Harvard is an author/date system of referencing, where each time a source is cited, you put brief details of the work in brackets eg Adams (2020, p.3).
At the end of the text, there is an alphabetical list of citations, which contains the full information needed to find the sources you have utilised.
Some institutions require a bibliography to be included in addition. This is a list of sources listed alphabetically by author name. This includes all the sources used in your research, not just those cited in the text.
Every time a source is referred to, the author/s date and page number/s are included in brackets immediately afterwards eg:
'This is a quotation from a source' (Adams, 2021, p.3)
If there are two or three authors, you add them all eg:
Recent breakthroughs in the field (Lewis, Smith and Clarke, 2019, p.16)
If there is four or more authors, you can list the first author and then add et al., instead of listing all authors.
To reference several sources at once, you separate them with semicolons eg: (Lewis, 2013; Smith 2020; Clarke 2019)
If you use the author's name in the text, you have to still place the date and page numbers in brackets to identify the reference.
You should avoid quotation of large amounts of text, but you can use quotations where necessary. Quotations longer than two lines should be inserted as a separate, indented paragraph.
A direct quotation in the text follows the same idea. Use single quotation marks unless quoting direct speech. Include the page number at the end of the quote, in brackets eg: (Adams, D. , 2021, p.11). When compiling your reference list, you would only list the actual work that you have read.
At the end of the text, there is a list of citations, which contains the full information needed to find the sources you have utilised. These appear in alphabetical order by author name, and in cases where an author has published more than one item that has been cited, in chronological sequence. If the year of publication is the same, then each source will be given a letter in order in which the work was cited eg:
Adams, B. (2020). Rest of reference here
Adams, D. (2021a). Rest of reference here
Adams, D. (2021b). Rest of reference here.
This is not an exhaustive list, it is just a guide to give you an idea of the rules of the format.
Author, Initials. (Year). Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.
Pears, R. and Shield, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 11th ed. London: MacMillan.
Chapter Author/s, Initials. (Year) 'Title of chapter', in: Editor/s of book, (eds). Title of book. Edition. Place. Publisher; Year p. page numbers.
Lewis-Roylance, C. (2013). 'Advancing your writing skills', in: Keeling, J. et al. (eds). How to write well. Maidenhead. McGraw Hill, pp.60-90.
Author/s. (Year). 'Article title'. Journal title. Volume(issue): pages.
Errami M, and Garner H. (2008). 'A tale of two citations'. Nature. 451(7177), pp. 397–399.
Author/s. (Year). 'Title of article', Title of Journal, Volume(Number), pp. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). or DOI (if available).
Katz, S. J., Hofer, T. P. and Manning, W. G. (1996). ‘Similar publications: need for referencing’, Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 87(6), p. 376. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=athens&db=cmedm&AN=9009390&site=eds-live (Accessed: 7 December 2021).
Author/editor. (Year). Title of eBook. Edition. Place of publication: publisher.
Neville, C. (2010). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University.
OR (if there is no page numbers on the eBook):
Neville, C. (2010). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University. Available at: https://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=BERKSNHS&accId=9138727&isbn=9780335241040 (Accessed 9 December 2021).
Organisation. (Year created/updated (or n.d. if no date is given)) Title. Publisher (optional). Web address and date accessed.
University of Bradford Library (2021) What is referencing and citing? University of Bradford. Available at: https://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/help/referencing/ [Accessed 6th December 2021].
Author/s. (Year) 'Title and any subtitle'. Database name. Issue number, Article number (CD...) DOI or Available at: URL (Accessed: date)
Horslet, T. et al. (2011). 'Teaching critical appraisal skills in healthcare settings', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11, CD001270. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001270.pub2. (Accessed 10 December 2021).
Author/Organisation. Year. 'Title of document/file in single quotation marks'. Organisation. Unpublished
Trust Library. (2021) 'Minutes of staff meeting 23 November 2021' Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. Unpublished.
The University of Reading guides contain lots of information about how to structure various different resources. You don't need to be a student there to access this.
The definitive Bible of Harvard in the UK is Cite Them Right, which is available from the Trust Library.
There are however, a lot of variations in use across the country- so be aware of this and look to- and follow- your institution's guidance.
See our More Information tab for these and other resources.