Harvard: journal article (with DOI)
- Initials have full stops and no spaces (J.A.); the year is in parentheses with no full stop after it.
- The article title goes in single quotation marks; the journal name is italic.
- No access date is needed when you give a DOI.
Harvard: book
- Book titles are italic, with a capital only on the first word and proper nouns.
- Editions after the first go after the title: 2nd edn.
Harvard: chapter in an edited book
- Use (ed.) for one editor and (eds) for more than one.
Harvard: web page
- Always give the date you accessed a web page.
- If there is no personal author, use the organisation as the author.
Harvard: report
Harvard: thesis or dissertation
- For a thesis read online, add Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
Harvard in-text citations
Give the author's surname and year, separated by a comma; add a page for quotations.
| Parenthetical | (Jergas and Baethge, 2015) |
| Narrative | Jergas and Baethge (2015) found that… |
| Direct quotation | (Doe, 2021, p. 14) |
| Four or more authors | (Surname et al., 2020) |
- Up to three authors: give every surname, joined by “and”. Four or more: the first surname and “et al.”
- Write “and”, not “&”.
Common Harvard mistakes
- Mixing versions of Harvard. Use the one your university specifies and apply it consistently.
- Using “&” between authors. Cite Them Right uses “and”.
- Leaving out the access date for a web page.
Format a reference in Harvard
Fill in a journal article once and our free in-browser formatter gives it to you in Harvard, ready to copy, with the author-list rules applied. It opens with Harvard highlighted.
Harvard questions
Is there an official Harvard style?
No. Harvard is a family of author–date styles with no single governing manual, and universities publish their own variants. Cite Them Right is one of the most widely adopted in the UK.
Which edition of Cite Them Right do these examples follow?
The 12th edition (2022). The 13th edition (2025) no longer asks for the place of publication for books; otherwise the patterns above are the ones most UK universities teach. Check your module handbook.
When do I use “et al.” in Harvard?
In the text, for four or more authors. Many universities also use “et al.” in the reference list for four or more; some ask you to list every author, so check your guide.
Is Harvard the same as APA?
Both are author–date styles, but they differ in detail: APA puts a full stop after the year in parentheses, uses “&” and sentence-case titles without quotation marks; Cite Them Right Harvard uses “and” and puts article titles in single quotation marks.
About the examples
Every style guide on this site formats the same six sources, so you can compare styles side by side. The journal article is real; the others are fictional, with placeholder names.
- Journal article (with DOI) (real): Hannah Jergas and Christopher Baethge, “Quotation accuracy in medical journal articles—a systematic review and meta-analysis,” PeerJ, volume 3, article e1364, published 27 October 2015, DOI 10.7717/peerj.1364.
- Book: Jane A. Doe, Evidence and argument in student research, Example University Press, London, 2021.
- Chapter in an edited book: Richard B. Roe, “Reading statistics critically,” pages 45–67 of A handbook of research methods, edited by Maria C. Sample and Lee D. Example, Example University Press, London, 2020.
- Web page: Pat Q. Public, “How to check that a source exists,” Example Research Hub (London), published 12 March 2024, https://www.example.org/guides/check-a-source, accessed 15 October 2026.
- Report: Example Institute for Education (author and publisher, London), Student research practices in higher education, 2023, https://www.example.org/reports/student-research-2023, accessed 15 October 2026.
- Thesis or dissertation: Alex B. Placeholder, Peer feedback and revision in first-year writing, unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Education, Example University, London, 2022.
Based on the Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide, 12th edition. Last reviewed 2026-11. Your instructor's or journal's own guidelines take precedence. Spotted an error? Email support@moremind.ai.