Harvard Referencing Full Guide UK

Written By

Daniel Kingsley

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Harvard referencing isn't a single standard. The University of Manchester uses a slightly different version than Imperial College. Your university's library will have published a Harvard guide. Check it before you start. This guide covers the common core that most UK institutions follow.

Understanding the marking criteria for your dissertation is a necessary step in preparing to write it, as the criteria specify exactly what your assessors are looking for and how they will distribute marks across different elements of your work. Many students are surprised to discover how much weight is given to aspects of their dissertation such as the coherence of the argument, the quality of the literature review, and the rigour of the methodology, relative to the novelty of the findings. Reading the marking criteria carefully before you begin writing allows you to make informed decisions about where to invest your time and effort, ensuring that you address the most heavily weighted components of the assessment as thoroughly as possible. If your module handbook does not include a detailed breakdown of the marking criteria, your supervisor or module leader will generally be willing to explain how the dissertation is marked and what distinguishes a first-class piece of work from a lower grade.

When you begin writing your dissertation, the most important thing you can do is develop a clear research question that is both specific enough to be answerable and broad enough to generate meaningful findings. A vague or overly ambitious research question will create problems throughout every chapter of your dissertation, making it difficult to maintain a coherent argument and frustrating both you and your markers. The process of refining your research question often involves reviewing the existing literature carefully to understand what has already been studied and where the genuine gaps in knowledge lie. Once you have a focused and well-grounded research question, the rest of your dissertation structure tends to fall into place more naturally, since each chapter can be organised around answering that central question.

Core Principle: Author-Date System

Harvard uses an author-date system in two parts: an in-text citation and a reference list entry. The in-text citation tells the reader when you're referring to a source. The reference list provides full publication details so the reader can find the source.

In-text format: (Author, Year)

Reference list format: Author, Year, Title of work, Place, Publisher.

The critical principle: the reference list is alphabetical by author surname, and in-text citations must match exactly the first element of the reference list entry. If the reference list says "Jones, K. (2020)" the in-text citation must be (Jones, 2020), not (K. Jones, 2020) or (Jones, K., 2020).

Journal Articles

The most commonly cited source type, and one where students consistently misformat.

Format: Author(s) surname, initials, Year, Article title in single quotation marks, Title of Journal in italics, Volume number, issue number, page range.

Example: Smith, J., Brown, R. and Davies, P., 2019, 'The effectiveness of workplace wellbeing interventions', Journal of Applied Psychology, 45(3), pp. 234-251.

Notice the details. Journal name is italicised. The volume number is given, then the issue number in brackets. The page range for the full article is given at the end. Not "pp. 234-251" (for pages) or just "234-251" without pp. The format matters because it signals that you've located an actual journal, not made something up.

If there are more than three authors, the format is the same; list all of them.

If there's no issue number, just give the volume: Journal Name, 45, pp. 234-251.

Books

Format: Author surname, initials, Year, Title of book in italics, Edition if not first, Place of publication, Publisher.

Example: Smith, J., 2020, Understanding Organisational Change, 2nd edn, London, Routledge.

If there are multiple authors, list them all: Smith, J. and Brown, R., 2020.

If there's no obvious place of publication or publisher (rare in academic books), you can use "n.p." (no place) and "n.pub." (no publisher), though this suggests the source wasn't a properly published book.

If you accessed the book online, add the URL or DOI at the end, but if the book is in print from a major publisher, the print format is standard.

Book Chapters in Edited Volumes

Format: Chapter author surname, initials, Year, Chapter title in single quotation marks, in Title of book edited by Editor name(s), Place, Publisher, Chapter page range.

Example: Smith, J., 2019, 'The role of peer support in organisational change', in Change Management in Healthcare Settings edited by Brown, R., London, Routledge, pp. 123-145.

This is where students often make mistakes. The editor name comes after "edited by," not treated as the author. The chapter title is in single quotation marks. The book title is italicised.

Government Reports and Legislation

Government reports.

Format: Department or Government Agency, Year, Title of report, Place, Publisher.

Example: Department of Health and Social Care, 2022, Health and Wellbeing Framework, London, UK Government.

If the report is from Parliament or from specific legislation, the format changes.

Legislation: Acts of Parliament.

Format: Title of Act and Year of Enactment, Chapter number (if known).

Example: Equality Act 2010, c.15.

You can cite it in text as (Equality Act, 2010) but the full reference list entry shows the chapter number if available.

Statutory instruments (secondary legislation).

Format: Author (often the relevant Department), Year, Title of instrument and number, London, The Stationery Office.

Example: Department of Health, 2021, Health and Safety at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2021, No. 432, London, The Stationery Office.

Websites and Online Sources

One of the most commonly cited and most commonly misformatted source types. The challenge is that websites change. Harvard recommends including the date you accessed the source.

Format: Author name or Organisation, Year, Page title, available at: URL (accessed: date).

Example: NHS England, 2022, Wellbeing and Mental Health Support, available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wellbeing (accessed: 15 March 2024).

If there's no obvious author, use the organisation. If you're citing a specific author within an organisation, use the author and the organisation: Smith, J., NHS England, 2022.

The accessed date is critical for websites because they can change or disappear. Without the accessed date, your source is less verifiable.

If the website source has a date (publication date or last updated date), include it. If you can't find a date, use "n.d." (no date).

Newspaper Articles

Format: Author, Year, Article title in single quotation marks, Newspaper name in italics, date and page reference.

Example: Jones, K., 2022, 'Hospital waiting lists hit record high', The Guardian, 15 March 2022, p. A3.

If the article is online-only (no print version), use the format above but add the URL: available at: URL (accessed: date).

Theses and Dissertations

Format: Author, Year, Title of thesis in italics, Level (PhD thesis, Master's thesis), Institution, Place.

Example: Smith, J., 2021, Understanding Staff Retention in Higher Education, PhD thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester.

A well-structured dissertation requires careful attention to the relationship between each chapter, ensuring that your argument develops logically from the introduction through to the conclusion. Students who invest time in planning their chapter structure before writing tend to produce more coherent and persuasive pieces of academic work, as the narrative flows naturally from one section to the next. Your literature review should not simply summarise existing research but instead position your work within the broader academic conversation, identifying gaps that your study is designed to address. The methodology chapter is particularly important because it demonstrates your understanding of research design and justifies the choices you have made in collecting and analysing your data.

Conference Papers

Format: Author, Year, Title of paper in single quotation marks, in Conference Name, date and place, Publisher.

Example: Brown, R., 2021, 'Digital transformation in the NHS', in Annual Conference on Health Informatics, 12-13 June 2021, London, Springer.

If there's no publisher, you can omit it. The key is identifying the conference.

Personal Communications

Email, personal conversation, unpublished communication.

In-text only (not in reference list): (Smith, personal communication, 15 March 2024).

These don't belong in the reference list because they're not published, verifiable sources. Use them sparingly.

Secondary Sources: Citing Something You Found in Another Source

This is one of the most commonly searched Harvard questions and one where students lose marks. If you read Jones (2020) and Jones cites Smith (2015), you want to cite Smith's idea. Harvard's approach is clear: you cite the source you actually read.

In-text: (Smith, 2015, cited in Jones, 2020)

Reference list: Include only Jones, 2020. Don't include Smith, 2015 in your reference list.

Why? Because you didn't read Smith directly. You're trusting Jones' representation of Smith. By including only Jones in your reference list, you're being honest about what you've read.

When is secondary sourcing acceptable? Historical sources you can't access, out-of-print works, languages you can't read. Try to access the original first. If you genuinely can't, secondary sourcing is acceptable. But your dissertation supervisor would rather see you track down the original.

In-Text Citation Rules

Basic format: (Author, Year)

Multiple citations: (Jones, 2019; Smith, 2020; Brown, 2021) listed chronologically or alphabetically depending on your institution's preference.

Page numbers for direct quotations: Always include page numbers when quoting directly. (Jones, 2019, p. 34) or if multiple pages, (Jones, 2019, pp. 34-36). Paraphrasing doesn't require page numbers, though including them strengthens academic integrity.

Same author, same year, different works: Disambiguate with a, b, c. (Jones, 2019a) and (Jones, 2019b) in text. In the reference list: Jones, J., 2019a, First title. Jones, J., 2019b, Second title.

Same author, multiple citations: (Jones, 2019) once, then subsequent citations still use (Jones, 2019), not (ibid). Harvard doesn't use ibid.

Reference List vs Bibliography

Reference list: Only the sources you actually cited in the text. Every source you cite appears in the reference list. Every entry in the reference list is cited in the text.

Bibliography: Everything you read, whether cited or not. Some institutions ask for this in addition to a reference list. Some ask for only a reference list. Check your institution's requirements.

If you did a lot of reading that didn't make it into your dissertation, a bibliography is useful. Most dissertations use only a reference list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What if I can't find the place of publication or publisher? A: For older or self-published works, information may be missing. Do your best. Include what you can. [n.p.] for no place, [n.pub.] for no publisher. Modern academic sources should always have this information.

Q: Should URLs be in angle brackets? A: Different Harvard variants handle this differently. Some use angle brackets . Others don't. Check your university's guide. Consistency matters more than which format you choose.

Q: Can I cite Wikipedia? A: Wikipedia isn't an acceptable source for academic dissertations. It's a tertiary source (a source that summarises other sources). Cite the original sources that Wikipedia references instead. If you're using Wikipedia to find those sources, that's fine. But Wikipedia itself shouldn't appear in your reference list.