Harvard Referencing Basics
The author–date system made simple — in-text citations and reference lists in common Harvard variants.
Harvard is an author–date referencing system, but unlike APA it is not owned by a single institution. Universities, faculties and even individual departments run their own local variants, so the exact punctuation, italics and capitalisation differ from one brief to the next.
The in-text citation
Harvard puts the author's surname and the year of publication directly beside the borrowed idea. As a narrative citation: "Patel (2021) found that…". As a parenthetical citation: "…this result is well documented (Patel, 2021)."
For two or three authors, name them all: "(Patel & Khan, 2021)". For four or more, Harvard variants commonly use 'et al.' — but check your faculty's exact rule, because they do differ.
The reference list
The reference list is alphabetised by author surname. The universal skeleton is: Author(s), Year. Title. Other identifying details.
- Book: Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.
- Journal article: Surname, Initial. (Year). 'Title of article'. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages.
- Website: Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of page. Available at: https://url (Accessed: Day Month Year).
When the details get awkward
No author? Move the title to the front and alphabetise by it. No date? Use 'n.d.' (no date). Two sources by the same author in the same year? Distinguish them with letters — 2021a, 2021b — and keep those letters consistent between your in-text citations and the reference list.
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