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. This is done in order to support and validate their conclusions without breaching any intellectual property laws. The popular Harvard 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

While in-text references are used in the Harvard referencing system to briefly indicate where you have directly quoted or paraphrased a source, your reference list is an alphabetised list of complete 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 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 parenthetical references, for example:

(Joyce, 2008).

Use the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator to create your fully-formatted in-text references and reference list in the blink of an eye.

Referencing can be a confusing task, especially if you are new to the concept, but it’s essential. Simply put, referencing is the citing of sources you have utilised to support your essay, research, conference, article etc. Even if you are using the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing tool, 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 citing your sources and carrying out your research and written work thoughtfully and responsibly. Use the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator to do so! 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
• Manage your time effectively – make use of time plans and targets, and give yourself enough time to read, write and proofread
• Keep track of your sources – record all of the relevant publication information as you go (e.g., If you are referencing a book you should note the author or editor’s name(s), year of publication, title, edition number, city of publication, name of publisher). Carefully save each quote, word-for-word, and place it in inverted commas to differentiate it from your own words
• 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 the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator.

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. 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. This is why we created the Cite This For Me referencing tool and Harvard referencing guide to help relieve the unnecessary stress of referencing.

The brief in-text Harvard references in your work should directly link to your reference list. 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.

Follow these Harvard referencing guidelines when compiling your reference list:

• Start your reference list on a new page at the end of your document
• Use ‘Reference List’ as the heading
• Copy each of your full-length references from the Harvard referencing tool 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)
• General formatting should be in keeping with the rest of your work
• 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

As a general rule a Harvard 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. You may be required to provide a bibliography as well as a reference list, so check this with your tutor.

Reference list / bibliography examples:

• • Book, one author:

Martin, K. (2019) The queen of hearts. New York: Berkley.

• • Edited book with a chapter written by an author:

Mooney, L.R. (2011) ‘Vernacular literary manuscripts and their scribes’, in Gillespie, A. and Wakelin, D. (eds.) The production of books in England 1350-1500. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 192-211.

• • 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.

• • 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 reference:

Available at: URL (Downloaded: DD Month YYYY)

• • More than three authors, journal article:

Shakoor, S., Jaffee, S.R., Bowes, L., Ouellet-Morin, l., Andreou, P., Happé, F., Moffitt, T.E. and Arseneault, L. (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.

• • 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.

• • Web pages with one author:

Raiford, T. (2015) 20 amazing dog breeds from England. Available at https://puppytoob.com/ (Accessed: 6 November 2019).

If your web page is missing a date of publication, or information about when it was last updated, place (no date) directly after the author’s name. Make sure to include the accessed date at the end of the reference.

• • Blogs:

Butterfield, L. (2019) ‘Research spotlight: I want to get high enough up the chain to pull others over the wall with me’, Oxford science blog, 1 November. Available at: http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog (Accessed 5 November 2019).

When referencing blog posts, the year of publication is placed in parentheses directly after the author of the posting. The day and month of publication are placed in the reference after the title of the blog site. Make sure to include the accessed date at the end of the reference as well.

If the author uses a pseudonym, use it in in the author’s position. Do not attempt to seek out the author’s full name. Remember, the goal of a reference to make it simple for the reader of your work to seek out the source for themselves.

• • Social Media Posts:

Whilst scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles, books, conference papers, and research reports are considered high-quality source materials, it is not uncommon to come across social media posts featured and discussed in projects. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide easy access to information on a number of personally owned devices. In addition, they promote interaction among its participants, thus allowing for deliberation and debate.

When creating a reference for a social media post, it is recommended to include the main URL of the social media platform, not the URL of the individual post. This prevents readers from clicking on links that may lead to a blocked post behind a private account.

Do not include the content of the individual post in the full reference. If the reader strives to see the contents of the post in its entirety, the information provided in both the text and on the final page of the project provide enough information for the reader to locate it on their own.

• • Facebook:

John, E. (2019) [Facebook] 31 October. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/EltonJohn/ (Accessed 12 November 2019).

• • Twitter:

Rushdie, S. (2019) [Twitter] 10 October. Available at: https://twitter.com/SalmanRushdie (Accessed 2 November 2019).

Are you struggling to find all of the publication information to complete a reference? Did you know that our Harvard reference generator can help you do it?

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 using the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your reference list.

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 the citation style 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 citation accompanied by an explanatory footnote.

• • Parenthetic author-year citation, 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 is used across most subjects.

Disheartened by the stressful process of referencing? Got a fast-approaching deadline? Using the Cite This For Me accessible and free Harvard 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. Things get even easier with Cite This For Me for Chrome – a handy browser extension that allows you to instantly create and edit a reference while you browse the web. Use the Harvard referencing tool 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? Help creating accurate Harvard style references is just a few clicks away!