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Referencing multiple authors in Harvard style

Referencing allows you to acknowledge different ideas and materials that you borrow from other authors’ works. Harvard style referencing has two parts:  

• In-text citation – A citation that’s provided in your work (in-text) that indicates where a stated idea or direct quotation comes from.
• Reference list – A list of references that correspond to all in-text citations in the text. Each reference is longer than the in-text citation and contains details like the author’s name, publisher name, year published, place of publication, volumes, and other source information.

Below we will cover how to cite multiple authors in both an in-text citation and a reference.

Two authors are provided

When referencing a source that has two authors, the reference should have the names of both the authors.  

For in-text citations, include the surnames of both authors and the year published.

For references, the surname and first-name initial of each author is listed with “and” between them.  

In-text citation structure:

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1 and Surname 2, Year published)

Surname 1 and Surname 2 (Year published)

In-text citation example:

“Ridley noticed that the ornament from Lena’s graduation had already joined her charm collection” (Garcia and Stohl, 2015).

Garcia and Stohl (2015) noticed that…

Example reference structure (book):

Surname 1, Initial(s). and Surname 2, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Reference example:

Garcia, K. and Stohl, M. (2015) Dangerous creatures. London: Penguin Books.

Three authors are provided

A reference for a source with three authors will have the names of all three authors. List the authors in the order they are presented in the source (not in alphabetical order).  

For in-text citations, include the surnames of all authors and the year published.

For references, the surname and first-name initial of each author is listed. A comma separates the first and second author names; the word “and” separates the second and third author names.  

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1, Surname 2 and Surname 3, Year published)

Surname 1, Surname 2 and Surname 3 (Year published)

“The parts of the brain are the cerebral hemispheres, the cerebellum, and the brainstem” (Drake, Vogl and Mitchell, 2015).

Surname 1, Initial(s)., Surname 2, Initial(s). and Surname 3, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Drake, R.L., Vogl, A.W. and Mitchell, A.W.M. (2015) Gray’s anatomy for students . 3 rd rev. edn. Philadelphia, PA: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.

Four or more authors are provided

When referencing a source that has four or more authors, use “ et al.” to shorten your list of authors mentioned.  

For in-text citations, use “ et al.” in italics after the surname of the first author. The meaning of “et al.” is ‘and others’. See this guide on when to use et al. in Harvard style for more details.

References can also use “ et al. ” to shorten the list of authors. However, if your institution prefers to have all names listed in a reference, list all the authors by surname and first-name initial. A comma separates the all author names except for the last two names. The word “and” separates the last two author names.  

“Quote” or paraphrase (Surname 1 et al. , Year published)

Surname 1 et al. (Year published)

“Normal ventricular depolarization proceeds as a rapid, continuous spread of activation wave fronts” (Jameson et al., 2018, p. 1676).

Example reference structures (book):

Surname 1, Initial(s). et al . (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Publisher.

Surname 1, Initial(s)., Surname 2, Initial(s)., Surname 3, Initial(s)., and Surname 4, Initial(s). (Year published) Title in Italics . Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Example references (book):

Jameson, J.L. et al. (2018) Harrison’s principles of internal medicine . New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Jameson, J.L, Fauci, A.S., Kasper, D.L., Hauser, S.L, Longo, D.L. and Loscalzo J. eds. (2018) Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine . New York: McGraw Hill Education.

Published October 29, 2020.

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• When neither the author nor the page number is mentioned in the body of the sentence, you should include both the author’s last name and the page number in the parenthetical citation.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack 24).

• When the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, you should include only the page number in your parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If the source you are writing about does not have page numbers, or if you consulted an e-book version of the source, you should include only the author’s name in the parenthetical citation:

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack).

• If you mention the author in the body of the sentence and there is no page number in the source, you should not include a parenthetical citation.

As Anthony Jack argues, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students.

• If you are referring to an entire work rather than a specific page, you do not need to include a page number.

In The Privileged Poor, Anthony Jack describes many obstacles that low-income students face at selective colleges and universities.

• If you are referring to a source that has no listed author, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation.

Harvard College promises “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society” (“Mission, Vision, & History”).

• If you are referring to a source that has two authors, you should include both authors in your parenthetical citation.

The researchers tested whether an intervention during the first year of college could improve student well-being (Walton and Cohen 1448).

• If you refer to a source that has more than two authors, you should include the first author’s name followed by et al. ( Et al. is an abbreviation for et alia which means “and others” in Latin.) When you use et al. in a citation, you should not put it in italics.

The researchers studied more than 12,000 students who were interested in STEM fields (LaCosse et al. 8).

• If you refer to more than one source by the same author in your paper, you should include the title (or a shortened version of the title) in your parenthetical citation so that readers will know which source to look for in your Works Cited list. If you mention the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to include the title and page number. If you mention the author and title in the sentence, you only need to include the page number.

Colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (Jack, Privileged Poor 24).

According to Anthony Jack, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students ( Privileged Poor 24).

As Anthony Jack writes in Privileged Poor, colleges and universities need to create policies that foster inclusion for low-income students (24).

• If you want to credit multiple authors for making the same point, you can include them all in one parenthetical citation. 

Students who possess cultural capital, measured by proxies like involvement in literature, art, and classical music, tend to perform better in school (Bourdieu and Passeron; Dumais; Orr).

• If you refer to a source that includes line numbers in the margins, numbered paragraphs, numbered chapters, or numbered sections rather than page numbers, you should include the number in your parenthetical citation, along with “line,” “ch./ chs.,” or “sec./secs.”   You can include stable numbering like chapters even when there are no stable page numbers (as in an e-book). You should separate “line” or other designation from the work’s title or author’s name with a comma.  If the source does not include this type of numbering, you should not include it either.

We learn that when he went to the store to buy clothes for his son, “a frantic inspection of the boys’ department revealed no suits to fit the new-born Button” (Fitzgerald, ch.2).

• If you are citing a play, you should include the act and scene along with line numbers (for verse) or page numbers, followed by act and scene, (for prose).

Guildenstern tells Hamlet that “there has been much throwing about of brains” (Shakespeare, 2.2. 381-382).

Chris is in this mindset when he says, “a couple minutes, and your whole life changes, that’s it. It’s gone” (Nottage, 13; act 1, scene1).

• If you are referring to a video or audio recording that contains time stamps, you should include the time in your parenthetical citation to make it easy for your readers to find the part of the recording that you are citing.

In the Stranger Things official trailer, the audience knows that something unusual is going to happen from the moment the boys get on their bicycles to ride off into the night (0:16).

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• In-text citations

Using in-text citations

• No specific font type or size required . Recommendations include  Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier New for Windows, or Times, Helvetica, or Courier for Mac ) at size 12.
• The last name of the author(s) and the year of publication are generally needed.
• They can appear within a sentence or at the end of a sentence before the full stop eg. .... this week (Brown 2019).
• A page number is included for a direct quote. Place a colon directly after the year and separate multiple pages with a dash eg. (Dombrow 2014:155) or (Wardell 2018:32-33). There is no spacing between these elements. If there is no identifiable page number, provide another way for the reader to find the quoted information, eg. (heading or section name, paragraph, chapter, table or figure number).
• if work is not yet published , use in press  eg. Smith (in press).

The Learning Zone Quick Guides to Writing at University

• Using paraphrases as evidence
• Summarising and Paraphrasing
• Use reporting verbs to introduce evidence

In-text citation formats

In-text citations can be presented in two formats:.

• Information focused format - the citation is usually placed at the end of a sentence.
• Author focused format  -  the name of the author appears as part of the text, it need not be repeated in parenthetical citation. The date should immediately follow the author's name.

Example - Information focused

The wellbeing of workers is important (rodrıguez-garavito 2005), and managers must check in with their staff (ngai 2005)., example - author focused, in the long run, saarinen (2006) argues, development of tourism may not always be the most favourable use of natural and cultural resources ….

• If quoting and using a page number, add a colon next to the date, followed by the page number/ range.

(Rodrıguez-Garavito 2005:14)

Saarinen (2006:35-36), citing quotations, citing a direct quote.

You must include page number(s) in the in-text citation when incorporating a direct quotation into a sentence. Use single quotation marks to enclose short quotations (sentence fragments, a sentence or sentences with less than 30 words). Fit quotations within your sentences, making sure the sentences are grammatically correct.

When Ladkin (2011:1136) suggests that knowledge of tourism and hospitality labour ‘clearly has a contribution to make to current wider societal debates’ she is, as we are, reflecting on the shifting phenomenon of hospitality work.  

There seems to be a 'consensus among researchers and policy makers that experiments constitute a gold standard in policy evaluation, although they are not a complete recipe for policy evaluation’ (danielson 2007:381–382)., citing a block quote.

A direct quote that is more than 30 words long is usually indented from the text margin in a block format and use one size smaller font in single line spacing. Quotation marks are not needed.

New institutional studies of organisations in the 1970s and 1980s are largely characterised by an emphasis on diffusion, isomorphism, and decoupling:

The new institutionalism in organisation theory and sociology comprises a rejection of rational-actor models, and interest in institutions as independent variables, a turn towards cognitive and cultural explanations, and an interest in properties of supra individual units of analysis that cannot be reduced to aggregations or direct consequences of individuals' attributes or motives (DiMaggio and Powell 1991:8).

Modifying a direct quote

If you need to omit a word or words from a quote, indicate this with an ellipsis (three dots) with a space before and after the ellipsis ( ... ). A direct quote should neither start nor end with an ellipsis. Words should only be omitted from a quote if they are superfluous to the reason why you are using the quote and the meaning of the quote is not affected by the change.

For example (in a block quote):

The modernist view of the individual voice has been debated:

As with an early modernist like Lautréamont ... the subject or “character” is always an unstable collective, perpetually on the make, on trial and in degeneration, as much as it is in productive process, riven by contradiction and interruption, and by virtue of the textual mosaic, it hosts a crazed polyphony with no “originary” voice (Campbell 2014:157).

Square brackets

If you need to add a word or words to a quote, or change the capitalisation of a word to fit with your syntax, put the word(s)/letter in square brackets [ ]. Words should only be added to a quote for explanatory reasons (e.g. a name might be added to explain who a pronoun is referencing).

For example:

The church is not the only setting where the soul may be nurtured, as '[t]he soul also finds sustenance in more domestic settings, like the family home' (jones 1998:89)..

If you need to indicate a misspelling, grammatical error or lack of inclusive language, insert the word [sic] (meaning  so  or  thus ) in square brackets immediately following the error but do not change the error in the quote.

For example (non-inclusive language):

According to havelock (1986:63), the written word can be looked at as an extension of conversation where the author ‘writes down what he [sic] is saying so that another person can read what he [sic] says instead of just hearing it.’, for example (spelling):, the claim that ‘confiscation of these lands was both illegal and sacrilegious [sic]’ takes the approach that the church should be involved in these decisions (hamilton and strier 1996:165)., list of abbreviations and expressions, acceptable abbreviations and expressions to use in citations and reference list include the following:, author information, one author - in-text citation, (author last name year), .....finding information (richardson 2018)  or  richardson (2018) claimed that …, two authors - in-text citation, (author last name and author last name year) -  use the word  'and'  not  '&'  between names., (black and jacobsen 2020)  or  black and jacobsen (2020) mention that .., three authors - in-text citation, (first author last name et al. year) or first author last name et al. (year), (jackson et al. 2018)  or  jackson et al. (2018), group authors - in-text citation, format , (group author name [abbreviation] year), subsequent references, (abbreviation year) or abbreviation (year), in text citation:, (department of foreign affairs and trade [dfat] 2021)  or  department of foreign affairs and trade (dfat 2021), authors with same surname - in-text citation.

• When citing sources written by authors with the same surname, include the authors’ initials in in-text citations.

D Nguyen (2009) and L Nguyen (2009) both reported the same effects occurring in lakes and rivers.

Three or more authors, same first author - in-text citation.

• When referencing two or more sources published in the same year, and all these sources have the same first author and maybe even the same second, third authors, provide the names of enough authors in the in-text citation to show the difference.

(Larour, Morlighem, et al. 2012)

(larour, schiermeier, et al. 2012), (milillo, rignot, mouginot, scheuchl, li, et al. 2017), (milillo, rignot, mouginot, scheuchl, morlighem, et al. 2017), multiple works by same author(s) and same year - in-text citation.

• Works published in the same year by the same author are listed alphabetically by the title of the work and a lower-case letter (a, b, c, ...) is added immediately after the date, in both the reference list and in-text citations.

She has written extensively on Australia – New Zealand relations (Dobell 2018a, 2018b).

Multiple works by same author - in-text citation.

• If you cite two or more works from the same author/s at one point in the text , arrange the sources in chronological order , starting with the earliest date.

The process first identified by Watson (1960, 1966, 1968), shows..

Multiple sources cited at one point - in-text citation.

• When citing  multiple works  in the  same in-text citation , use  semicolons  between citations. Place  authors names  in  alphabetical order .
• Enclose all the citations in one set of parentheses.

Other researchers reported similar results (Abaza 2019; Black 2018; White and Jones 2017).

Works with no author - in-text citation.

• When the name of an author or authoring body is not shown, cite the reference by its title and the year . Use the first few words if the title is too long. 

This was apparently not the case before about 1995 ( The entrepreneur's guide to the law  1999).

Works with no publication date - in-text citation.

• For works without a date, write n.d. (for ‘no date’) instead of the year of publication.

White and Jones (n.d.) reported similar results.

Other researchers reported similar results (white and jones n.d.)..

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Southern Cross University acknowledges and pays respect to the ancestors, Elders and descendants of the Lands upon which we meet and study. We are mindful that within and without the buildings, these Lands always were and always will be Aboriginal Land.

In-text citation

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Harvard style uses in-text citations when referring to or quoting people’s work. The essential elements of an in-text citation are the author surname/s and year. There are two styles of citation, known as author-prominent and information-prominent. Both styles are equally acceptable and you can use both styles within one text.

1. Information prominent

In information prominent citations, you include both the author's surname and the date of publication in parentheses. 

(Author's surname Year)

Connections can be made between current politics and curriculum in schools based on established theories (Green 2018).

2. Author prominent

In author prominent citations, the author's surname is included in the text of the sentence, outside the parentheses, and the year (in parentheses) is included directly after the author's name.

Author's surname (Year)

Green (2018) makes connections between politics and curriculum drawing on preceding theorists.

Quotes and page numbers

(Author's surname Year:page)

Author's surname (Year:page)

'Representation is inherently, inescapably political. Representation and power go hand in hand' (Green 2018:33).

Green (2018:33) states that 'representation is inherently, inescapably political. Representation and power go hand in hand'.

• You only need to include page numbers in in-text citations when you are directly quoting another person's work. Some unit coordinators may want you to include page numbers in your in-text citations as a general rule.  Check your assignment instructions and ask your unit coordinator if you are unsure. See the Style Manual for more information.
• The  Style Manual  specifies to use single quotation marks (e.g. 'quote') for direct quotes.  However, text-matching software such as Turnitin does not recognise single quotation marks, it only recognises double quotation marks (e.g. "quote"). If you use single quotation marks for quotes, Turnitin will show these as text matches. If you are unsure what quotation marks to use for your assignment, check with your unit coordinator. 

Examples of in-text citations

Author's surname (Year)

(Jones 2017)

Jones (2017)

Two authors

(Author 1's surname and Author 2's surname Year)

Author 1's surname and Author 2's surname (Year)

(Francis and Black 2019)

Francis and Black (2019)

• The Style Manual states to always use the term 'and' to separate authors, rather than using symbols such as '&'.

Three or more authors

(Author 1's surname et al. Year)

Author 1's surname et al. (Year)

(White et al. 2016)

White et al. (2016)

• Use the term et al. (a Latin term meaning 'and others') after the first author's surname in all citations. List all authors in the reference list.

Organisation as author

(Abbreviation of organisation Year)

Abbreviation of organisation (Year)

(DFAT 2016)

DFAT (2016)

The Style Manual states to use the abbreviation for the organisation's name in all in-text citations. For organisations with no abbreviation, use the full name of the organisation.

In-text citations - no year of publication

(Author's surname n.d.)

(Francis n.d.)

Citing multiple sources at the same time

(Author's surname Year; Author's surname Year; Author's surname Year)

(Jones 2017; Francis and Black 2019; White et al. 2016)

Unknown author

('First ten words of the work...' Year)

. . . the worst election loss in the party's history ('This is the end' 1968).

• Use up to the first ten words of the title. Make sure that the name that you use in the reference list matches the name that you use for these citations.

Citing secondary sources

(Author's surname cited in work Year as cited in Author's surname you have read Year)

(Thomas 1980 as cited in Williams 2015)

• A secondary citation should only be used when the original source is unavailable.
• In the reference list, only include the source that you actually read (Williams 2015 in the example above).

Multiple works by the same author in the same year

(Author's surname Yeara) ... Author's surname (Yearb)

(Wright 2015a) ...Wright (2015b)

• Use a lower case letter after the year for each citation, and use these letters in the reference list as well, so that your readers can identify each source. Use the letter a for the first source you cite, the letter b for the second source, etc.

Personal communications

(Interviewee/respondent surname, personal communication, Day Month Year)

(Mary Smith, personal communication, 24 October 2020)

• Personal communications can include emails and conversations. Don't include these sources in your reference list.

Editor in place of an author

(Editor's surname ed Year)

(Fleming and Baldwin eds 2020)

Translated works

For translated works, use the original author’s name in the in-text citation.

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Harvard referencing uses in-text citations, in an author-date format. 

Sometimes you might be referencing a source that has more than one author. Or, you might reference several different sources by the same author published in the same year.

This page gives you guidelines and examples for using Harvard in these scenarios. 

Multiple sources with the same author and year

If you are citing more than one source by the same author which are also published in the same year, you will need to differentiate between the sources in your in-text citations. 

You can do this by adding a lower-case letter to the publication date in your in-text citation, and again in your reference list so that the dates and letters match. The first reference should appear as (Author, Yeara), the second as (Author, Yearb) and so on. 

The rest of the reference should follow the usual style for the type of source you are citing.  

In-text citations: 

(Kubler-Ross, 1993a)

(Kubler-Ross, 1993b)

Reference list: 

Kubler-Ross, E. (1993a).  AIDS: The ultimate challenge.  New York, NY: Collier Books.

Kubler-Ross, E. (1993b).  Questions and answers on death and dying.  New York, NY. Collier Books.

Sources with two or three authors

If you are citing a source with two or three authors, the surname of all of the authors should be listed in your in-text citation. You should keep the names in the same order as they are in the source.

The surname and initial(s) of all the authors should appear in the full reference for the source. 

In-text citation:

(Reiss and White, 2013, p.6)

Reference list:

Reiss M.J. and White, J. (2013).  An aims-based curriculum: the significance of human flourishing for schools.  London: IOE Press.

Sources with four to seven authors

If you are citing a source with four, five, six or seven authors, the surname of only the first person attributed as one of the source's authors should be included in your in-text citation, followed by the words 'et al'.

(Rogers et al., 2018)

Rogers, L., Hallam, S., Creech, A. and Preti, C. (2018). ‘Learning about what constitutes effective training from a pilot programme to improve music education in primary schools’,  Music Education Research , 10(4), pp.485-497.

Sources with eight or more authors

If you are citing a source with eight or more authors, the surname of only the first person attributed as one of the source's authors should be included in your in-text citation, followed by the words 'et al'.

The surname and initial(s) of the first eight attributed authors should appear in the full reference for the source, followed by the words 'et al'. If there are more than eight authors, do not include the word 'and' between the seventh and eight author.

(Clark et al., 2020)

Clark, K., Cletheroe, D., Gerard, T., Haller, I., Jozwik, K., Shi, K., Thomsen, B., Williams, H., et al. (2020). ‘Synchronous subnanosecond clock and data recovery for optically switched data centres using clock phase caching’,  Nature Electronics , 3, pp.426-433.

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How to Format In-Text Citations in Harvard Referencing

3-minute read

• 5th April 2020

Harvard referencing, also known as parenthetical author–date referencing, is one of the most common citation styles used by universities. In this post, we will look at the basic format for in-text citations in Harvard referencing .

In-Text Citations in Harvard Referencing

With Harvard referencing, you will need to provide bracketed citations in the text and a full reference list at the end of your document.

The basic format for an in-text citation in Harvard referencing is to give the author’s name and year of publication for the source that you are citing in brackets, separated by a comma. For example, you could cite a source written by Ferguson and published in 2007 like this:

Having flowers in the workplace can reduce stress (Ferguson, 2007).

When you name the author in the text, though, you only need to give the year of publication in brackets. This helps prevent repetition:

Ferguson (2007) says that havig flowers in the workplace can reduce stress.

Quoting Sources in Harvard Referencing

When you quote a source in Harvard referencing, you need to include the page number of the quoted material in your in-text citation. Typically, this goes at the end of the citation, after a comma and the abbreviation “p.”:

Ali considers potted plants “a mood enhancer” (1999, p. 32).

This shows the reader that the quote came from page 32 of the source. If a quote extends over more than one page, though, give a page range using the abbreviation “pp.” Take this extended quote, for instance:

This is further evidenced by anecdotal evidence. In the study, one office worker said, “I used to hate coming into the office. But a little greenery has made a big difference. It feels fresher, more homely. I don’t find myself feeling as tense as I used to” (Ali, 1999, pp. 35–36).

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Citing Sources with More Than One Author

If a source has two authors, separate their names in citations with “and”:

Potted plants are more effective than cut flowers (Kim and Moore, 2007).

And if a publication has three or more authors, give the first author’s name followed by “et al.” (a Latin phrase meaning “and others”). For example, we would cite a source by Tony, Uberti, and Wilson as follows:

The color green has a calming effect (Tony et al., 2013).

You would then provide the names of all authors in the reference list:

Tony, M., Uberti, A., Wilson, T. (2013) “The color green: Stress reduction via introduction of plant life to an office environment,” Journal of Environmental Health , vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 15–23.

Variations on Harvard Referencing

Harvard referencing is a generic style, so the exact requirements can vary. In the post above, we explain the Open University version , which is the default style guide that we currently use for this system.

However, make sure to check your style guide if you have one , as your university may use a slightly different format.

For more information on Harvard referencing, see our other blog posts . And if you’d like to have one of our Harvard referencing experts check that the citations in a document are error free, simply submit it for proofreading today and let us know which version of Harvard you are using.

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Harvard Citation Guide: In-Text Citations

• Getting Started
• How do I Cite?
• In-Text Citations
• Reference List
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In-Text Citation Basics

The Harvard referencing style uses the author-date system for in-text citations , which means the author's surname and the year of publication in round brackets are placed within the text. If there is no discernible author, the title and date are used.

EXAMPLE : Basic in-text citation

There are five strategies to implement Diversity Management in companies (Cox, 2001).

In-Text Citation Examples

In-text references have two formats:  parenthetical  and  narrative . In  parenthetical citations , the author's name and publication date appear in parentheses. When citing in-text, provide the author's surname and date of publication in brackets right after the borrowed information or at the end of the sentence.

If you have already mentioned the author's name in the text, you only need to place the date of publication in brackets directly after where the author's surname is mentioned. When a parenthetical citation is at the end of a sentence, place the period or other end punctuation after the closing parentheses. 

EXAMPLE : Book with one author (parenthetical citation)

All of those factors contribute to climate change (See, 2012).

EXAMPLE : Book with editor or multiple authors (parenthetical citation)

.. as claimed by the authors (Raab et al., 2015).

In narrative citations, the name and publication date is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence. The author appears in running text and the date appears in parentheses immediately after the author's name:

EXAMPLE : Book with two authors (narrative citation) 

Auerbach and Kotlikoff (1998) explain that a higher level of labor productivity means more output per person.

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Harvard Style Guide: In-text citations

• Introduction
• Harvard Tutorial

In-text citations

• Book with one author
• Book with two or three authors
• Book with four or more authors
• Book with a corporate author
• Book with editor
• Chapter in an edited book
• Translated book
• Translated ancient texts
• Print journal article, one author
• Print journal article, two or three authors
• Print journal article, four or more authors
• eJournal article
• Journal article ePublication (ahead of print)
• Secondary sources
• Generative AI
• Images or photographs
• Lectures/ presentations
• Film/ television
• YouTube Film or Talk
• Music/ audio
• Encyclopaedia and dictionaries
• Email communication
• Conferences
• Official publications
• Book reviews
• Case studies
• Group or individual assignments
• Legal Cases (Law Reports)
• No date of publication
• Personal communications
• Repository item
• Citing same author, multiple works, same year

When you cite, you are giving brief (abbreviated) details of the work that you are quoting or referring to in your text.  Harvard in-text citing is author-date format i.e.  (author, year). You will need to give page numbers when you are quoting, summarising or paraphrasing specific content from a work. Included below are examples of how to cite various works.

(Smith, 2021)

Page numbers

(smith, 2021, p. 11) OR (Smith, 2021, pp. 11-12)

Up to three authors

(Smith, Jones and Ryan, 2022)

Four or more authors

(Murphy et al. , 2019)

Corporate authors

Cite the full name (or initials if well known)

(UCD, 2021)

Item with no author

Use the title in italics

( Health of the nation , 2011)

Citing multiple sources

separate with semicolon and list in chronological order with the earliest first. If there is more than one source in the same year list them alphabetically by author

( Smith, 2013; Jones, 2015; Murphy, 2015)

Multiple items by the same author in the same year

Use lower-case letters in alphabetical order to differentiate between them.

(Murphy, 2015a) (Murphy, 2015b)

Different editions of the same work

Put the earliest date first

(Murphy, 2015; 2016)

Multiple works by the same author

(Jones, 2016; 2017)

Source with no date

(Murphy, no date) or  (Murphy, n.d.)

Secondary source citation

(Waltham, 2010, cited in Seeberg, 2013, p. 10)

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In-Text Citations

A citation is the marker you place in the text of your work. The marker you use links to the full reference in your reference list. Often this is done by including the citation in brackets at the appropriate point – usually the end of the sentence. It can also be done by using your citation to introduce a summary or quotation. Be careful with the verb that you use as it indicates the function of the original text. Examples of verbs you might use are in the advice from the Centre for Academic Success on  Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism .

Citing an author's name directly in the text

Citing an author's name indirectly in the text, citing several sources at the same time, citing a source with several authors, citing sources by the same author(s) in different years, citing sources by the same author(s) in the same year, citing chapter authors in edited sources, citing institutional authors, citing missing or anonymous authors, citing with no date / an approximate date, should i include page numbers in my citations, citing secondary sources, citing tables and figures, citing hansard, citing religious texts.

Give the author’s surname followed by the date of publication in brackets. If the author has written a chapter in an edited work, cite the chapter author, not the editor(s).

The direct citation style is more personal than the indirect style as it often requires the use of a reporting verb to introduce the work by the author, providing an opportunity for critical analysis.

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Include the author’s surname and year of publication in brackets at the appropriate point – usually the end of the sentence.

1. Citing directly

Put the author’s surname and date of publication in brackets, followed by the next author, and so on.

2. Citing indirectly

If you wish to refer to more than one source which has the same viewpoint, list them together at the relevant point in the sentence, putting them in brackets with the author's name, followed by the date of publication and separated by a semi-colon. The sources should be cited in alphabetical order in each list.

1. Two authors

Separate two authors with “and”.

2. Three or more authors

Use “et al.” after the first author.

For sources with multiple authors, all the names should be included in the reference list in the order they appear in the document. Use 'and' without a comma to link the last two multiple authors. In your reference list you must include all the authors. However, some articles contain large numbers of authors. In your reference list, give the first ten authors and then use et al. after the tenth. Check the style guide for further information.

If more than one source from the same author(s) illustrates the same point and the works are published in different years, then the citations should be made in chronological order (i.e. earliest first) separated by a semi-colon.

Direct example:

Indirect examples:

If you are citing several sources published by the same author(s) in the same year , they should be differentiated by adding a lower case letter directly after the year, with no space.

If several works published in the same year are referred to on a single occasion , or an author has made the same point in several publications, they can all be referred to by using lower case letters separated by a semi-colon.

Junco, R. (2012a) The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education , 58(1), pp. 162-171.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.004 .

Junco, R. (2012b) Too much face and not enough books: the relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior , 28(1), pp. 187-198.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.026 .

If you wish to cite several authors with the same surname in the same year add their initials to the citations. So for example, if you wish to cite two sources such as:

Mitchell, J. P. (2002) Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, memory and the public sphere in Malta . London: Routledge.

Mitchell, W. J. T. (2002) Landscape and Power . 2 nd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

In the text you would cite Mitchell, J. P. (2002) in the text to distinguish the reference from Mitchell, W. J. T. (2002) .

Sources that appear as a chapter (or some other part of a larger work) that is edited should be cited within your text using the name of the contributing author(s), not the editor of the whole work.

In the reference list at the end of your document, you should have one entry which should include details of both the chapter author(s) and the editor(s) of the entire work.

Wittich, W. and Simcock, P. (2019) Aging and combined vision and hearing loss. In: J. Ravenscroft, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Visual Impairment. London: Routledge, pp. 438-456.

If the author is an institution rather than a named person, you can cite the institution name. This is common for publications by health, education, or government institutions.

You can use standard abbreviations for these in the text, provided you write the name fully the first time you cite it, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. The exception to this rule is when an abbreviation forms the full name e.g. BBC.

First citation

Second citation

Both the full name and the abbreviation should then be provided in your reference list:

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSi) (2009) The Productive Ward: Releasing time to care. Learning and impact review . London: King's College London.

For reference works where there is no named author or obvious editor, current practice is to refer to it in your text by the title of the work, placed in italics and date of publication (page number is optional). This applies to dictionaries, encyclopaedias, religious texts and many current and historical directories.

For  articles published in professional or trade magazines or published in newspapers, either in print or online, for which there is no obvious author, use the name of the publication rather than the repeated use of Anon in your text and in your reference list.

Films, videos and broadcasts are the co-operative product of teams of people. No author or creator is therefore included in the reference.  Include the name of the film, video or broadcast in italics in your text citation.

If the author's name for a source cannot be found and it is clearly not an institutional publication, use "Anonymous" or "Anon." in the text citation. Every effort should be made to establish the authorship if you intend to use this work as supporting evidence in an academic submission. If the author cannot be identified for reasons of confidentiality, use 'Name withheld'.

For items with no date, use “n.d.” For items with an approximate date, use a question mark in place of the unknown date “185?” or an approximate date followed by “ca.” Every effort should be made to establish a date before using it in your academic work.

For works that took multiple years to complete (e.g. artistic works), use the date range.

Langley (n.d.) advises...

According to Shahn (ca. 1933-1934) the main...

Hodgkin's (1983-1985) sculpture of...

It is compulsory to include the page number(s) with a quote from a source which has numbered pages, such as a book or a journal article. Include the location of the quote from the source even if it is in Roman numerals, is an article with e in front of it or a line number. If the original source does not have page numbers (e.g. a website) then you do not have to include them. If you include a quotation from an ebook, without page numbers, use the number used by the e-reader as a guide to locating your quotation.

The page number(s) should be given after the year, separated by a colon and a space.

Quoting is a form of citing where you provide text from an external source word for word. If the sources have page numbers then it is compulsory that you provide the relevant page(s) with your quote. This is given after the year, separated by a colon.

1. Short Quotes

Short quotes are up to about 50 words or two sentences. They must be included within double quotation marks, and may be introduced by other text outside the quotation.

2. Long quotes

Longer quotations are over about 50 words or two sentences and are indented both left and right but without the quotation marks. Unless the guidelines require the use of a long quotation this method is not recommended for academic writing. Your lecturer/tutor is more interested in what you have to write rather than reading long quotations.

Srivastava (2007: 54-55) defines Green Supply Chain Management as:

Integrating environmental thinking into supply-chain management, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing processes, delivery of the final product to the consumers as well as end-of-life management of the product after its useful life.

3. Quoting plays

Use italics for the titles of plays, poems and literature when you cite them. Do not enclose them in inverted commas, for example Kiss Me Kate, Enigma Variations, Hamlet , and Twelfth Night . Character names, such as Pete, Olivia and Hamlet, do not normally go in italics.

Published plays may contain line numbers, particularly in classic texts such as Shakespeare. If they exist these should include the line number(s), but act and scene numbers should always be included. They should be provided after the name of the play, separated by commas.

Short quotes of no more than about 50 words (or about 4 printed lines) should be enclosed in quotation marks and set within the main body of the text.

There is no need to provide a year of publication in the citation. However, this should be provided in the reference list.

4. Quoting poetry

For poetry, verse and lyrics, line breaks should be marked with an oblique (forward slash).

A quotation of more than about four lines is considered a long quote and should be indented left and right. There is no need to use inverted commas. If you quote more than four lines set out the poem exactly as it appears in the original. For example, in E. E. Cummings [In Just-] :

    goat-footed

 balloonMan   whistles

When quoting dialogue from a dramatic work you need to consider whether the speaking character name is part of the quote. If it is or if you are quoting dialogue from more than one character, use the long quote form and incorporate the usual blank lines between characters' speeches.

You may sometimes come across information about another author's work (a primary source) in the work you are reading (a secondary source) which you would like cite in your own work. This is called second hand citing .

If the passage in the secondary source is not a direct quote, it is recommended that, where possible, you read the primary source for yourself rather than relying on someone else's interpretation of it. For this reason it is best to avoid using second hand citing .

Example of direct citation:

Example of indirect citation:

Ennis is the primary source being cited but which has not been read. Robinson is the secondary source which contains a summary of Ennis' work. It is important to realise that Robinson may have taken Ennis' ideas forward or altered their original meaning in some way .

If the secondary source contains a direct quote from the primary source then there is no need to mention the secondary source at all. You may quote the primary source using the same information: this is not plagiarism. However, as soon as you use any additional information from the secondary source, such as the same reporting verb, you would need to cite it to avoid plagiarism .

The reference list at the end of your document should only contain works that you have read. For our example, only Robinson's work would appear in the reference list :

Robinson, S. R. (2011) Teaching logic and teaching critical thinking: revisiting McPeck. Higher Education Research and Development , 30(3), pp. 275–287.

Note on classical creative works

Sometimes it will be necessary to quote from sources dating from the time of the music, literature or play you are writing about, for example, from treatises, tutor books or dictionaries. It is unlikely that you will always have access to a facsimile of the original source. Instead you may either quote from a modern translation of the whole source or from an author who quotes them in their own book or article. In both cases it will be necessary for you to give your reader details in the text of both the original publication and of the modern source that you have actually used.

1. Citing tables

When reproducing selected data, or copying an entire table or figure, you must make reference to the source. A reference within the text to a table or figure taken from someone else's work should include the author and page to enable the reader to identify the data.

All tables should be numbered with an explanatory caption above the table using a centred format.

You should also refer to the table in your text before the table itself.

Table 1 shows the size of these districts measured in household numbers relative to one another and to Scotland as a whole.

Table1. Local government districts in Strathclyde, 1973-1996.

The source in the above example is given at the bottom of the table. If it is not then it should be included after the caption at the top, using the direct style, introduced by the word "Source:" and including the page number.

Table 2. Search duration in Strathclyde for new house purchases 1989-1990. Source: Scottish Office (2005: 192).

You need to include the source in your reference list. In the above example, this would appear as:

Scottish Office (1995) Local Government in Scotland . Edinburgh: Scottish Office.

2. Citing figures

Figures should be labelled and numbered with an explanatory caption and the caption positioned below the figure, using a centred format.

In the text you should also refer to the figure before you reproduce the figure.

Figure 1 shows that the number of pupils with an EHC plan and the number of pupils with SEN support have both increased since the 2015-16 school year.

Figure 1. Percentage of pupils with an ENC plan or SEN support, 2015/16 to 2021/22. Source: Department of Education (2022).

In the reference list the reference to this figure would appear as:

Department for Education (2022) Special Educational Needs in England: January 2022 . Available at:  https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2021-22 [Accessed 8 September 2022].

If the source of the data is not from the creator of the figure, but was obtained from another source, it becomes a secondary citation.

Hansard provides a record of proceedings of the UK Parliament in the Chamber of the House of Commons, the sub-chamber in Westminster Hall and House of Commons General Committees.

The BCU Harvard style for citing Hansard conforms to the House of Commons Information Office Factsheet G17 .

Hansard citations should not be included in your reference list as their citation contains the entire reference.

The word "Hansard" should be provided in italics, then a comma, then the correct Hansard citation format. For more information, see the Referencing Hansard  pages.

Convention dictates that you do not use page numbers with religious  texts, just chapter and verse (with no space after the chapter number):

The best known Rabbinic statement of the doctrine of the resurrection is a warning dating from the Mishnaic period (AD 70-200):

these are the ones who have no share in the world to come: he that says that there is no resurrection of the dead [prescribed in the Law], and he that says the Law is not from Heaven, and an Epicurean. Rabbi Akiba says: Also he that reads the heretical books, or that utters charm over a wound… Abba Saul says: Also he that pronounces the Name with its proper letters (mSanh 10.1).

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Harvard Referencing Guide

• In-text citations
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In-text citation

General format - author prominent and information prominent citations:.

There are two styles of citation, known as author-prominent and information-prominent. Both styles are equally acceptable and you can use both styles within one text.  Information prominent citation :  "Scientists are questioning whether existing vaccines might not be effective against newer COVID variants (Callaway 2021) Author prominent: Callaway, E. (2021) Could new COVID variants undermine vaccines? Labs scramble to find out.  Nature (London) . [Online] 589 (7841), 177–178.]

In information prominent citations, you include both the author's surname and the date of publication in parentheses. 

Rule: (Author year)

Example:  (Dorfler & Stierand 2018)

In  Author prominent citations : the author's surname is included in the text of the sentence, outside the brackets, and the year (in brackets) is included directly after the author's name.

Callaway (2021) reports that scientists are questioning whether ..etc]

Rule: Author (year)

Example: Dorfler & Stierand (2018)

In-text citations - no year of publication:

If there is no date for the source, use the term n.d., which means no date, in place of the year in the in-text citation.

Example: (Zinn, n.d.)

In-text citations - quotes and page numbers:

When including page numbers in your in-text citations, write them after the year and use a colon in between the year and the page number or page range, for example:

For a single page, information prominent citation :

For a single page, author prominent citation:

For a page range citation (e.g. for a long quote that spans multiple pages, or when paraphrasing information that spans multiple pages): (Sakupapa 2018:19-22)

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Harvard: citing in- text

A version of the Harvard (author-date) System of referencing has been adopted as the standard for the presentation of academic text at the University of Birmingham.  The examples on this page refer to this version, as found on the Cite Them Right Online website.  For detailed guides on how to reference and cite different sources see the right-hand side panel.

What to put in your text 

The author's surname and year of publication are inserted in the text wherever a source is cited. The way this is done will depend on whether the author's name occurs naturally in the sentence or not.

Using this method of referencing, the in-text citations in your work must be included in the final word count. In-text citations give brief details of the source that you are quoting from or referring to. These citations will then link to the full reference that will be found in your reference list at the end of your work. The reference list is always arranged in alphabetical order by author. If you have cited a work in an appendix, but not in the main body of your text, this should still be included in the reference list.  The list of references is not included in the word count.

Footnotes and endnotes are NOT used in this style.

There are many ways in which citations can be used in your work, but your tutor or supervisor should advise you on which format they prefer.

Your citations should always include the following elements;

(i)            Author(s) or editor (s) surname/family name

(ii)           Year of publication

(iii)          Page number(s) if required

If you have used a direct quote or an idea from a specific page, or set of pages, you should include the page numbers in your citations. The abbreviation for page is p. or pp. for multiple pages. See the examples below to see how they are used correctly.

• According to Guy (2001, p. 37), the Zulus faced many grave dangers when confronting the British…
• It is maintained that medicine has improved (Jones, 1985, p. 74)

Citing one author/editor

• In his novel (Stevens, 2013)…

Citing a corporate author

• … as shown by the decrease in ratings (ITV, 2014).

 Citing two authors/editors

• Banerjee and Watson (2011, p. 87) suggested…
• It is clear (Banerjee and Watson, 2011, p. 87) that…

Citing three authors/editors

• It was evident (Smith, Jones and Thomas, 2015)…

 Citing four or more authors/editors

Cite the first name listed in the source followed by  et al .

• This was proved by Dym  et al.  (2009)…

Citing a source with no author/editor

Use the title in italics; do NOT use ‘anonymous’ or anything similar.

• It is maintained that medicine has greatly improved ( Medicine in old age,  1985, p. 74)…

Citing multiple sources

These can be listed separated by semicolons. The publications should be cited in chronological order. If more than one work is published in the same year, then they should be listed alphabetically by author/editor.

• A number of different studies (Jamieson, 2011; Hollingworth, 2012; Hatfield, 2013; Rogers, 2015) suggested that…

Citing sources - same year/same author

In his study of the work of Dawkins, Harris (2007a) emphasised the use of rationality in the former’s argument. However, it is clear that this was not the only strength of the original author (2007b).

The reference list would look like this;

       Harris, S. (2007a)  Dawkins: a history . London: Evolutionary Press.

       Harris, S. (2007b)  Evolutionary thought . London: Evolutionary Press.

Citing the same work, different editions

Separate the dates of publication with a semicolon with the earliest date first.

• In both editions (Hitchens, 2010; 2012)…

Citing a source with no date

Use the phrase ‘no date’.

• The evidence (Stevens and Jubb, no date) was clear.

Citing a source with no author or date

Use the title and ‘no date’.

• Thunderstorms have become increasingly common ( Trends in atmospheric pressure , no date)…

Citing a web page

When citing a web page, it should follow these guidelines;

• By Author and date (where possible)
• By title and date if there is no identifiable author
• Or by URL if neither author nor title can be identified

The latest survey by health professionals ( http://www.onlinehealthsurvey.org , 2012) reveals that… 

Source quoted in another work 

You may wish to refer to an author’s idea, model or dataset but have not been able to read the actual chapter containing the information, but only another author’s discussion or report of it. Similarly, you may refer to a primary source, e.g. an author’s letters or diary, or a government report, that you have only ‘read’ as cited or reproduced within another author’s text. In both cases you should acknowledge the use of a secondary source.

"The model of Mitchell (1996) (cited in Parry and Carter, 2003, p.160) simulates the suppressing effects of sulphate aerosols on the magnitude of global warming."

In this example ideally you should list both the Parry and Carter (2003) and Mitchell (1996) sources in your reference list but many schools will accept the listing of the secondary source (i.e. Parry and Carter) only.

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• Referencing and plagiarism

Quick guide to Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right)

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There are different versions of the Harvard referencing style. This guide is a quick introduction to the commonly-used Cite Them Right version. You will find further guidance available through the OU Library on the Cite Them Right Database .

For help and support with referencing and the full Cite Them Right guide, have a look at the Library’s page on referencing and plagiarism . If you need guidance referencing OU module material you can check out which sections of Cite Them Right are recommended when referencing physical and online module material .

This guide does not apply to OU Law undergraduate students . If you are studying a module beginning with W1xx, W2xx or W3xx, you should refer to the Quick guide to Cite Them Right referencing for Law modules .

Table of contents

In-text citations and full references.

• Secondary referencing
• Page numbers
• Citing multiple sources published in the same year by the same author

Full reference examples

Referencing consists of two elements:

• in-text citations, which are inserted in the body of your text and are included in the word count. An in-text citation gives the author(s) and publication date of a source you are referring to. If the publication date is not given, the phrase 'no date' is used instead of a date. If using direct quotations or you refer to a specific section in the source you also need the page number/s if available, or paragraph number for web pages.
• full references, which are given in alphabetical order in reference list at the end of your work and are not included in the word count. Full references give full bibliographical information for all the sources you have referred to in the body of your text.

To see a reference list and intext citations check out this example assignment on Cite Them Right .

Difference between reference list and bibliography

a reference list only includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text

a bibliography includes sources you have referred to in the body of your text AND sources that were part of your background reading that you did not use in your assignment

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Examples of in-text citations

You need to include an in-text citation wherever you quote or paraphrase from a source. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author(s), the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. There are a number of ways of incorporating in-text citations into your work - some examples are provided below. Alternatively you can see examples of setting out in-text citations in Cite Them Right .

Note: When referencing a chapter of an edited book, your in-text citation should give the author(s) of the chapter.

Online module materials

(Includes written online module activities, audio-visual material such as online tutorials, recordings or videos).

When referencing material from module websites, the date of publication is the year you started studying the module.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

OR, if there is no named author:

The Open University (Year of publication/presentation) 'Title of item'. Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Rietdorf, K. and Bootman, M. (2022) 'Topic 3: Rare diseases'. S290: Investigating human health and disease . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1967195 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

The Open University (2022) ‘3.1 The purposes of childhood and youth research’. EK313: Issues in research with children and young people . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1949633&section=1.3 (Accessed: 24 January 2023).

You can also use this template to reference videos and audio that are hosted on your module website:

The Open University (2022) ‘Video 2.7 An example of a Frith-Happé animation’. SK298: Brain, mind and mental health . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=2013014&section=4.9.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

The Open University (2022) ‘Audio 2 Interview with Richard Sorabji (Part 2)’. A113: Revolutions . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1960941&section=5.6 (Accessed: 22 November 2022).

Note: if a complete journal article has been uploaded to a module website, or if you have seen an article referred to on the website and then accessed the original version, reference the original journal article, and do not mention the module materials. If only an extract from an article is included in your module materials that you want to reference, you should use secondary referencing, with the module materials as the 'cited in' source, as described above.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of message', Title of discussion board , in Module code: Module title . Available at: URL of VLE (Accessed: date).

Fitzpatrick, M. (2022) ‘A215 - presentation of TMAs', Tutor group discussion & Workbook activities , in A215: Creative writing . Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=4209566 (Accessed: 24 January 2022).

Note: When an ebook looks like a printed book, with publication details and pagination, reference as a printed book.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title . Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.

For ebooks that do not contain print publication details

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title of book . Available at: DOI or URL (Accessed: date).

Example with one author:

Bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project . Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Adams, D. (1979) The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy . Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-ebooks (Accessed: 23 June 2021).

Example with two or three authors:

Goddard, J. and Barrett, S. (2015) The health needs of young people leaving care . Norwich: University of East Anglia, School of Social Work and Psychosocial Studies.

Example with four or more authors:

Young, H.D. et al. (2015) Sears and Zemansky's university physics . San Francisco, CA: Addison-Wesley.

Note: You can choose one or other method to reference four or more authors (unless your School requires you to name all authors in your reference list) and your approach should be consistent.

Note: Books that have an editor, or editors, where each chapter is written by a different author or authors.

Surname of chapter author, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of chapter or section', in Initial. Surname of book editor (ed.) Title of book . Place of publication: publisher, Page reference.

Franklin, A.W. (2012) 'Management of the problem', in S.M. Smith (ed.) The maltreatment of children . Lancaster: MTP, pp. 83–95.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference.

If accessed online:

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Journal , volume number (issue number), page reference. Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326.

Shirazi, T. (2010) 'Successful teaching placements in secondary schools: achieving QTS practical handbooks', European Journal of Teacher Education , 33(3), pp. 323–326. Available at: https://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/log... (Accessed: 27 January 2023).

Barke, M. and Mowl, G. (2016) 'Málaga – a failed resort of the early twentieth century?', Journal of Tourism History , 2(3), pp. 187–212. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2010.523145

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference.

Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) 'Title of article', Title of Newspaper , Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Mansell, W. and Bloom, A. (2012) ‘£10,000 carrot to tempt physics experts’, The Guardian , 20 June, p. 5.

Roberts, D. and Ackerman, S. (2013) 'US draft resolution allows Obama 90 days for military action against Syria', The Guardian , 4 September. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/syria-strikes-draft-resolut... (Accessed: 9 September 2015).

Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Organisation (Year that the page was last updated) Title of web page . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Robinson, J. (2007) Social variation across the UK . Available at: https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/social-variation... (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

The British Psychological Society (2018) Code of Ethics and Conduct . Available at: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct (Accessed: 22 March 2019).

Note: Cite Them Right Online offers guidance for referencing webpages that do not include authors' names and dates. However, be extra vigilant about the suitability of such webpages.

Surname, Initial. (Year) Title of photograph . Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Kitton, J. (2013) Golden sunset . Available at: https://www.jameskittophotography.co.uk/photo_8692150.html (Accessed: 21 November 2021).

stanitsa_dance (2021) Cossack dance ensemble . Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/COI_slphWJ_/ (Accessed: 13 June 2023).

Note: If no title can be found then replace it with a short description.

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Cite using Harvard

In-text citations.

• About Harvard

1-3 authors

4 authors or more, organisation as author, direct quotations, multiple works by the same author, different authors, same name, multiple sources in one parenthesis.

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To cite a reference in the text of your work, place the author's surname and the year of publication in parenthesis, e.g.(Smith, 2012). All in-text citations must have fully detailed, corresponding entries placed in a reference list at the end of your assignment. 

The in-text citation can be placed in or at the end of a sentence, but always before the period. If the author's name is mentioned in the text you may omit it from the parenthesis which then only contains the year of publication and possibly a page number.

Some examples of in-text citations:

If a publication has 1-3 authors, all last names are included in the citation. The names are written in the same order as in the publication.

If a publication has four or more authors, name the first author of the publication followed by "et al.".

If there is no information about the author but the work is published by an organisation, the name of the organisation is indicated as author.

If there is a widely known abbreviation for an organisation, that abbreviation can be used. But it is good practice to use the full name in the first citation.

If there is no author for a work, you can use Anon. (short for anonymous) instead of a name.

Another possible way to cite a source without an author is to use its title in italics.

When using a direct quote, you should include the specific page number(s) where the quotation was found.

Same author, different years

Multiple works by the same author or organisation are usually distinguished by the year of publication. (Smith, 2012) and (Smith, 2019) for example.

Same author, same year

If you are citing multiple works by the same author published the same year  you must add a letter to differentiate them. The first of the references becomes (Smith, 2012a) and the second (Smith, 2012b) and so forth. The same letters are also added to the reference list entries respectively.

In-text citations:

In the reference list:

Citing different authors sharing the same last name is generally not a problem. As long as the works cited are published in different years the reader will be able to differentiate them.

In the rare situation that you have to cite two works written by different authors, sharing the same last name and year of publication, you add their first name initial to the in-text citation to differentiate them.

If you want to reference multiple sources to support a single statement you may include all of them in one parenthesis. They should be separated with semicolons. The order is sometimes dictated by the importance or weight of the referenced works, but they can also be written in alphabetical or chronological order.

If you want to cite multiple sources with different perspectives you can not put them in the same parenthesis. It must be perfectly clear what information is taken from which source.

If the year of publication is unknown for the source you want to cite, you can use the copyright year instead with a "c" before it: c2007. If there is no copyright year either, write "n.d." (short for no date) in both the in-text citation and the reference list entry.

In-text citation:

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Referencing Quick Guide - Harvard (Cite Them Right)

In-text citations.

• Full References

Referencing is made up of two elements: In-Text Citations and Full References.

In-text citations appear in the body of your text, alongside the information you have quoted, paraphrased or summarised. A citation should include the author's surname, the year of publication, and a page number if required (page numbers or paragraph numbers are always required when using direct quotes). For every in-text citation there should be a corresponding full reference in your reference list where readers can find full details of the information source.

Examples of in-text citations

Corporate authors.

Some sources are written or produced by corporate bodies and organisations, who may also be the publisher. In this situation, give the name of the organisation as the author.

For organisations with particularly long names, you should use the full name in the first instance with their abbreviated initials in the citation.

e.g. according to the United Nations Framework Conference of Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2017)...

For organisations who are better known by their initials (e.g. NHS, BBC, etc) you may use their initials in all instances.

Page numbers

• Use the p. abbreviation when giving a page number, use pp. for a page range.
• If you are quoting directly from a page or using ideas from a specific page, you should always give the page number(s).
• If you are summarising a work more broadly, you do not need to give page numbers.
• Where page numbers are not present, you may have to indicate location by other means: paragraph number, percentage, section number, etc.

Citing a source with no date or no author

You may come across some sources without a publication date. Most often this is websites.

You should always do your best to attempt to find a publication date, but when none is present, use the phrase (no date) or (n.d) in your citation and reference.

e.g. (Williams and Kane, no date)

When there is no author listed, you may use the title of the work instead of the author.

e.g. ( Trends in Information Management , no date)

For websites, without an author or date, you may also use the URL in the citation, but carefully consider the quality of a website as an academic source if it does not have information on who wrote it.

Citing multiple works by the same author in the same year

Some proflific authors might produce multiple works within the same year, and you might use several of these in your work. To avoid confusion about which particular work you are citing at a given time, add a letter after the publication date in both your citation and reference.

e.g.  

Hall (2023a) argued that milk chocolate is delicious. However he later decided that dark chocolate is better (Hall, 2023b).

References:

Hall, T. (2023a) The properties of milk chocolate. London: Routledge.

Hall, T. (2023b) Why I love dark chocolate best. London: Routledge.

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