Harvard style is an author-date referencing system that uses in-text citations to include the author’s last name and year of publication, and a reference list at the end of the document to provide full publication details. For direct quotes, a page number must be included in the in-text citation.

In-text citations

  • Basic format: (Author’s Last Name Year). For example: (Smith 2017).
  • With page number: (Author’s Last Name Year, p. #) for a specific page or (Author’s Last Name Year, pp. #-#) for a page range. For example: (Smith 2017, p. 42).
  • Integrating author into the sentence: Smith (2017) states that….
  • Four or more authors: Use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” (e.g., Smith et al., 2022).
  • No author: Use the title of the work in italics. For example: (Medicine in old age, 1985).
  • No date: Use “no date” in place of the year (e.g., Trends in atmospheric pressure, no date).

Reference list

  • Alphabetize: List all sources alphabetically by the author’s last name.
  • Format: Use a hanging indent for each entry.

Examples for common sources:

Book:

  • Author’s Last Name, Initial(s). (Year) Title of Book. City: Publisher.
    • Example: Austen, J. (1813) Pride and Prejudice. London: T. Egerton, Whitehall.

Journal Article:

  • Author’s Last Name, Initial(s). (Year) ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), pp. Page range.
    • Example: Theroux, A. (1990) ‘Henry James’s Boston’, The Iowa Review, 20(2), pp. 158–165.

Website:

  • Author or Organisation (Year) Title of Website. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
    • Example: University College Dublin (2025) Harvard Style Guide. Available at: https://libguides.ucd.ie/harvardstyle/harvardwebsite (Accessed: 28 October 2025).