
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Volume(Issue), page range. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example Theroux, A. (1990) ‘Henry James’s Boston’, , 20(2), pp. 158–165. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20153016 (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes
  • General web page
  • Online article or blog
  • Social media post
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) . Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example Google (2019) . Available at: https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en-US (Accessed: 27 January 2020).
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, , Date. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example Leafstedt, E. (2020) ‘Russia’s constitutional reform and Putin’s plans for a legacy of stability’, , 29 January. Available at: https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/russias-constitutional-reform-and-putins-plans-for-a-legacy-of-stability/ (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes
Format Author surname, initial. [username] (Year) or text [Website name] Date. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example Dorsey, J. [@jack] (2018) We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation … [Twitter] 1 March. Available at: https://twitter.com/jack/status/969234275420655616 (Accessed: 13 February 2020).
Notes

Sometimes you won’t have all the information you need for a reference. This section covers what to do when a source lacks a publication date or named author.

No publication date

When a source doesn’t have a clear publication date – for example, a constantly updated reference source like Wikipedia or an obscure historical document which can’t be accurately dated – you can replace it with the words ‘no date’:

In-text citation (Scribbr, no date)
Reference list entry Scribbr (no date) . Available at: https://www.scribbr.co.uk/category/thesis-dissertation/ (Accessed: 14 February 2020).

Note that when you do this with an online source, you should still include an access date, as in the example.

When a source lacks a clearly identified author, there’s often an appropriate corporate source – the organisation responsible for the source – whom you can credit as author instead, as in the Google and Wikipedia examples above.

When that’s not the case, you can just replace it with the title of the source in both the in-text citation and the reference list:

In-text citation (‘Divest’, no date)
Reference list entry ‘Divest’ (no date) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divest (Accessed: 27 January 2020).

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Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

Harvard style Vancouver style
In-text citation Each referencing style has different rules (Pears and Shields, 2019). Each referencing style has different rules (1).
Reference list Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019). . 11th edn. London: MacMillan. 1. Pears R, Shields G. Cite them right: The essential referencing guide. 11th ed. London: MacMillan; 2019.

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. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

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. ’

In-text citation Reference list
1 author (Smith, 2014) Smith, T. (2014) …
2 authors (Smith and Jones, 2014) Smith, T. and Jones, F. (2014) …
3 authors (Smith, Jones and Davies, 2014) Smith, T., Jones, F. and Davies, S. (2014) …
4+ authors (Smith , 2014) Smith, T. (2014) …

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

  • A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
  • A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, September 15). A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 21 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-style/

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How to Cite a Website in Harvard Referencing

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  • 11th June 2019

With so much information now available online, you may need to cite a website in a piece of academic writing at some point.

But since most referencing systems focus on books and journals, knowing how this works can be tricky. Thus, to help out, we’ve prepared this quick guide to citing a website using Harvard referencing .

In-Text Citations (Named Author)

To cite a website in Harvard referencing, you will need to give the author’s surname and a year of publication. For instance:

Rousseau converted to Catholicism in 1728 (Bertram, 2010).

If you have already named the author in the main text, though, you don’t need to duplicate this information in the citation. Instead, you can just give a year of publication in brackets after the author’s name.

In addition, since websites don’t have page numbers, you will not usually need to give a pinpoint citation when quoting an online source.

However, for long or complicated texts, you could include a paragraph or section number (use “para.” to signal a paragraph number or the “§”  symbol to denote a section). So to cite a website like this, we would write:

According to Bertram (2010, § 2.1), Rousseau thought morality had been displaced by “the impulse to dominate, oppress and exploit.”

Make sure to check your style guide for information on citing sources with no page numbers, though, as different places will have different rules.

In-Text Citations (No Named Author/Date of Publication)

To cite a website that does not name its author, the best approach is usually to reference an organizational author instead. This will be the company or organization that runs the website:

Tax avoidance often involves using contrived transactions that serve no purpose other than exploiting legal loopholes (HMRC, 2016).

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If no date of publication is available, you can use “n.d.” in its place:

Moths are “an essential part of food chains” (RSPB, n.d.).

It can be hard to spot the author and publication date for websites, though, so make sure to check carefully before omitting this information from citations.

How to Cite a Website in the Reference List

As with any source in your work, you should add all cited websites to a reference list at the end of your document. The information you need here is:

Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year or Publication/Last Update) Title of Web Page [Online]. Available at: URL [Accessed date].

In practice, then, the reference list entry for a website would look like this:

Bertram, C. (2010) Jean Jacques Rousseau [Online]. Available at: plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/ [Accessed 24 October 2016].

Of course, if a webpage is missing a named author or date of publication, this should also be indicated in the reference list:

RSPB (n.d.) Grow Food for Moths [Online]. Available at: https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/givenatureahomeinyourgarden/gardenactivities/growfoodformoths/ [Accessed 19 September 2016].

A Quick Note on Harvard Referencing

Although Harvard referencing is a common citation style, it is not a single unified system. As such, the rules your school uses may differ, so you should always check your style guide if you are not sure how to cite sources.

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In APA style, you use parenthetical citations within the text of your paper to credit your sources, to show how recently your sources were published, and to refer your reader to a more detailed citation of the source in the reference list at the end of your paper. You should use parenthetical citations when you paraphrase, quote, or make any reference to another author's work. A parenthetical citation in APA style includes the author's last name as well as the year in which the work was published, with a comma between them. If you are referring directly to a specific page in the source, you should also include the page number in your parenthetical citation. APA requires you to cite page numbers when you are quoting directly from the source. If you are paraphrasing, which is more common in the social sciences, you generally do not need to include a page number. If you have questions about whether you should include page numbers when citing in APA, you should consult your instructor.

If you mention the author's name and/or the year of publication in the sentence preceding the citation, you do not need to include them in the parenthetical citation. When you name the author in the sentence, you should include the publication year in parentheses right after the author’s name—do not wait until the end of the sentence to provide that information.

When you include a parenthetical citation at the end of a sentence, the punctuation for your sentence appears after the citation.

Citing author and date in a parenthetical citation

When you don’t mention either the author or the date of publication in your sentence, you should include both the author and the year, separated by a comma, in the parenthetical citation. 

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack, 2019).         

Citing when author’s name is mentioned in body of paper

When you mention the author’s name in your sentence, the year of publication should immediately follow the author’s name.

Anthony Jack’s (2019) study of low-income students on an elite college campus revealed that these schools are often unprepared to support the students they admit.

Jack (2019) studied the ways low-income students experience elite college campuses.

Citing page numbers

When you cite a direct quote from the source or paraphrase a specific point from the source, you should include the page number in the parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. When you refer to a specific page or pages of the text, first list the year of publication and then list "p." followed by the page number or "pp." followed by the range of pages. If you refer to a specific chapter, indicate that chapter after the year.              

The author contends that “higher education in America is highly unequal and disturbingly stratified” (Jack, 2019, p. 4).

Jack (2019) contends that “higher education in America is highly unequal and disturbingly stratified” (p. 4).

Citing sources with more than one author

When you cite a source that has two authors, you should separate their names with an ampersand in the parenthetical citation.

The authors designed a study to determine if social belonging can be encouraged among college students (Walton & Cohen, 2011). 

If a work has three or more authors , you should only include the first author's name followed by et al. ( Et al. is the shortened form of the Latin et alia , which means “and others.”)

The implementation of postpartum contraceptive programs is both costly and time consuming (Ling et al., 2020).

Attributing a point to more than one source  

To attribute a point or idea to multiple sources, list them in one parenthetical citation, ordered alphabetically by author and separated by semicolons. Works by the same author should be ordered chronologically, from oldest to most recent, with the publication dates separated by commas.

Students who possess cultural capital, measured by proxies like involvement in literature, art, and classical music, tend to perform better in school (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Dumais, 2002; Orr, 2003).

Citing multiple works by the same author 

If your reference list includes multiple works by the same author in the same year, identify them in your parenthetical citations and in your reference list by a lowercase letter after the year, assigning each letter in alphabetical order by the title of the work. When establishing the alphabetical order of works in your reference list, do not count the words "A" or "The" when they appear as the first word in a title.

One union-endorsed candidate publicly disagreed with the teachers' union on a number of issues (Borsuk, 1999a).

Citing multiple authors with the same last name        

If your reference list includes sources by multiple authors with the same last name, list each author's initials before their last name, even when the works were published in different years.

The question of whether a computer can be considered an author has been asked for longer than we might expect (B. Sobel, 2017).

Citing when no author is listed           

To refer to a work that is listed in your reference list by title rather than by author, cite the title or the first few words of the title.

The New York Times painted a bleak picture of the climate crisis (“Climate Change Is Not Negotiable,” 2022).

Citing when no date is listed

If the work you are citing has no date listed, you should put “n.d.” for “no date” in the parenthetical citation.

Writing research papers is challenging (Lam, n.d.). 

Citing a specific part of a source that is not a page number

To refer to a specific part of a source other than page number, add that after the author-date part of your citation. If it is not clear whether you are referring to a chapter, a paragraph, a time stamp, or a slide number, or other labeled part of a source, you should indicate the part you are referring to (chapter, para., etc.).

In the Stranger Things official trailer, the audience knows that something unusual is going to happen from the moment the boys get on their bicycles to ride off into the night (Duffer & Duffer, 0:16).

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  • No specific font type or size required . Recommendations include  Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier New for Windows, or Times, Helvetica, or Courier for Mac ) at size 12.
  • The last name of the author(s) and the year of publication are generally needed.
  • They can appear within a sentence or at the end of a sentence before the full stop eg. .... this week (Brown 2019).
  • A page number is included for a direct quote. Place a colon directly after the year and separate multiple pages with a dash eg. (Dombrow 2014:155) or (Wardell 2018:32-33). There is no spacing between these elements. If there is no identifiable page number, provide another way for the reader to find the quoted information, eg. (heading or section name, paragraph, chapter, table or figure number).
  • if work is not yet published , use in press  eg. Smith (in press).

The Learning Zone Quick Guides to Writing at University

  • Using paraphrases as evidence
  • Summarising and Paraphrasing
  • Use reporting verbs to introduce evidence

In-text citation formats

In-text citations can be presented in two formats:.

  • Information focused format - the citation is usually placed at the end of a sentence.
  • Author focused format  -  the name of the author appears as part of the text, it need not be repeated in parenthetical citation. The date should immediately follow the author's name.

Example - Information focused

The wellbeing of workers is important (rodrıguez-garavito 2005), and managers must check in with their staff (ngai 2005)., example - author focused, in the long run, saarinen (2006) argues, development of tourism may not always be the most favourable use of natural and cultural resources ….

  • If quoting and using a page number, add a colon next to the date, followed by the page number/ range.

(Rodrıguez-Garavito 2005:14)

Saarinen (2006:35-36), citing quotations, citing a direct quote.

You must include page number(s) in the in-text citation when incorporating a direct quotation into a sentence. Use single quotation marks to enclose short quotations (sentence fragments, a sentence or sentences with less than 30 words). Fit quotations within your sentences, making sure the sentences are grammatically correct.

When Ladkin (2011:1136) suggests that knowledge of tourism and hospitality labour ‘clearly has a contribution to make to current wider societal debates’ she is, as we are, reflecting on the shifting phenomenon of hospitality work.  

There seems to be a 'consensus among researchers and policy makers that experiments constitute a gold standard in policy evaluation, although they are not a complete recipe for policy evaluation’ (danielson 2007:381–382)., citing a block quote.

A direct quote that is more than 30 words long is usually indented from the text margin in a block format and use one size smaller font in single line spacing. Quotation marks are not needed.

New institutional studies of organisations in the 1970s and 1980s are largely characterised by an emphasis on diffusion, isomorphism, and decoupling:

The new institutionalism in organisation theory and sociology comprises a rejection of rational-actor models, and interest in institutions as independent variables, a turn towards cognitive and cultural explanations, and an interest in properties of supra individual units of analysis that cannot be reduced to aggregations or direct consequences of individuals' attributes or motives (DiMaggio and Powell 1991:8).

Modifying a direct quote

If you need to omit a word or words from a quote, indicate this with an ellipsis (three dots) with a space before and after the ellipsis ( ... ). A direct quote should neither start nor end with an ellipsis. Words should only be omitted from a quote if they are superfluous to the reason why you are using the quote and the meaning of the quote is not affected by the change.

For example (in a block quote):

The modernist view of the individual voice has been debated:

As with an early modernist like Lautréamont ... the subject or “character” is always an unstable collective, perpetually on the make, on trial and in degeneration, as much as it is in productive process, riven by contradiction and interruption, and by virtue of the textual mosaic, it hosts a crazed polyphony with no “originary” voice (Campbell 2014:157).

Square brackets

If you need to add a word or words to a quote, or change the capitalisation of a word to fit with your syntax, put the word(s)/letter in square brackets [ ]. Words should only be added to a quote for explanatory reasons (e.g. a name might be added to explain who a pronoun is referencing).

For example:

The church is not the only setting where the soul may be nurtured, as '[t]he soul also finds sustenance in more domestic settings, like the family home' (jones 1998:89)..

If you need to indicate a misspelling, grammatical error or lack of inclusive language, insert the word [sic] (meaning  so  or  thus ) in square brackets immediately following the error but do not change the error in the quote.

For example (non-inclusive language):

According to havelock (1986:63), the written word can be looked at as an extension of conversation where the author ‘writes down what he [sic] is saying so that another person can read what he [sic] says instead of just hearing it.’, for example (spelling):, the claim that ‘confiscation of these lands was both illegal and sacrilegious [sic]’ takes the approach that the church should be involved in these decisions (hamilton and strier 1996:165)., list of abbreviations and expressions, acceptable abbreviations and expressions to use in citations and reference list include the following:.

c circa - about
edn, edition
edn, rev, revised edition
2nd edn, second edition
2nd Aust. edn, second Australian edition
(ed) or (eds) editor or editors
et al. and others
in press a work in the process of publication
trans translator(s)
n.d. no date
n.p. no place
para., paras paragraph(s)
suppl. supplement
   
   

Author information

One author - in-text citation, (author last name year), .....finding information (richardson 2018)  or  richardson (2018) claimed that …, two authors - in-text citation, (author last name and author last name year) -  use the word  'and'  not  '&'  between names., (black and jacobsen 2020)  or  black and jacobsen (2020) mention that .., three authors - in-text citation, (first author last name et al. year) or first author last name et al. (year), (jackson et al. 2018)  or  jackson et al. (2018), group authors - in-text citation, format , (group author name [abbreviation] year), subsequent references, (abbreviation year) or abbreviation (year), in text citation:, (department of foreign affairs and trade [dfat] 2021)  or  department of foreign affairs and trade (dfat 2021), authors with same surname - in-text citation.

  • When citing sources written by authors with the same surname, include the authors’ initials in in-text citations.

D Nguyen (2009) and L Nguyen (2009) both reported the same effects occurring in lakes and rivers.

Three or more authors, same first author - in-text citation.

  • When referencing two or more sources published in the same year, and all these sources have the same first author and maybe even the same second, third authors, provide the names of enough authors in the in-text citation to show the difference.

(Larour, Morlighem, et al. 2012)

(larour, schiermeier, et al. 2012), (milillo, rignot, mouginot, scheuchl, li, et al. 2017), (milillo, rignot, mouginot, scheuchl, morlighem, et al. 2017), multiple works by same author(s) and same year - in-text citation.

  • Works published in the same year by the same author are listed alphabetically by the title of the work and a lower-case letter (a, b, c, ...) is added immediately after the date, in both the reference list and in-text citations.

She has written extensively on Australia – New Zealand relations (Dobell 2018a, 2018b).

Multiple works by same author - in-text citation.

  • If you cite two or more works from the same author/s at one point in the text , arrange the sources in chronological order , starting with the earliest date.

The process first identified by Watson (1960, 1966, 1968), shows..

Multiple sources cited at one point - in-text citation.

  • When citing  multiple works  in the  same in-text citation , use  semicolons  between citations. Place  authors names  in  alphabetical order .
  • Enclose all the citations in one set of parentheses.

Other researchers reported similar results (Abaza 2019; Black 2018; White and Jones 2017).

Works with no author - in-text citation.

  • When the name of an author or authoring body is not shown, cite the reference by its title and the year . Use the first few words if the title is too long. 

This was apparently not the case before about 1995 ( The entrepreneur's guide to the law  1999).

Works with no publication date - in-text citation.

  • For works without a date, write n.d. (for ‘no date’) instead of the year of publication.

White and Jones (n.d.) reported similar results.

Other researchers reported similar results (white and jones n.d.)..

  • << Previous: Author information
  • Next: Citing a secondary source >>
  • Last Updated: May 28, 2024 1:25 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.scu.edu.au/harvard

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  • Referencing and plagiarism

Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right)

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harvard referencing websites in body of text

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There are different versions of the Harvard referencing style. This guide is a quick introduction to the commonly-used Cite Them Right version. You will find further guidance available through the OU Library on the Cite Them Right Database .

For help and support with referencing and the full Cite Them Right guide, have a look at the Library’s page on referencing and plagiarism . If you need guidance referencing OU module material you can check out which sections of Cite Them Right are recommended when referencing physical and online module material .

This guide does not apply to OU Law undergraduate students . If you are studying a module beginning with W1xx, W2xx or W3xx, you should refer to the Quick guide to Cite Them Right referencing for Law modules .

Table of contents

In-text citations and full references.

  • Secondary referencing
  • Page numbers
  • Citing multiple sources published in the same year by the same author

Full reference examples

Referencing consists of two elements:

  • in-text citations, which are inserted in the body of your text and are included in the word count. An in-text citation gives the author(s) and publication date of a source you are referring to. If the publication date is not given, the phrase 'no date' is used instead of a date. If using direct quotations or you refer to a specific section in the source you also need the page number/s if available, or paragraph number for web pages.
  • full references, which are given in alphabetical order in a  reference list at the end of your work and are not included in the word count. Full references give full bibliographical information for all the sources you have referred to in the body of your text.

To see a reference list and intext citations check out this example assignment on Cite Them Right .

Difference between reference list and bibliography

a reference list only includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text.

a bibliography includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text AND sources that were part of your background reading that you did not use in your assignment.

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Examples of in-text citations

You need to include an in-text citation wherever you quote or paraphrase from a source. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. There are a number of ways of incorporating in-text citations into your work - some examples are provided below. Alternatively you can see examples of setting out in-text citations in Cite Them Right .

It has been emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill (Harris, 2015).

OR

It has been emphasised by Harris (2015) that good referencing is an important academic skill.

It has been emphasised (Shah and Papadopoulos, 2015) that good referencing is an important academic skill.

OR

Shah and Papadopoulos (2015) emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill.

It has been emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill (Wong, Smith and Adebole, 2015).

OR

Wong, Smith and Adebole (2015) emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill.

It has been emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill (Wong , 2015).

OR

Wong (2015) emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill.

It has been emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill (The Open University, 2015).

Information from The Open University (2015) emphasises that good referencing is an important academic skill.
 

It has been emphasised that good referencing is an important academic skill ( , 2015).

Information from (2015) emphasises that good referencing is an important academic skill.

You use secondary referencing when you want to refer to a source that is mentioned or quoted in the work you are reading.

To do this, you add the phrase ‘quoted in’ or ‘cited in’ (depending on whether the author of the secondary source is directly quoting or summarising from the primary source) to your intext citation, along with the details of the source that you are reading.

West (2007, quoted in Birch, 2017, p. 17) state that…
Positive identity can be affirmed in part by a supportive family environment (Leach, 2015, cited in The Open University, 2022).

You would then include full references to Birch and The Open University in your reference list as these are the sources that you have read. There is no change to the structure of the full reference for these sources.

You should include page numbers in your citation if you are quoting directly from or using ideas from a specific page or set of pages.

Add the abbreviation p. (or pp. if more than one page) before the page number(s).

Harris (2015, p. 5) argues that…

In the drying process "polyphenol oxidizing reactions" form new flavour compounds (Toker 2020, pp. 585–586)...

Add a lower case letter to the date in the in-text citation and in the matching full reference to distinguish between the sources.

: Snow is formed in part because the temperature drops enough that rain freezes (The Open University, 2022a), however the freezing temperature of water is often below 0°C under certain conditions (The Open University, 2022b).

The Open University (2022a) '1.2 What are clouds?'. . Available at: (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

The Open University (2022b) '1.3.1 Snow and ice'. . Available at: (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

Note: this only applies when you are using multiple different sources with the same author and year – if you are referring to the same source more than once then you do not need to add a letter to the date. The citation will be the same each time and you only need to include the source once in your reference list.

Example with one author:

Almeroth-Williams, T. (2019) City of Beasts: How Animals Shaped Georgian London . Manchester: Manchester University Press.

RSPCA (2024) Caring for cats and kittens . Available at: https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats (Accessed: 1 August 2024).

Example with two or three authors:

Grayling, A. and Ball, B. (2024) ' Philosophy is crucial in the age of AI', The Conversation , 1 August. Available at: https://theconversation.com/philosophy-is-crucial-in-the-age-of-ai-235907 (Accessed: 1 August 2024).

Chu, M., Leonard, P. and Stevenson, F. (2012) ' Growing the Base for Citizen Science: Recruiting and Engaging Participants', in J.L. Dickinson and R. Bonney (eds.) Citizen Science: Public Participation in Environmental Research . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 69-81.

Example with four or more authors:

Young, H.D. et al. (2015) Sears and Zemansky's university physics . San Francisco, CA: Addison-Wesley.

Note: You can choose one or other method to reference four or more authors (unless your School requires you to name all authors in your reference list) and your approach should be consistent.

Online module materials

(Includes written online module activities, audio-visual material such as online tutorials, recordings or videos).

When referencing material from module websites, the date of publication is the year you started studying the module.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

OR, if there is no named author:

The Open University (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Rietdorf, K. and Bootman, M. (2022) 'Topic 3: Rare diseases'. S290: Investigating human health and disease . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1967195 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

The Open University (2022) ‘3.1 The purposes of childhood and youth research’. EK313: Issues in research with children and young people . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1949633&section=1.3 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

You can also use this template to reference videos and audio that are hosted on your module website:

The Open University (2022) ‘Video 2.7 An example of a Frith-Happé animation’. SK298: Brain, mind and mental health . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=2013014&section=4.9.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

The Open University (2022) ‘Audio 2 Interview with Richard Sorabji (Part 2)’. A113: Revolutions . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1960941&section=5.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

Note: if a complete journal article has been uploaded to a module website, or if you have seen an article referred to on the website and then accessed the original version, reference the original journal article, and do not mention the module materials. If only an extract from an article is included in your module materials that you want to reference, you should use secondary referencing, with the module materials as the 'cited in' source, as described above.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of message', Title of discussion board , in Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Fitzpatrick, M. (2022) ‘A215 - presentation of TMAs', Tutor group discussion & Workbook activities , in A215: Creative writing . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=4209566 (Accessed: 24 January 2022).

Note: When an ebook looks like a printed book, with publication details and pagination, reference as a printed book.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title . Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

For ebooks that do not contain print publication details

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title of book . Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date).

Bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project . Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Adams, D. (1979) The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy . Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-ebooks (Accessed: 23 June 2021).

Note: Books that have an editor, or editors, where each chapter is written by a different author or authors.

Surname of chapter author, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of chapter or section', in Initial. Surname of book editor (ed.) Title of book . Place of publication: publisher, Page reference.

Franklin, A.W. (2012) 'Management of the problem', in S.M. Smith (ed.) The maltreatment of children . Lancaster: MTP, pp. 83–95.

Note: When referencing a chapter of an edited book, your in-text citation should give the author(s) of the chapter.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference.

If accessed online:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference. Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326.

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326. Available at: https://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/log... (Accessed: 27 January 2023).

Barke, M. and Mowl, G. (2016) 'Málaga – a failed resort of the early twentieth century?', Journal of Tourism History , 2(3), pp. 187–212. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2010.523145

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Mansell, W. and Bloom, A. (2012) ‘£10,000 carrot to tempt physics experts’, The Guardian , 20 June, p. 5.

Roberts, D. and Ackerman, S. (2013) 'US draft resolution allows Obama 90 days for military action against Syria', The Guardian , 4 September. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/syria-strikes-draft-resolut... (Accessed: 9 September 2015).

Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Organisation (Year that the page was last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Robinson, J. (2007) Social variation across the UK . Available at: https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/social-variation... (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

The British Psychological Society (2018) Code of Ethics and Conduct . Available at: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct (Accessed: 22 March 2019).

Note: Cite Them Right Online offers guidance for referencing webpages that do not include authors' names and dates. However, be extra vigilant about the suitability of such webpages.

Surname, Initial. (Year) Title of photograph . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Kitton, J. (2013) Golden sunset . Available at: https://www.jameskittophotography.co.uk/photo_8692150.html (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

stanitsa_dance (2021) Cossack dance ensemble . Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/COI_slphWJ_/ (Accessed: 13 June 2023).

Note: If no title can be found then replace it with a short description.

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harvard referencing websites in body of text

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Harvard Solent Referencing Guide

  • Harvard Solent reference examples
  • Quoting, paraphrasing and summarising

In-text references

Referencing more than one source in the same sentence, video guide to in-text citations.

  • Page numbers for in-text references
  • Reference lists
  • Bibliographies
  • Secondary references (using a source mentioned in another)
  • Anonymous sources/no author
  • No publication date
  • Author publishing multiple works in the same year
  • Authors with the same name and year of publication
  • Useful Abbreviations
  • Help and Support

You can refer to the work of others in several ways within your assignment:

  • Short quote – enclose in quotation marks within your sentence.
  • Long quote – start on a new line, use single spacing and indent.
  • Paraphrase – put another person’s ideas into your own words.
  • Summarise – sum up a large piece of content (e.g. a book, journal article)

All of these must include a reference to your original source by inserting the author’s surname, year of publication and page number(s) if appropriate within your sentence. If you have quoted (or paraphrased a particular short section) you should include the page number(s); if you are summarising a large section or the entire work, you do not need to include a page number.

Examples of in-text reference options:

Author surname appears in the body of your sentence  – just add the year [and page(s) if appropriate] after the name where it occurs.

As Smith (2013, p.16) states, all resources must be referenced.

Author surname is not given within the sentence  – include the surname, year [and page(s) if appropriate] in brackets at the end of the content you are writing that draws on your source.

It has been stated that all resources used to support your arguments must be included in your reference list (Smith 2013, p.16).

If your source has multiple authors , a corporate author or no author , see the relevant guidance to identify how to format these in your in-text references and full reference list.

Every unique source that you include an in-text reference for must have a full reference included in your reference list so your reader can locate the source you are referring to.

If you wish to refer to more than one author or source to back up or illustrate a point you are making, you need to include the author/s, date of publication and page number/s [if appropriate] for each source.

In-text reference examples

If citing directly:

Gazzard (2013) and Wade (2016) focus on the historical scope of British games while Mac Sithigh (2014) and Woodcock (2016) explore contemporary policy and industrial contexts for games within the UK.

If citing indirectly:

It is also arguable that nurse education, along with much of Higher Education generally, is dominated by an instrumentalist ideology (Collini 2011; Goodman 2012; Roggero 2011). This is the first step, acknowledging our ‘prejudices’.

Reference list format

You would then include a full reference for each source within the reference list, following the format guidance for that particular source.

The Referencing video , which is also embedded below, gives an overview of referencing, including how to build and use in-text citations appropriately:

We have also produced a written version of this guide using the script of the video which you can access below as a PDF:

  • Referencing guide
  • << Previous: Quoting, paraphrasing and summarising
  • Next: Page numbers for in-text references >>
  • Last Updated: Aug 20, 2024 1:07 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.solent.ac.uk/HarvardSolent

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Harvard: citing in- text

A version of the Harvard (author-date) System of referencing has been adopted as the standard for the presentation of academic text at the University of Birmingham.  The examples on this page refer to this version, as found on the Cite Them Right Online website.  For detailed guides on how to reference and cite different sources see the right-hand side panel.

What to put in your text 

The author's surname and year of publication are inserted in the text wherever a source is cited. The way this is done will depend on whether the author's name occurs naturally in the sentence or not.

Using this method of referencing, the in-text citations in your work must be included in the final word count. In-text citations give brief details of the source that you are quoting from or referring to. These citations will then link to the full reference that will be found in your reference list at the end of your work. The reference list is always arranged in alphabetical order by author. If you have cited a work in an appendix, but not in the main body of your text, this should still be included in the reference list.  The list of references is not included in the word count.

Footnotes and endnotes are NOT used in this style.

There are many ways in which citations can be used in your work, but your tutor or supervisor should advise you on which format they prefer.

Your citations should always include the following elements;

(i)            Author(s) or editor (s) surname/family name

(ii)           Year of publication

(iii)          Page number(s) if required

If you have used a direct quote or an idea from a specific page, or set of pages, you should include the page numbers in your citations. The abbreviation for page is p. or pp. for multiple pages. See the examples below to see how they are used correctly.

  • According to Guy (2001, p. 37), the Zulus faced many grave dangers when confronting the British…
  • It is maintained that medicine has improved (Jones, 1985, p. 74)

Citing one author/editor

  • In his novel (Stevens, 2013)…

Citing a corporate author

  • … as shown by the decrease in ratings (ITV, 2014).

 Citing two authors/editors

  • Banerjee and Watson (2011, p. 87) suggested…
  • It is clear (Banerjee and Watson, 2011, p. 87) that…

Citing three authors/editors

  • It was evident (Smith, Jones and Thomas, 2015)…

 Citing four or more authors/editors

Cite the first name listed in the source followed by  et al .

  • This was proved by Dym  et al.  (2009)…

Citing a source with no author/editor

Use the title in italics; do NOT use ‘anonymous’ or anything similar.

  • It is maintained that medicine has greatly improved ( Medicine in old age,  1985, p. 74)…

Citing multiple sources

These can be listed separated by semicolons. The publications should be cited in chronological order. If more than one work is published in the same year, then they should be listed alphabetically by author/editor.

  • A number of different studies (Jamieson, 2011; Hollingworth, 2012; Hatfield, 2013; Rogers, 2015) suggested that…

Citing sources - same year/same author

In his study of the work of Dawkins, Harris (2007a) emphasised the use of rationality in the former’s argument. However, it is clear that this was not the only strength of the original author (2007b).

The reference list would look like this;

       Harris, S. (2007a)  Dawkins: a history . London: Evolutionary Press.

       Harris, S. (2007b)  Evolutionary thought . London: Evolutionary Press.

Citing the same work, different editions

Separate the dates of publication with a semicolon with the earliest date first.

  • In both editions (Hitchens, 2010; 2012)…

Citing a source with no date

Use the phrase ‘no date’.

  • The evidence (Stevens and Jubb, no date) was clear.

Citing a source with no author or date

Use the title and ‘no date’.

  • Thunderstorms have become increasingly common ( Trends in atmospheric pressure , no date)…

Citing a web page

When citing a web page, it should follow these guidelines;

  • By Author and date (where possible)
  • By title and date if there is no identifiable author
  • Or by URL if neither author nor title can be identified

The latest survey by health professionals ( http://www.onlinehealthsurvey.org , 2012) reveals that… 

Source quoted in another work 

You may wish to refer to an author’s idea, model or dataset but have not been able to read the actual chapter containing the information, but only another author’s discussion or report of it. Similarly, you may refer to a primary source, e.g. an author’s letters or diary, or a government report, that you have only ‘read’ as cited or reproduced within another author’s text. In both cases you should acknowledge the use of a secondary source.

"The model of Mitchell (1996) (cited in Parry and Carter, 2003, p.160) simulates the suppressing effects of sulphate aerosols on the magnitude of global warming."

In this example ideally you should list both the Parry and Carter (2003) and Mitchell (1996) sources in your reference list but many schools will accept the listing of the secondary source (i.e. Parry and Carter) only.

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  • Harvard Referencing Generator

Free Harvard Referencing Generator

Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!

🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.

It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.

👩‍🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?

Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).

🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:

  • It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
  • It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.

A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?

Here's how to use our reference generator:

  • If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
  • Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
  • Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
  • Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.

MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:

⚙️ StylesHarvard, Harvard Cite Them Right
📚 SourcesWebsites, books, journals, newspapers
🔎 AutociteYes
📥 Download toMicrosoft Word, Google Docs

🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?

There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:

  • Cite Them Right
  • Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
  • University of the West of England (UWE)

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Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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Free Harvard Citation Generator

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  • Select style:
  • Archive material
  • Chapter of an edited book
  • Conference proceedings
  • Dictionary entry
  • Dissertation
  • DVD, video, or film
  • E-book or PDF
  • Edited book
  • Encyclopedia article
  • Government publication
  • Music or recording
  • Online image or video
  • Presentation
  • Press release
  • Religious text

What is the Harvard Referencing System?

The Harvard citation style is a system that students, writers and researchers can use to incorporate other people’s quotes, findings and ideas into their work in order to support and validate their conclusions without breaching any intellectual property laws. The popular format is typically used in assignments and publications for humanities as well as natural, social and behavioural sciences.

It is a parenthetical referencing system that is made up of two main components:

  • In-text citations including the author’s surname and the year of publication should be shown in brackets wherever another source has contributed to your work
  • A reference list outlining all of the sources directly cited in your work

While in-text citations are used to briefly indicate where you have directly quoted or paraphrased a source, your reference list is an alphabetized list of complete Harvard citations that enables your reader to locate each source with ease. Each entry should be keyed to a corresponding parenthetical citation in the main body of your work, so that a reader can take an in-text citation and quickly retrieve the source from your reference list.

Note that some universities, and certain disciplines, may also require you to provide a bibliography. This is a detailed list of all of the material you have consulted throughout your research and preparation, and it will demonstrate the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

‘Harvard referencing’ is an umbrella term for any referencing style that uses the author name and year of publication within the text to indicate where you have inserted a source. This author-date system appeals to both authors and readers of academic work. Scholars find the format an economical way of writing, and it is generally more accessible to the reader as there are no footnotes crowding the page. Only the name of the author, the publication date of the source and, if necessary, the page numbers are included in the parenthetical citations, for example: (Joyce, 2008).

Use the Cite This For Me Harvard style referencing generator to create your fully-formatted in-text references and reference list in the blink of an eye. Stop giving yourself extra pain and work for no reason and sign up to Cite This For Me today – your only regret will be that you didn’t use our citation generator sooner!

Popular Harvard Referencing Examples

  • Chapter of a book
  • Conference proceedings 
  • Court case 
  • Dissertation 
  • Encyclopedia article 
  • Image online or video
  • Presentation or lecture
  • Video, film, or DVD

Cite This For Me Harvard Referencing Guide

The following guide provides you with everything you need to know to do justice to all your hard work and get a mark that reflects those sleepless nights. If you’re not sure how to format your Harvard style citations, what citations are, or are simply curious about the Cite This For Me citation generator, our guide will answer all of your questions while offering you a comprehensive introduction to the style. Keep reading to find out why you need to use a referencing system, how to add citations in the body of your assignment, and how to compile a reference list.

Sometimes, students do not encounter citing until they embark on to degree-level studies, yet it is a crucial academic skill that will propel you towards establishing yourself in the academic community. It’s a common mistake to leave citing and creating a complete and accurate bibliography until the very last minute, but with the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator you can cite-as-you-go.

So, if you need a helping hand with your referencing then why not try Cite This For Me’s automated citation generator ? The generator accesses knowledge from across the web, assembling all of the relevant information into a fully-formatted reference list that clearly presents all of the sources that have contributed to your work. Using this Harvard reference generator to cite your sources enables you to cross the finishing line in style.

It is important to bear in mind that there is a plethora of different citation styles out there – the use of any particular one depends on the preference of your college, subject, professor or the publication you are submitting the work to. If you’re unsure which style you should be using, consult your tutor and follow their guidelines. If your lecturer or department does not ask you to use a particular style, we recommend using the Harvard referencing system because it is simple to use and easy to learn.

The powerful citation generator above can auto-generate citations in 7,000+ styles. So, whether your professor prefers that you use the MLA format , or your discipline requires you to adopt the APA citation or Chicago citation style , we have the style you need. Cite This For Me also provides citation generators and handy style guides for styles such as ASA , AMA or IEEE . To accurately create citations in a specific format, simply sign up to Cite This For Me for free and select your chosen style.

Are you struggling with citing an unfamiliar source type? Or feeling confused about whether to cite a piece of common knowledge? This guide will tell you everything you need to know to get both your parenthetical Harvard citations and reference list completed quickly and accurately.

Why Do I Need to Cite?

Harvard referencing can be a confusing task, especially if you are new to the concept, but it’s absolutely essential. In fact, accurate and complete referencing can mean the difference between reaching your academic goals and damaging your reputation amongst scholars. Simply put – referencing is the citing of sources you have utilised to support your essay, research, conference or article, etc.

Even if you are using our Harvard style citation generator, understanding why you need to cite will go a long way in helping you to naturally integrate the process into your research and writing routine.

Firstly, whenever another source contributes to your work you must give the original author the appropriate credit in order to avoid plagiarism, even when you have completely reworded the information. The only exception to this rule is common knowledge – e.g., Brazil is a country in South America. While plagiarism is not always intentional, it is easy to accidentally plagiarize your work when you are under pressure from imminent deadlines, you have managed your time ineffectively, or if you lack confidence when putting ideas into your own words. The consequences can be severe; deduction of marks at best, expulsion from college or legal action from the original author at worst. Find out more here.

This may sound overwhelming, but using our Harvard citation generator can help you avoid plagiarism and carry out your research and written work thoughtfully and responsibly. We have compiled a handy checklist to follow while you are working on an assignment.

How to avoid plagiarism:

  • Formulate a detailed plan – carefully outline both the relevant content you need to include, as well as how you plan on structuring your work
  • Keep track of your sources – record all of the relevant publication information as you go (e.g., If you are citing a book you should note the author or editor’s name(s), year of publication, title, edition number, city of publication and name of publisher). Carefully save each quote, word-for-word, and place it in inverted commas to differentiate it from your own words. Tired of interrupting your workflow to cite? Use our Harvard referencing generator to automate the process.
  • Manage your time effectively – make use of time plans and targets, and give yourself enough time to read, write and proofread
  • When you are paraphrasing information, make sure that you use only your own words and a sentence structure that differs from the original text
  • Every quote or paraphrase should have a corresponding reference in the text. In addition, a full reference is needed on the final page of the project.
  • Save all of your research and citations in a safe place – organise and manage your Harvard style citations

If you carefully check your college or publisher’s advice and guidelines on citing and stick to this checklist, you should be confident that you will not be accused of plagiarism.

Secondly, proving that your writing is informed by appropriate academic reading will enhance your work’s authenticity. Academic writing values original thought that analyzes and builds upon the ideas of other scholars. It is therefore important to use Harvard style referencing to accurately signpost where you have used someone else’s ideas in order to show that your writing is based on knowledge and informed by appropriate academic reading. Citing your sources will demonstrate to your reader that you have delved deeply into your chosen topic and supported your thesis with expert opinions.

Here at Cite This For Me we understand how precious your time is, which is why we created our Harvard citation generator and guide to help relieve the unnecessary stress of citing. Escape assignment-hell and give yourself more time to focus on the content of your work by using the Cite This For Me citation management tool.

Harvard Referencing Guidelines by School

  • Anglia University Harvard Referencing
  • Anglia Ruskin University
  • Bath University
  • Bournemouth University Harvard Referencing
  • Cape Peninsula University of Technology
  • Cardiff University Harvard Referencing
  • City University London
  • Coventry University Harvard Referencing
  • Cranfield Harvard
  • DMU Harvard Referencing
  • Durham University Business School
  • Edge Hill University Harvard Referencing
  • European Archaeology
  • Imperial College University Harvard Referencing
  • Institute of Physics
  • Leeds University Harvard Referencing
  • King’s College London
  • LSBU Harvard Referencing
  • Manchester Business School
  • MMU Harvard Referencing
  • Newcastle University
  • Northwest University
  • Oxford Brookes University
  • Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
  • SHU Harvard Referencing
  • Staffordshire University Harvard Referencing
  • Swinburne University of Technology
  • The Open University
  • UCA Harvard Referencing
  • University of Abertay Dundee
  • University of Birmingham
  • University of Cape Town
  • University of Gloucestershire
  • University of Greenwich Harvard
  • University of Hull
  • University of Kent – Harvard
  • University of Limerick
  • University of Melbourne
  • University of Northampton
  • University of Sunderland
  • University of Technology, Sydney
  • University of West London
  • UWE Harvard Referencing
  • UWS Harvard Referencing
  • Wolverhampton University Harvard Referencing
  • York University

How Do I Create and Format In-text Harvard Style Citations?

In-text citations are the perfect way to seamlessly integrate sources into your work, allowing you to strengthen the connection between your own ideas, and the source material that you have found, with ease. It is worth noting that in-text citations must be included in your assignment’s final word count.

When adopting Harvard style referencing in your work, if you are inserting a quote, statement, statistic or any other kind of source information into the main body of your essay you should:

  • Provide the author’s surname and date of publication in parentheses right after the taken information or at the end of the sentence

There are many assumptions when it comes to the information processing approach to cognition… (Lutz and Huitt, 2004).

  • If you have already mentioned the author in the sentence, Harvard referencing guidelines require you to only enter the year of publication in parentheses, directly after where the author’s surname is mentioned.

In the overview of these developmental theories, Lutz and Huitt (2004) suggest that…

  • If you are quoting a particular section of the source (rather than the entire work), you should also include a page number, or page range, after the date, within the parenthetical Harvard citation

“…the development of meaning is more important than the acquisition of a large set of knowledge or skills …” (Lutz and Huitt, 2004, p.8), which means that …

  • Note that if the source has four or more authors, you do not need to write out all of their surnames; simply use the first author’s surname followed by the abbreviation ‘et al.’ (meaning ‘and others’).

The results showed that respondents needed to reach out to multiple health agencies in order to cover the costs of their services (Wolbeck Minke et al., 2007).

  • If you are reading a source by one author and they cite work by another author, you may cite that original work as a secondary reference. You are encouraged to track down the original source – usually this is possible to do by consulting the author’s reference list – but if you are unable to access it, the Harvard referencing guidelines state that you must only cite the source you did consult as you did not actually read the original document. Include the words ‘cited in’ in the in-text citation to indicate this.

Fong’s 1987 study (cited in Bertram 1997) found that older students’ memory can be as good as that of young people…

(Fong, cited in Bertram 1997)

Why use a Harvard referencing tool? As well as saving you valuable time, the Cite This For Me generator can help you easily avoid common errors when formatting your in-text citations. So, if you’re looking for an easy way to credit your source material, simply login to your Cite This For Me account to copy, save and export each in-text Harvard citation.

How Do I Format My Reference List?

Utilizing and building on a wide range of relevant sources is one way of impressing your reader, and a comprehensive list of the source material you have used is the perfect platform to exhibit your research efforts. A reference list is always required when you cite other people’s work within your assignment, and the brief in-text Harvard style citations in your work should directly link to your reference list.

As a general rule a reference list includes every source that you have cited in your work, while a bibliography also contains any relevant background reading which you have consulted to familiarise yourself with the topic (even those sources that are never mentioned in the narrative). Your Harvard referencing bibliography should start on its own page, with the same formatting as the rest of the paper and aligned to the left with the sources listed alphabetically. Certain fields ask you to provide an annotated bibliography that includes your full citations with the addition of notes. These notes are added to further analyze the source, and can be of any length.

Many people use the terms ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’ interchangeably, and if you are using the Harvard reference style you may be required to provide a bibliography as well as a reference list, so be sure to check this with your tutor.

Follow these guidelines when compiling your reference list:

  • Start your reference list on a new page at the end of your document
  • General formatting should be in keeping with the rest of your work
  • Use ‘Reference List’ as the heading
  • Copy each of your full-length Harvard citations into a list
  • Arrange the list in alphabetical order by the author’s last name (titles with no author are alphabetized by the work’s title, and if you are citing two or more sources by the same author they should be listed in chronological order of the year of publication)
  • When there are several works from one author or source, they should be listed together but in date order – with the earliest work listed first
  • Italicize titles of books, reports, conference proceedings etc. For journal articles, the title of the journal should be printed in italics, rather than the title of the journal article
  • Capitalize 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 place name and publisher

Creating and managing your reference list with the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator will help improve the way you reference and conduct research.

Reference list / bibliography examples:

  • Book, one author:

Bell, J. (2010) Doing your research project . 5th edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

  • One author, book, multiple editions:

Hawking, S.W. (1998) A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes . 10th edn. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

  • Chapter in an edited book:

Jewsiewicki, B. (2010). ‘Historical Memory and Representation of New Nations in Africa’, in Diawara, M., Lategan, B., and Rusen, J. (eds.) Historical memory in Africa: Dealing with the past, reaching for the future in an intercultural context . New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 53-66.

If all information resembles a book, use the template for a book reference

If a page number is unavailable, use chapter number. URL links are not necessary, but can be useful. When including a URL, include the date the book was downloaded at the end of the Harvard citation:

Available at: URL (Downloaded: DD Month YYYY)

  • More than three authors, journal article*:

Shakoor, J., et al. (2011) ‘A prospective longitudinal study of children’s theory of mind and adolescent involvement in bullying’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 53(3), pp. 254–261. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02488.x.

  • Conference papers:

Drogen, E. (2014) ‘Changing how we think about war: The role of psychology’, The British Psychological Society 2014 Annual Conference . The ICC, Birmingham British Psychological Society, 07-09 May 2014.

  • Web page, by an individual:

Moon, M. (2019) Ubisoft put an official video game design course inside a video game . Available at https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/25/ubisoft-video-game-design-course/ (Accessed 19 November 2019).

  • Web page, by a company or organization:

RotoBaller (2019) NFL player news . Available at https://www.rotoballer.com/player-news?sport=nfl (Accessed 17 September 2019).

For both types of web page references, the date the page was published or updated is placed in parentheses immediately following the author information. If a date is missing from the source, place (no date) next to the author’s name and make sure to include an accessed date at the end of the reference.

Are you struggling to find all of the publication information to complete a reference? Did you know that our Harvard citation generator can help you?

Time is of the essence when you’re finishing a paper, but there’s no need to panic because you can compile your reference list in a matter of seconds using the Cite This For Me Harvard style citation generator. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your reference list.

Harvard Referencing Formatting Guidelines

Accurate referencing doesn’t only protect your work from plagiarism – presenting your source material in a consistent and clear way also enhances the readability of your work. Closely follow the style’s formatting rules on font type, font size, text-alignment and line spacing to ensure that your work is easily legible. Before submitting your work check that you have formatted your whole paper – including your reference list – according to the style’s formatting guidelines.

How to format in Harvard referencing:

  • Margins: 2.5cm on all sides
  • Shortened title followed by the page number in the header, aligned to the right
  • Double-space the entirety of the paper
  • ½ inch indentation for every new paragraph (press tab bar)
  • Suggested fonts: Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New for Windows; Times New Roman, Helvetica and Courier for Mac, 12pt size. Ensure that all Harvard citations are in the same font as the rest of the work
  • Reference list on a separate page at the end of the body of your work

Even when using a Harvard citation generator, always check with your professor for specified guidelines – there is no unified style for the formatting of a paper. Make sure that you apply the recommended formatting rules consistently throughout your work.

A Brief History of the Harvard Reference Style

The author-date system is attributed to eminent zoologist Edward Laurens Mark (1847-1946), Hersey professor of anatomy and director of Harvard’s zoological laboratory. It is widely agreed that the first evidence of Harvard referencing can be traced back to Mark’s landmark cytological paper (Chernin, 1988). The paper breaks away from previous uses of inconsistent and makeshift footnotes through its use of a parenthetical author-date citation accompanied by an explanatory footnote.

  • Parenthetic author-year citation, page 194 of Mark’s 1881 paper:

[…] The appearance may be due solely to reflection from the body itself. (Comp. Flemming, ‘78b, p. 310.*)

  • Mark’s rationale for his Harvard citational scheme:

*The numbers immediately following an author’s name serve the double purpose of referring the reader to the list (p. 591) where the titles of papers are given, and of informing him at once of the approximate date of the paper in question.

A tribute dedicated to Mark in 1903 by 140 students credits Mark’s paper with having ‘introduced into zoology a proper fullness and accuracy of citation and a convenient and uniform method of referring from text to bibliography’ (Parker, 1903). Today Harvard referencing is widely considered one of the most accessible styles and, although it originated in biology, these days it is used across most subjects – particularly in the humanities, history and social science.

The Evolution of the Harvard Referencing Style

Due to its simplicity and ease of use, the format has become one of the most widely used citation styles in the world. Unlike many citing styles there is no official manual, but institutions such as colleges offer their own unique Harvard reference style guide, and each has its own nuances when it comes to punctuation, order of information and formatting rules. Simply go to the Cite This For Me website to login to your Cite This For Me account and search for the version you need. Make sure you apply consistency throughout your work.

It is increasingly easy for writers to access information and knowledge via the internet, and in turn both the style’s guidelines and our citation generator are continually updated to include developments in electronic publishing. The Cite This For Me Harvard style citation generator currently uses the Cite Them Right 10th Edition, which has evolved in recent years to match the rapidly advancing digital age. In order to avoid plagiarism, you must be cautious about pulling information from the internet, and ensure that you accurately cite all source material used in your written work – including all online sources that have contributed to your research.

Key differences from previous Harvard referencing Cite Them Right editions:

  • Previous editions required printed books and eBooks to be referenced differently – in the 10th edition, both are now referenced using the same template (if all the necessary information is available). An Ebook is considered to be the digital format of a published book (or a book that is only published in digital format) that is meant for reading on an electronic device.
  • URLs are no longer a requirement for digital media if the information provided in the Harvard citation is sufficient to find the source without it. They should be included if the source is difficult to find, or pieces of source information – such as an author name – are missing.
  • When a source has more than 3 authors, use the abbreviation “et al.” instead of listing each out.

These days students draw on a diverse range of digital sources to support their written work. Whether you are citing a hashtag on Instagram , a podcast or a mobile app, the Cite This For Me generator will take care of your Harvard citations, regardless of the type of source you want to cite. So don’t be held back by sources that are difficult to cite – locating unusual source material will help your work to stand out from the crowd.

How Do I Create Accurate Harvard Citations?

Creating complete and correctly formatted citations can be a challenge for many writers, especially when documenting multiple source types. Our primary goal at Cite This For Me is to offer support to students and researchers across the globe by transforming the way in which they perceive citing. We hope that after using our citation generator and reading this Harvard referencing guide, what was once considered an arduous process, will be viewed as a highly-valued skill that enhances the quality of your work.

Disheartened by the stressful process of citing? Got a fast-approaching deadline? Using the Cite This For Me fast, accessible and free generator makes creating accurate citations easier than ever, leaving more time for you to focus on achieving your academic goals.

Create a free account to add and edit each Harvard citation on the spot, import and export full projects or individual entries. Things get even easier with Cite This For Me for Chrome – an intuitive, handy browser extension that allows you to create and edit a citation while you browse the web. Use the extension on any webpage that you want to cite, and add it to your chosen project without interrupting your workflow.

The Cite This For Me citation management tool is here to help you, so what are you waiting for? Accurate Harvard citations are just a click away!

Reference List

Chernin, E. (1988) The ‘Harvard System’: A mystery dispelled. Available at: http://www.uefap.com/writing/referenc/harvard.pdf (Accessed: 4 July 2016).

Parker, G. (ed.) (1903) Mark anniversary volume. New York: Henry Holt.

harvard referencing websites in body of text

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BibGuru Harvard Referencing Generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

BibGuru Harvard Referencing Generator citation generator

What is Harvard referencing?

How do i reference in harvard, harvard referencing examples, helpful resources on harvard style, 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 .

harvard book image

I want to cite a ...

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:

EXAMPLE In-text citation

There are five strategies to implement Diversity Management in companies (Cox, 2001).

EXAMPLE Reference list

Cox, T. (2001). Creating the multicultural organization. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.50.

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.

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  • Printed books
  • Journals and Magazines
  • Webpages and Websites
  • 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)

EXAMPLE Book with one author

All of those factors contribute to climate change (See, 2012).

Reference list

See, M. (2012) Greenhouse gas emissions: Global business aspects . Berlin, Germany: Springer.

EXAMPLE Book with two authors

Auerbach and Kotlikoff (1998) explain that a higher level of labor productivity means more output per person.
Auerbach, A. J. and Kotlikoff, L. J. (1998)  Macroeconomics: An integrated approach. 2nd ed. London, England: MIT Press.

EXAMPLE Book with an editor and multiple authors

.. as claimed by the authors (Raab et al., 2015).
Raab, M. et al. (eds.) (2015)  Performance psychology: Perception, action, cognition, and emotion . San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

EXAMPLE Ebook

.. as claimed by the authors (Christian and Griffiths, 2016).
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)
  • 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)

EXAMPLE Journal article

In their review of the literature (Norrie et al. , 2012)..
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.

EXAMPLE Journal article with DOI

(McCauley and Christiansen, 2019)
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:

  • Title of magazine (in italics - capitalise first letter of each word in title, except for linking words)

EXAMPLE Electronic magazine article

The southern part of Kalahari has characteristics of a dry savanna ecosystem (Joubert, 2021).
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:

  • Year of submission (in round brackets)
  • Title of thesis (in italics)
  • Degree statement
  • Degree-awarding body

EXAMPLE Doctoral thesis

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:

  • Year that the site was published/last updated (in round brackets)
  • Title of web page (in italics)
  • Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

EXAMPLE Websites with individual authors

McCarthy (2021) also says that wasted food significantly impacts climate change.
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).

EXAMPLE Websites with organisations as authors

After identifying symptoms (National Health Service, 2018)...
National Health Service (2018) Check your symptoms . Available at: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/checkyoursymptoms (Accessed: 17 October 2018).

EXAMPLE Websites with no authors

.. and is considered a virtue (Altruism, 2021).
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:

  • Title of message (in single quotation marks)
  • Title of internet site (in italics)
  • Day/month of posted message

EXAMPLE Blog

Social channels help us share common interests (Liegl, 2021)
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]

EXAMPLE Instagram post

.. by painting a sea horse (VeganArtShare, 2021).
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
  • Title of photograph (in italics)

EXAMPLE Photograph from the internet

His beautiful photograph (Kitto, 2013)...
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)

EXAMPLE Programme on Netflix

While this show is set in the Cold war era ( The Queen's Gambit , 2020),..
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)
  • 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

EXAMPLE Papers from the House of Commons and House of Lords

Parliamentary reports for the year included the criminal justice system (Parliament. House of Commons, 1999) and renewable energy (Parliament. House of Lords, 1999).
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.

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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)

  • Macquarie University Library
  • Monash University Library
  • University of New South Wales

Cite Them Right Specific Guides

  • Open University Library
  • University of Sheffield Library
  • University of St. Andrews Library
  • University of Sussex Library

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 .

Your Harvard paper should be double-spaced with smooth left margins. The Harvard Reference list is double-spaced too.

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.

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 .

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.

Citation generators

Citation guides, alternative to.

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  • 📚 How to write a book report
  • 📝 APA Running Head
  • 📑 How to study for a test

IMAGES

  1. Course: Harvard , Section: In-Text Citations Explained

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  2. Harvard Referencing Example In Text, HD Png Download

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  3. Citing and referencing material

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  4. Harvard Referencing

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  5. Harvard Referencing & Citation

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  6. Harvard in-text citations

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COMMENTS

  1. Reference a Website in Harvard Style

    Revised on 7 November 2022. To reference a website in Harvard style, include the name of the author or organization, the year of publication, the title of the page, the URL, and the date on which you accessed the website. In-text citation example. (Google, 2020) Reference template. Author surname, initial.

  2. Harvard In-Text Citation

    In Harvard style, citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author, the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al. Harvard in-text citation examples.

  3. How to reference a website using the Harvard referencing style

    Web pages authored by a company or organization. Here's the information you will need to include for this type of reference: Name of the company/organization. Year the site was published or last updated (in round brackets) Title of the web page (in italics) Available at: URL (Accessed: date) In-text citation.

  4. In-Text Citation Examples

    In-Text Citation Examples. When neither the author nor the page number is mentioned in the body of the sentence, you should include both the author's last name and the page number in the parenthetical citation. Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack 24).

  5. Library guides: Harvard Referencing Guide: Websites

    Use the same capitalisation as the organisation uses for the name of a website. You don't need to include the URL at the end of the reference in digital content. Hyperlink the title of the webpage. If the source is behind a paywall, hyperlink to the homepage of the website. Include the date you accessed the work.

  6. In-text Citations in Harvard Referencing Style

    For in-text citations, Harvard referencing style uses author-date format. In other words, Harvard style uses parenthetical and narrative citations that show the name of the author and the publication year of the source. Harvard style does not use footnotes or endnotes. For details about the in-text citation format for different types of sources ...

  7. Websites

    If the website author is not available, simply use the website name, e.g. (Website name, Year). Note 2: No date? If the date of the website is not available, substitute the date with the words 'no date', e.g. Website author (no date). Still unsure what in-text citation and referencing mean? Check here.

  8. How to reference a website in Harvard style

    Follow these instructions to manually reference a website in Harvard style. First, you need to locate these details for the website: page or article author, page or article title, website name, published date, access date, page URL (web address). The author can typically be found on the page, but if there isn't one listed you can use the ...

  9. A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing

    When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors' names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ' et al. ': Number of authors. In-text citation example. 1 author. (Davis, 2019) 2 authors. (Davis and Barrett, 2019) 3 authors.

  10. How to Cite a Website in Harvard Referencing

    In-Text Citations (Named Author) To cite a website in Harvard referencing, you will need to give the author's surname and a year of publication. For instance: Rousseau converted to Catholicism in 1728 (Bertram, 2010). If you have already named the author in the main text, though, you don't need to duplicate this information in the citation.

  11. In-Text Citations

    In-Text Citations. In APA style, you use parenthetical citations within the text of your paper to credit your sources, to show how recently your sources were published, and to refer your reader to a more detailed citation of the source in the reference list at the end of your paper. You should use parenthetical citations when you paraphrase ...

  12. Library guides: Harvard Referencing Guide: In-text citations

    About Harvard referencing; Author information; In-text citations. ... When citing multiple works in the same in-text citation, use semicolons ... Black 2018; White and Jones 2017). Works with no author - in-text citation. When the name of an author or authoring body is not shown, cite the reference by its title and the year. Use the first few ...

  13. Guides: How to reference a Website in Harvard style

    Cite A Website in Harvard style. Use the following template or our Harvard Referencing Generator to cite a website. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.

  14. Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right)

    In-text citations and full references; Secondary referencing; Page numbers; Citing multiple sources published in the same year by the same author; Full reference examples; In-text citations and full references. Referencing consists of two elements: in-text citations, which are inserted in the body of your text and are included in the word count ...

  15. How to Cite Sources in Harvard Citation Format

    2. Harvard Referencing Basics: In-Text. In-text references must be included following the use of a quote or paraphrase taken from another piece of work. In-text references are references written within the main body of text and refer to a quote or paraphrase. They are much shorter than full references. The full reference of in-text citations ...

  16. LibGuides: Harvard Solent Referencing Guide: In-text references

    Examples of in-text reference options: Author surname appears in the body of your sentence - just add the year [and page(s) if appropriate] after the name where it occurs. As Smith (2013, p.16) states, all resources must be referenced.

  17. Harvard: citing in-text

    In-text citations give brief details of the source that you are quoting from or referring to. These citations will then link to the full reference that will be found in your reference list at the end of your work. The reference list is always arranged in alphabetical order by author. If you have cited a work in an appendix, but not in the main ...

  18. Harvard: how to cite a website [Update 2023]

    To cite a website in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:. Author(s) of the website: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.

  19. Free Harvard Referencing Generator [Updated for 2024]

    Generate Harvard references automatically with our fast and free Harvard reference generator. Get correctly formatted references for books, websites, journals and more! ... This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment. ... In-text citation: (Hamer, 1996, p. 100) Penn Medicine. (2015, June 1). Penn ...

  20. FREE Harvard Referencing Generator & Guide

    The brief in-text Harvard references in your work should directly link to your reference list. ... Reference list on a separate page at the end of the body of your work. If your professor requests a bibliography too (a list of sources that were used to help gain background knowledge on the topic), it can be placed at the end of the assignment ...

  21. FREE Harvard Referencing Generator

    Create a free account to add and edit each Harvard citation on the spot, import and export full projects or individual entries. Things get even easier with Cite This For Me for Chrome - an intuitive, handy browser extension that allows you to create and edit a citation while you browse the web.

  22. Free Harvard referencing generator [2024 Update]

    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 ...