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Harvard referencing generator

Harvard is an author-date style used by many universities in the UK, Australia and elsewhere. There is no single official version; WriteOrbit uses the common Cite Them Right form and can switch to your university’s version.

Your list

Sources you add appear here, formatted in your style.

Your list stays in this browser. Copy keeps italics when you paste into Word or Google Docs. Check every citation against the source.

Harvard example

The 1953 paper in which Watson and Crick described the structure of DNA (DOI 10.1038/171737a0), cited in Harvard.

In the text

Parenthetical
(Watson and Crick, 1953)
With a page
(Watson and Crick, 1953, p. 737)

Reference list

Watson, J.D. and Crick, F.H.C. (1953) ‘Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid’, Nature, 171(4356), pp. 737–738. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.

Harvard format for common sources

Journal article
Last, A. and Last, B. (Year) ‘Title of the article’, Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. pages. Available at: DOI or URL.
Book
Last, A. (Year) Title of the book. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Web page
Last, A. (Year) Title of the page. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

Main Harvard rules

  • Universities publish their own Harvard guides, and they differ in punctuation. Follow yours.
  • Put the year in brackets straight after the authors.
  • Use single quotation marks for article titles and italics for journal and book titles.
  • Give an access date for web pages.

Your course, publisher or university may change these rules. When they differ, follow them.

How to use it

  1. Find the source

    Paste a DOI or search by title, or enter a website, book or other source by hand.

  2. Pick a style

    APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, AMA, IEEE or any of over 10,000 styles.

  3. Copy

    Copy the reference and the in-text citation. Add more sources to build a list.

Good to know

  • A citation is only as good as its record. Check names, dates and capitalisation for unusual sources.
  • Your list stays in this browser. Sign in to keep references with your documents.

Questions

More in the help center.

Why does my university’s Harvard look different?

Harvard has no single rulebook. Search the style menu in WriteOrbit for your university’s version, for example “Anglia Ruskin” or “University of Leeds”.

Is Harvard the same as APA?

Both are author-date styles, but they differ in punctuation and in how titles and dates are shown.

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