Harvard citation style
There is no authoritative source for the Harvard citation style, and the exact formatting and punctuation may vary by both country and individual institution.
Consult the Harvard guidelines issued by your department if you are in doubt.
UC Library strongly recommends using APA style where an in-text author-date system is required. APA is well documented and regularly updated.
The examples on these pages are based on Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers.
In-text citations
The Harvard style uses in-text citations not footnotes.
General
When citing sources within the text of an assignment, use only the name of the author followed by the year of publication, e.g. Bauman (2007) claims that…
Include a page number and quotation marks if you have directly quoted an author’s words, e.g. Ritzer and Dean (2011, p. 2) define globalisation as “...”
Secondary Sources
For sources that you have not actually seen but which are referred to in another work, cite both the original source and the secondary source where you read it, e.g.
Smith (1993, quoted in Gibbs 1998, p. 78) gives an excellent précis of this contentious subject.
Bibliography
Your essay should conclude with a full bibliography of works consulted. The Harvard style requires the second and subsequent lines of the reference to be indented, to highlight the alphabetical order.
Books
Author surname(s), initial(s) Year of publication, Title, Publisher, Place of publication.
Books with one author
- In-text: (Holton, 2014) OR Holton (2014) has found ...
- Reference List: Holton, RJ 2014, Global inequalities, Palgrave, New York.
Books with two to three authors
- In-text: (Macionis & Plummer 2012) OR Macionis and Plummer (2012) have found ...
- Reference List: Macionis, JJ & Plummer, K 2012, Sociology: a global introduction, 5th edn, Pearson, Harlow.
Note: when the authors names are incorporated in the text use 'and' instead of an ampersand.
Books with four or more authors
- In-text: (Leader et al. 1996) or According to Leader et al. (1996)
- Reference List: Leeder, SR, Dobson, AJ, Gibbers, RW, Patel, NK, Mathews, PS, Williams, DW & Mariot, DL 1996, The Australian film industry, Dominion Press, Adelaide.
Note: Use et al. after the first authors name in-text. Include all authors names in the Reference List
Book Chapter
Ravesloot, JC, Darling, GA & Waters, MR 2009, ‘Hohokam and Pima-Maricopa irrigation agriculturalists’, in CT Fisher, J Brett Hill & GM Feinman (eds), The archaeology of environmental change: socionatural legacies of degradation and resilience, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 232-45.
- Titles of book chapters are enclosed in quotation marks. The book title is italicised.
Journal Articles
Author(s) surname, Initial(s) Year of publication, 'Article title', Journal title, vol., no., pp.
When citing journal articles with multiple authors, follow the same format for books with multiple authors.
Jeffreys, S 2007, ‘Double jeopardy: women, the US military and the war in Iraq’, Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 30, no.1, pp. 16-25.
Online
Follow the advice given for web sites and include the access date and either the database in which the journal appears or URL in angle brackets, e.g.
James, P 2014, ‘Faces of globalization and the borders of states: from asylum seekers to citizens’, Citizenship Studies, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 208-223, viewed 15 October 2015, <http://www-tandfonline-com/doi/abs/10.1080/13621025.2014.886440>.
Newspaper articles
Author surname(s), Initial(s) Year of publication, ‘Article title’, Newspaper title, day month, pages.
McClure, T 2015, ‘Why we came: stories of refugees’, The Press, 14 September, p. 5.
Online
If the newspaper article has been viewed online, include the date you viewed the article and the URL in angle brackets, e.g.
McClure, T 2015, ‘Whey we left: refugees tell the stories of their journeys to New Zealand’, The Press, 13 September, viewed 15 October 2015, <http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/71954641/why-we-left-refugees-tell-the-stories-of-their-journeys-to-new-zealand>.
Web sites
Author (or organisation responsible for the site) Year, Title, viewed Date (day month year), <URL>.
Ministry of Social Development 2010, The social report, viewed 15 October 2015, <http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/>.
Other links
There are variations within the Harvard referencing system. The formatting details shown on these sites may differ slightly from the guidelines given on this page.
- University of Melbourne Harvard Style uses the re:cite Harvard Style.
University of Auckland Harvard Referencing Style presents an alternative form of Harvard style which does not use quotation marks.
