Harvard referencing

How it is used

Common in UK and Australian universities and in business and the social sciences. There is no single official version: each university publishes its own Harvard guide with small differences in punctuation. In-text citations look like (Smith, 2020, p. 14) or Smith (2020).

Example sentences

1. The module handbook requires Harvard referencing for all assignments.

2. Check your university's guide, because Harvard referencing varies between institutions.

Common collocations

• Harvard style
• author-date system
• use Harvard referencing
• Harvard referencing guide

Related terms

• APA styleThe writing and citation rules of the American Psychological Association, based on author-date citations and widely used in the social sciences, education and psychology.
• in-text citationA short reference inside the main text, such as (Yılmaz, 2021) or a number [3], that points the reader to the full entry in the reference list.
• reference listThe list at the end of a paper or thesis giving full details of every source cited in the text, arranged in the order a citation style requires.
• reference managerSoftware that stores your sources, inserts citations into a document and creates the reference list in the required style.

More terms: Citing and Referencing

• cite
• citation
• paraphrase
• direct quotation
• et al.
• bibliography
• DOI
• reporting verb
• footnote
• secondary citation
• ibid.
• block quotation