Is there one official Harvard referencing style?

No. Harvard is an author–date system with many institutional variants (such as Cite Them Right). Always check your university's specific Harvard guide, because punctuation and ordering can differ slightly between versions.

How do I do an in-text citation in Harvard style?

Place the author's surname and year in brackets, for example (Smith, 2021). For a direct quote, add the page number: (Smith, 2021, p. 14). If the author is named in your sentence, only the year goes in brackets.

How do I reference a website in Harvard?

Author or organisation (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). If no date is given, use (no date).

Harvard Referencing Guide: How to Cite Sources (With Examples)

Harvard is an author–date referencing system: you cite the author's surname and year in the text, and list full details alphabetically at the end. The examples below follow the widely used Cite Them Right Harvard style — but always confirm your own university's variant, as small differences in punctuation exist.

One thing to know first: "Harvard" is not a single official standard. It's a family of author–date styles, and institutions adapt it. The principles here are consistent across versions; the exact punctuation may vary, so your university guide is the final word.

In-text citations

Place the author and year in brackets where you use the idea:

Paraphrase: Productivity rose after the change (Smith, 2021).
Author named in sentence: Smith (2021) found that productivity rose.
Direct quote: add a page number — (Smith, 2021, p. 14).
Two authors: (Smith and Jones, 2021).
Three or more: (Smith et al., 2021).

The reference list

At the end of your work, list every source alphabetically by author surname, with a hanging indent. The general pattern differs slightly by source type.

Book

Author surname, Initial. (Year) Title in italics. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Smith, J. (2021) The Psychology of Habit. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.

Journal article

Author surname, Initial. (Year) 'Title of article', Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page range.

Jones, A. (2022) 'Sleep and memory consolidation', Journal of Cognitive Science, 18(3), pp. 210–229.

Website

Author or organisation (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

World Health Organization (2023) Mental health and resilience. Available at: https://www.who.int/... (Accessed: 30 May 2026).

Online journal with DOI

Lee, K. (2023) 'Social media and adolescent wellbeing', Computers in Human Behavior, 140, 107-115. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2023.107115.

Quick rules that keep you consistent

Every in-text citation must have a matching reference list entry — and vice versa.
Order the reference list alphabetically by surname; for the same author, order by year.
Use "(no date)" when no year is available, and "et al." for three or more authors in-text.
Italicise the title of the larger work — the book or the journal, not the article title.
Use a reference manager (Zotero or Mendeley) to generate and check entries, then proofread them by hand.

Common mistakes

In-text citations with no matching reference (a common plagiarism flag).
Mixing Harvard with APA or footnote styles in the same document.
Italicising the wrong element, or inconsistent punctuation.
Trusting an auto-generated citation without checking it.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one official Harvard style?

No — Harvard is an author–date family with institutional variants (e.g., Cite Them Right). Always check your university's specific guide for exact punctuation.

How do I do an in-text citation?

Author surname and year in brackets, e.g. (Smith, 2021). Add a page number for direct quotes: (Smith, 2021, p. 14). If the author is named in the sentence, only the year goes in brackets.

How do I reference a website?

Author/organisation (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Use (no date) if no year is shown.

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Harvard Referencing Guide (With Examples)