Harvard Referencing Guide

Master Harvard citation style for academic writing

About Harvard Referencing

Harvard referencing is an author-date citation system widely used in UK universities and internationally. It consists of two main components:

In-Text Citations

Brief references within your text showing the author and year of publication.

Reference List

Complete bibliographic details of all sources cited, arranged alphabetically.

Harvard In-Text Citations

Basic Format:
(Author, Year) or (Author, Year, p. #)
Examples:
  • Single Author: (Smith, 2023) or (Smith, 2023, p. 45)
  • Two Authors: (Johnson and Brown, 2023)
  • Three or More: (Wilson et al., 2023)
  • No Author: (Report on Education, 2023)
  • Multiple Sources: (Smith, 2023; Johnson, 2022)

Harvard Reference List Examples

Book:
Author, A.A. (Year) Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.
Journal Article:
Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of article', Journal Name, vol(issue), pp. start-end.
Website:
Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of webpage', Website Name, Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Newspaper Article:
Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of article', Newspaper Name, date, p. page.

Harvard Formatting Rules

In-Text Citations:
  • Use round brackets (parentheses)
  • Separate author and year with comma
  • Use 'p.' for single page, 'pp.' for page range
  • Multiple authors: use 'and' not '&'
Reference List:
  • Alphabetical by author surname
  • Hanging indent for each entry
  • Use italics for book/journal titles
  • Single quotes for article titles

Harvard Style Checklist

  • All sources cited in text appear in reference list
  • Reference list is alphabetically ordered
  • Consistent punctuation and formatting
  • Proper use of italics and quotation marks
  • Hanging indent for reference entries
  • Complete bibliographic information

Automatic Harvard Referencing

Harvard referencing requires precise formatting and attention to detail. QuickAPA automatically formats your document according to Harvard referencing standards:

  • Correct in-text citation format
  • Properly formatted reference list
  • Alphabetical ordering of references
  • Hanging indent formatting
  • Proper use of italics and punctuation
  • Complete Harvard compliance checking