An introduction to the author-date (Harvard) referencing system

Citing a work
Creating a reference list
- Books
- Journals
- Web
Links

The author-date system, also known as the Harvard system, is often used in the humanities and sciences. When using this system a brief reference (author and date) is inserted in the text of the essay with full details of the source material included in a reference list at the end of the essay.

This page is intended to provide an overview of how to reference some of the more common kinds of material. The information is based on the Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 2002, 6th edn, John Wiley and Sons, Milton Qld. See below for a list of other resources.

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Citing a work in the body of an essay

When using the author-date system, you need to acknowledge the source of a reference within your essay, usually directly following the reference. Use the family name of the author(s) plus the year of publication in brackets. For example:

A study by Chalmers 1980 has shown that...

... which was supported by a later study (Heinberg 2003).

If citing more than one work, separate the references with a semicolon. For example:

... and several others have reached a similar conclusion (Meiras 2004; Castle & Kelly 2004).

You need to include the page number when you:

use a direct quote from an original source.
summarise an idea from a particular page.
copy tables or figures,
or provide particular details like a date

Creating a reference list

Any works cited in an essay will also have to be included in the reference list. The author-date system has the following characteristics:

Minimal use of capital letters, except for journal/newspaper titles
No full stops or spaces used with people's initials
Books and journal titles in italics or underlined
Single quotation marks used for the titles of articles and book chapters
All parts of the entry separated by commas, with a full stop after the final part

Book citations

The most common elements of a book citation are: author; year; title; and publication details. For example:

Webel, C P 2004, Terror, terrorism and the human condition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

For a later edition of a book, add the number of the edition after the title:

Estrin, S & Laidler, D 1995, Introduction to microeconomics, 4th edn, Harvester, New York.

When a book or report is published by an organisation, company or government department, use the organisation’s name as the author:

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2004, A last resort: a summary guide to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney.

When a book has an editor or editors (rather than an author) add "ed/eds" after the names:

Crawford, P & Maddern, P (eds) 2001, Women as Australian citizens: underlying histories, Melbourne University Press, Carlton Vic.

When a book has more than three authors, use the first author's name plus "et al" for the in-text citation. Use all of the names in the reference list:

Revelli, A, Tur-Kaspa, I, Holte, J G & Massobrio, M 2003, Biotechnology of human reproduction, Parthenon, Boca Raton.

For a chapter from a book, include the title of the chapter in single quotes:

Sen, G 2002, 'Women, poverty and population: issues for the concerned environmentalist', in Schmidtz, D & Willott, E (eds), Environmental ethics: what really matters, what really works, OUP, New York, pp. 248-54.

Journal Citations

The common elements of a journal article citation are: author; title of article; year; title of journal; issue details; and page reference numbers.

Article titles are enclosed in single quotation marks and journal titles are in italics. Capital letters should be used in journal titles (but not article titles). For example:

Friedman, S L 2004, 'Embodying civility: civilizing processes and symbolic citizenship in Southeastern China', The Journal of Asian Studies, vol 63, no. 3, pp. 687-718.

Articles from electronic journals also need to include information about when and where the article was seen:

Ershov, S, Mikhaylovskaya, I & Novik, O 2006, 'Theory of EM monitoring of sea bottom geothermal areas', Journal of Applied Geophysics, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 330-350, viewed 3 March 2008, <http://www.sciencedirect.com/>.

When citing an article from a magazine or newspaper, use a date rather than a volume or number:

Brennan F, 2006, 'Every embryo deserves respect', Sydney Morning Herald, 3 January, p. 9.

Web Citations

If citing information from a website, wherever possible include the following information: the person or organisation responsible for the site; the site date, which is the date when the website was created or revised; the name of the website; the date on which you viewed the website; and the URL.

For a whole website, the name of the website is in italics:

Young Media Australia 2002, Young Media Australia, viewed 20 November 2007, <http://www.youngmedia.org.au/>.

For a document from a website, the name of the document is in italics:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2005, A picture of Australia's children, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, viewed 13 January 2008, <http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/phe/apoac/apoac.pdf>.

Links to more information

More information and other examples of referencing are available at the following places: