Harvard Referencing Generator

The Harvard style is a system that students, writers and researchers can use to incorporate other people’s quotes, findings and ideas into their work in order to support and validate their conclusions without breaching any intellectual property laws. The popular format is typically used in assignments and publications for humanities as well as natural, social and behavioural sciences.

It is a parenthetical referencing system that is made up of two main components:

• In-text references including the author’s surname and the year of publication should be shown in brackets wherever another source has contributed to your work
• A reference list outlining all of the sources directly cited in your work

Whilst in-text references are used to briefly indicate where you have directly quoted or paraphrased a source, your reference list is an alphabetised list of complete Harvard references that enables your reader to locate each source with ease. Each entry should be keyed to a corresponding parenthetical reference in the main body of your work, so that a reader can take an in-text citation and quickly retrieve the source from your reference list.

Note that some universities, and certain disciplines, may also require you to provide a bibliography. This is a detailed list of all of the material you have consulted throughout your research and preparation, and it will demonstrate the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

‘Harvard referencing’ is an umbrella term for any referencing style that uses the author name and year of publication within the text to indicate where you have inserted a source. This author-date system appeals to both authors and readers of academic work. Scholars find the Harvard format an economical way of writing, and it is generally more accessible to the reader as there are no footnotes crowding the page. Only the name of the author, the publication date of the source and, if necessary, the page numbers are included in the parenthetical references, for example: (Joyce, 2008).

Looking for a Harvard referencing generator to create your fully-formatted in-text references and reference list in the blink of an eye? Cite This For Me’s generator lets you do just that – create your references quickly, simply and smartly. Stop giving yourself extra pain and work for no reason and sign up to Cite This For Me today – your only regret will be that you didn’t use our open-generator sooner!

Harvard referencing can be a confusing task, especially if you are new to the concept, but it’s absolutely essential. In fact, accurate and complete referencing can mean the difference between reaching your academic goals and damaging your reputation amongst scholars. Simply put – referencing is the citing of sources you have utilised to support your essay, research, conference or article etc.

Even if you are using our Harvard generator, understanding why you need to reference will go a long way in helping you to naturally integrate the process into your research and writing routine.

Firstly, whenever another source contributes to your work you must give the original author the appropriate credit in order to avoid plagiarism, even when you have completely reworded the information. The only exception to this rule is common knowledge – e.g. London is the capital city of England. Whilst plagiarism is not always intentional, it is easy to accidentally plagiarise your work when you are under pressure from imminent deadlines, you have managed your time ineffectively, or if you lack confidence when putting ideas into your own words. The consequences can be severe; deduction of marks at best, expulsion from university or legal action from the original author at worst. Find out more here.

This may sound overwhelming, but plagiarism can be easily avoided by using our Harvard referencing generator and carrying out your research and written work thoughtfully and responsibly. We have compiled a handy checklist to follow whilst you are working on an assignment.

How to avoid plagiarism:

• Formulate a detailed plan – carefully outline both the relevant content you need to include, as well as how you plan on structuring your work
• Keep track of your sources – record all of the relevant publication information as you go (e.g. If you are citing a book you should note the author or editor’s name(s), year of publication, title, edition number, city of publication and name of publisher). Carefully save each quote, word-for-word, and place it in inverted commas to differentiate it from your own words. Tired of interrupting your workflow to cite? Use our Harvard referencing tool to automate the process
• Manage your time effectively – make use of time plans and targets, and give yourself enough time to read, write and proofread
• When you are paraphrasing information, make sure that you use only your own words and a sentence structure that differs from the original text
• Save all of your research and references in a safe place – organise and manage your references using Cite This For Me’s Harvard referencing generator.

If you carefully check your college or publisher’s advice and guidelines on citing and stick to this checklist, you should be confident that you will not be accused of plagiarism.

Secondly, proving that your writing is informed by appropriate academic reading will enhance your work’s authenticity. Academic writing values original thought that analyses and builds upon the ideas of other scholars. It is therefore important to use a Harvard referencing generator to accurately signpost where you have used someone else’s ideas in order to show that your writing is based on knowledge and informed by appropriate academic reading. This will show your reader that you have delved deeply into your chosen topic and supported your thesis with expert opinions.

Here at Cite This For Me we understand how precious your time is, which is why we created our Harvard reference generator and guide to help relieve the unnecessary stress of referencing. Escape assignment-hell and give yourself more time to focus on the content of your work by using Cite This For Me’s reference management tool.

Utilising and building on a wide range of relevant sources is a guaranteed way of impressing your reader, and a comprehensive list of the source material you have used is the perfect platform to exhibit your research efforts. A reference list is always required when you cite other people’s work within your assignment, and the brief in-text Harvard references in your work should directly link to your reference list.

As a general rule a reference list includes every source that you have cited in your work, whilst a bibliography also contains any relevant background reading which you have consulted (even those sources that are never mentioned in the narrative). Your bibliography should start on its own page, with the same formatting as the rest of the paper and aligned to the left with the sources listed alphabetically. Many people use the terms ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’ interchangeably, and if you are using Harvard referencing you may be required to provide a bibliography as well as a reference list, so be sure to check this with your tutor.

Follow these guidelines when compiling your reference list:

• Start your reference list on a new page at the end of your document
• General formatting should be in keeping with the rest of your work
• Use ‘Reference List’ as the heading
• Copy each of your full-length Harvard references from the generator into a list
• Arrange the list in alphabetical order by the author’s last name (titles with no author are alphabetised by the work’s title, and if you are citing two or more sources by the same author they should be listed in chronological order of the year of publication)
• When there are several works from one author or source, they should be listed together but in date order – with the earliest work listed first
• Italicise titles of books, reports, conference proceedings etc. For journal articles, the title of the journal should be printed in italics, rather than the title of the journal article
• Capitalise the first letter of the publication title, the first letters of all main words in the title of a journal, and all first letters of a place name and publisher

Creating and managing your reference list with the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator will help change the way you reference and conduct research.

Reference list / bibliography examples:

• • Book, one author:

Bell, J. (2010) Doing your research project. 5th edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

• • One author, book, multiple editions:

Hawking, S.W. (1998) A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes. 10th edn. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

• • Translated book:

Create a reference for the translated book, not the original piece.

Descartes, R. (1991) Principles of philosophy. Translated by V. R. and R. P. Miller. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

• • Ebook:

If all information resembles a book, use the template for a book reference

If a page number is unavailable, use chapter number. URL links are not necessary, but can be useful. When including a URL, include the date the book was downloaded at the end of the Harvard reference:

Available at: URL (Downloaded: DD Month YYYY)

• • More than three authors, journal article*:

Shakoor, S. et al. (2011) ‘A prospective longitudinal study of children’s theory of mind and adolescent involvement in bullying’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(3), pp. 254–261. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02488.x.

*Note that similar to your in-text references, multiple authors must be reduced to ‘et al.’ in the reference list.

• • Web page:

Written by a company:

UNICEF Australia (2019) Water, sanitation, and hygiene. Available at https://www.unicef.org.au/our-work/unicef-overseas/water-sanitation-hygiene (Accessed 12 November 2019).

Place the year the web page was published or last updated in parentheses following the name of the organisation. At the end of the reference, include the date the page was accessed.

Written by an individual author or group of authors:

Include all author name(s) at the beginning of the reference.

Steen, M. (2018) Recycled drinking water, we look at the myths, the facts and whether it’s safe to drink. Available at https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/drinks/water/articles/recycled-drinking-water (Accessed 18 November 2019).

• • Conference papers:

Drogen, E. (2014) ‘Changing how we think about war: The role of psychology’, The British Psychological Society 2014 Annual Conference. The ICC, Birmingham British Psychological Society, 07-09 May 2014.

Are you struggling to find the publication information to complete a reference? Did you know that our referencing generator can help you?

Time is of the essence when you’re finishing a paper, but there’s no need to panic because you can compile your reference list in a matter clicks using the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing tool. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your reference list straight from the generator.

The author-date system is attributed to eminent zoologist Edward Laurens Mark (1847-1946), Hersey professor of anatomy and director of Harvard’s zoological laboratory. It is widely agreed that the first evidence of Harvard referencing can be traced back to Mark’s landmark cytological paper (Chernin, 1988). The paper breaks away from previous uses of inconsistent and makeshift footnotes through its use of a parenthetical author-date reference accompanied by an explanatory footnote.

• • Parenthetic author-year reference, page 194 of Mark’s 1881 paper:

[…] The appearance may be due solely to reflection from the body itself. (Comp. Flemming, ‘78b, p. 310.*)

• • Mark’s rationale for his citational scheme:

*The numbers immediately following an author’s name serve the double purpose of referring the reader to the list (p. 591) where the titles of papers are given, and of informing him at once of the approximate date of the paper in question.

A tribute dedicated to Mark in 1903 by 140 students credits Mark’s paper with having ‘introduced into zoology a proper fullness and accuracy of citation and a convenient and uniform method of referring from text to bibliography’ (Parker, 1903). Today Harvard referencing is widely considered one of the most accessible styles and, although it originated in biology, these days it is used across most subjects – particularly in the humanities, history and social science. This guide provides guidance on using the style, but is not officially associated with it.

Creating complete and correctly formatted references can be a challenge for many writers, especially when documenting multiple source types. Our primary goal at Cite This For Me is to offer support to students and researchers across the globe by transforming the way in which they perceive referencing. We hope that after using our generator and reading this Harvard referencing style guide, what was once considered an arduous process, will be viewed as a highly valued skill that enhances the quality of your work.

Disheartened by the stressful process of referencing? Got a fast-approaching deadline? Using the Cite This For Me accessible and free generator makes creating accurate references easier, leaving more time for you to focus on achieving your academic goals.

Create an account to add and edit references on the spot, import and export full projects or individual entries, utilise our add-ons and save your work in the cloud. Harvard referencing gets even easier with Cite This For Me for Chrome – an intuitive, handy browser extension that allows you to create and edit a reference whilst you browse the web. Use the extension on any webpage that you want to reference, and add it to your chosen project without interrupting your workflow.

The Cite This For Me reference management tool is here to help you, so what are you waiting for? Easy and accurate Harvard referencing is just a click away!