Harvard referencing — the UK guide

When to use Harvard

Harvard is the most widely-used referencing style across UK universities, particularly in business, social sciences and education. There’s no single Harvard standard — your university will have a local variant (Cite Them Right is the most common). Always check your library’s exact guide first; the rules below cover the universal principles.

The basics

Harvard uses author-date in-text citations and an alphabetised reference list at the end. Direct quotes need a page number; paraphrases need just the author and year. The reference list goes on a new page and lists every source you actually cited — nothing more, nothing less.

In-text citations

Three patterns cover almost every situation:

• Paraphrase: Recent research suggests motivation declines with screen time (Smith, 2021).
• Author-prominent: Smith (2021) found that motivation declines with screen time.
• Direct quote: “Motivation declines markedly above three hours” (Smith, 2021, p. 47).

Multiple authors: two authors use both names (Smith and Jones, 2021); three or more use et al. (Smith et al., 2021). Multiple sources for the same point: chronological, semicolon-separated (Smith, 2019; Jones, 2021).

Reference list — common source types

Book (single author)

Smith, J. (2021) The grammar of attention. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.

Edited book chapter

Jones, A. (2020) ‘Reading in the age of distraction’, in Brown, B. (ed.) Modern literacies. Cambridge: CUP, pp. 45–67.

Journal article

Patel, R. and Khan, S. (2022) ‘Cognitive load in adolescent learners’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(3), pp. 412–429. doi:10.1037/edu0000712.

Website / online source

Office for National Statistics (2023) Higher education statistics 2022/23. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/... (Accessed: 12 March 2024).

Government report

Department for Education (2022) Post-16 study programmes. London: DfE.

Newspaper article

Harris, J. (2023) ‘The case for reading slowly’, The Guardian, 14 January, p. 12.

Common mistakes that cost marks

• Mixing up “et al.” rules — some universities require three+ authors, some require four+. Check yours.
• Forgetting the access date on websites — required by most Harvard variants.
• Italicising the wrong element — book titles are italicised; journal article titles are NOT (the journal name is).
• Citing the source you read instead of the source you actually paraphrased (“secondary citing”). When you can’t access the original, use “Smith (1990) cited in Jones (2021)” — but only as a last resort.
• Missing a comma after the publication city — required: London: Routledge.

Quick-reference card

Element	Format
In-text	(Author, year)
Page numbers (quote)	(Author, year, p. xx)
Two authors	(Smith and Jones, year)
Three or more	(Smith et al., year)
No author	(Title, year)
No date	(Smith, n.d.)
Multiple sources	(Smith, 2019; Jones, 2021)

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