Referencing and citing – Harvard

Students of the Business School, School of Education, and the School of Law have their own specific referencing styles and they should use the separate education, business and law guides available in the Library Guides’ Referencing section.

Within the text

In-text citations in Harvard style are entered in the following way:

Enter the author’s surname and year of publication in round brackets immediately before or after the text.

For example: It was found (Smith, 2001) that … OR: Smith (2001) found that …

Page numbers

Giving page numbers in the in-text citation helps the reader find the relevant source more quickly.

For example: It was found (Smith, 2001, p. 52) that …

If you are referring to more than 1 page, the example would be: It was found (Smith, 2001, pp. 52-56) that …

Using quotations

If you are quoting more than a few words then indent the quotation from the rest of the text. For example:

In the text:

As Marx (1920, pp. 188-189) explains in relation to the working class:

The economic conditions have in the first place transformed the mass of the people of a country into wage-workers. The domination of capital has created for this mass of people a common situation with common interests.

In the bibliography:

Marx, K. (1920) The poverty of philosophy: being a translation of the misère de la philosophie (a reply to “la philosophie de la misère” of M. Proudhon). Translated from the French by H. Quelch. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr. (Original work published 1847).

Citing a secondary person

Only cite the work that you have actually read. If you read a source that refers to the work of someone else ideally you should find and read the work that has been referred to, i.e. the original work. However, if you are unable to locate the original work you must make it clear to your reader that you are citing work you have not read. The work that you have read is ‘secondary’ as you are relying on someone else’s interpretation or opinion of the original work rather than your own. For example:

In the text: Yates (2004) cites Strauss, 1987, saying that … OR: Strauss (1987, cited in Yates, 2004) says …

In the bibliography:  Yates, S.J. (2004) Doing social science research. London: Sage.

Citing personal communications

Requirements for this depend on your discipline. Often personal communications are cited within the text but not included in the reference list. Check your course handbook or with your supervisor.
An example would be:

In the text: Dawson (2009) stated that …

If included in the bibliography: Dawson, G.A. (2009) Telephone conversation with Janet MacKay, 4 September.

Multiple authors

If there are more than 3 authors, the in-text citation would look like this:

It was decided (Hewitt et al, 2016) that …  OR: Hewitt et al. (2016) decided …

In your bibliography the reference should list all of the authors in the order given in the publication.

The bibliography/reference list at the end of your written work

You must create a bibliography at the end of your written piece of work. Check with your supervisor if you are expected to include everything you have read (bibliography) or simply list those items you’ve referred to in the text (reference list). In the Harvard style the references are listed in alphabetical order by author.

Please note: in Harvard, if an electronic resource has all of the elements of the print version (e.g. page numbers, publication details) it should be referenced in the same way as the print version.

Also note: if you use a url it is necessary to include the date accessed. If you use a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) there is no need to give the date accessed.

Examples: 

The examples in this referencing guide are based on the following source:

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2022) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 12th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (Palgrave Study Skills).

Last revised by Janet MacKay, July 2023