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Harvard Style & Format: A 5-Minute Guide + Samples

Harvard referencing style

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The Harvard referencing style is a widely used system for citing and referencing sources in academic writing. It provides a consistent and standardized format for acknowledging the works of others that you have used in your research.

Struggling to remember tricky peculiarities of Harvard style referencing and formatting? Don’t worry, you have come across a helpful material. In this article, you will find the basics of Harvard style formatting which would be useful for your academic progress. This easy but detailed Harvard style guide contains all format requirements for a paper and some structural tips. Besides, it covers general rules on how to cite your sources properly in your text. Feel free to use these guidelines for your academic endeavors. Let us go through details of Harvard style referencing and formatting together!  

Reference Harvard Style: Basics

Harvard style is an author-date system of referencing. It’s similar to an  APA paper format  in terms of general formatting of pages and text. But this style follows its own rules for bibliography and in-text citations formatting. Harvard style is typically used for essays in such academic disciplines:  

  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Philosophy.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t use this paper format in other areas of study. The general rule is to put references to your sources in round brackets. Specify author’s name and publication year. These references should come after your quotes (direct or indirect) in the end of a respective sentence or paragraph. Full details about all sources you have used should be provided at the end of your work. This section should be named ‘Reference List’. Buy coursework or any other type of research paper that will be referenced for you by our experts. 

Harvard Format: General Requirements

Let us explore some general rules for Harvard formatting:

  • Font: Times New Roman or Arial
  • Size: 12 pt
  • Text: double-spaced and left-aligned
  • Indent: first line of a paragraph has indent of 0.5 inch
  • Margins: 1 inch from each side

A Harvard style citation  must have a Title page, header (or running head), headings and Reference list. We will take a closer look at formatting each section down below.  

Harvard Style Title Page

What are the requirements for a Harvard style cover page? Title page is otherwise known as front page. This is the first page of your paper to be observed by your reader, i.e. your teacher first of all. Therefore, it is highly important to format it properly. Formatting rules for Harvard Title page:  

  • Paper title is fully capitalised and centered. Should be placed at approximately 33% of your page counting from its top.
  • Your name as an author, centered and placed at the middle of your page.
  • Course name at approximately 66% of the page.
  • Instructor’s name on a new line.
  • University’s name.
  • Submission date.

See the sample of a Harvard title page down below.

Example of Harvard  title page

Formatting a Header in Harvard

An important detail: you are required to use a header in  Harvard referencing  format. This section is repeatedly shown on all pages of your paper except the title page. You have to configure it once. Then, headers will get automatically added on each new page. Headers in Harvard referencing format contains such information:  

  • Page number, right aligned
  • Shortened title of your paper, not capitalized, right-aligned, to the left of page number.

It is important to use shortened title because there is not too much space in any header. Also, another requirement is putting exactly 5 spaces between your title and a page number in headers.

Harvard Style Heading

Now let us explore some rules of using subheadings in Harvard style, in detail. Typically there are 2 levels of section headings recommended for use in such papers. They have different formatting. This helps to tell one from another, without using different font sizes for them.

  • Level-1 subheadings for a bigger section. They must be centered, capitalized, but at the same time not indented, not bold, not underscored, not italicized.
  • Level-2 subheading for any subsection, typically 1-2 paragraphs. They must be capitalized, left-aligned, not indented. Besides, they should be italicized.

The plain text of any paragraph should go on a new line after subheadings in Harvard style, be it Level-1 or Level-2 subheading.

Harvard Reference List

Listing all sources you have used for your research in a proper order is a core element of Harvard style. Reference list should be the last part of your paper but absolutely not the least. Now let us explore some critical rules for a reference list formatting. The Harvard-style reference list section has its own subtitle, namely ‘Reference List’. Similarly to a Level-1 subheading, it should be capitalized and centered. The rest of your content in this section goes from a new line after your title. No extra empty lines are to be added. Your references in this list are numbered and sorted alphabetically. No lines are indented. Each item in this list starts from a new line. Below we will describe a format for referencing in detail.  

Harvard Style Bibliography

Sometimes your professor or instructor might ask you to create a Bibliography section instead of a common Reference list. So what is the Harvard Bibliography format? Harvard style bibliography includes not only those sources you have cited in your text but also. It also includes materials which you have read to get ideas for your research and to better understand the context of a selected problem. So, such section would contain more items than a Reference list. Apart of that, the general Harvard Bibliography format is the same:  

  • Heading, ‘Bibliography’ is formatted the same way as a Level-1 subheading
  • Sources are put into alphabetical order
  • List is double-spaced
  • Lines do not have any indent
  • Each item of this list starts from a new line.

Harvard Style Citations: General Rules

Another crucial element of Harvard style is referring to your sources inside your essay. That’s why you should know how to cite in Harvard style. Keep in mind that the main purpose of a proper format is to ensure your paper is plagiarizm-free. Sometimes, you should cite ideas from books, magazines or newspapers. But you can only refer to such ideas, otherwise it will be considered a form of plagiarism. Below we will show you how to cite in Harvard style, providing general information about published sources. So let us proceed and learn more about shortened quotes and full references.  

How to Quote in Harvard Style

Here are the rules of Harvard format in-text citation:

  • Add them in parentheses, usually at the end of quotes.
  • Put an author’s last name and a publication year into round brackets, add page number if needed.

Example of in-text citation a quote in Harvard style

  • When quoting a web page, give a paragraph number instead of a page since many websites don’t divide text into pages.
  • Direct citation requires quotation marks and a page number is mandatory in parenthesis
  • If you have mentioned an author’s name in your quote, do not include it into brackets, just leave a year and a page numbers there.

Example of Harvard style citation a quote with author’s name

  • Sometimes you might need to quote two different sources at once. In such case include both into the same parenthesis and divide them by a semicolon.

Example of Harvard style citation a quote from two different sources

Creating References in Harvard Style

And this is how you should be referencing in Harvard style, providing full descriptions of the sources you have used. Let us start with the general book format:

  • Last name of the author followed by comma and initials
  • If there are multiple authors, their names are separated with comma, except the last one which must be separated by ‘&’
  • Year of publication follows, without a comma
  • A full title of the book is given, italicized
  • Publisher name
  • City and country where this book was published are the last to be provided.

Example of Harvard style citing  references

Here are several Harvarvard referencing rules for other source types:

  • Refer to an edited book by putting ‘(ed.)’ or ‘(eds)’ after the editor name(s)
  • If a book was translated, add ‘trans. I Lastname’
  • Refer to an article in any book or journal by adding an article name in quotation marks but not italicized
  • Refer to a website by adding ‘viewed’ and the date when you’ve opened it, followed by the URL in angle brackets.

Bottom Line

In this article we have explored the Harvard referencing guide, one of the most popular ones for students in the UK. Feel free to use these tips and proceed to writing a winning essay with flawless formatting! Just keep in mind the following key concepts of the Harvard style:

  • Title or cover page
  • Headers and their contents
  • Subheadings of two levels with different formatting
  • Reference list with full-detailed description of sources
  • In-text citations with lots of different forms for various quote types.

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FAQ About Harvard Format

1. is harvard reference style used in colleges.

The Harvard style can be used in colleges as well as in other educational institutions and even by professional researchers. While it is relatively popular in many countries for research paper referencing, Harvard style is most widespread in universities of the UK nowadays. Other styles (APA, MLA and Chicago) dominate the US educational institutions.

2. What is the difference between Harvard and Oxford referencing styles?

The Harvard style format is a typical example of an author-date system as it requires using author’s names and publication dates for in-text referencing. You should create a complete reference list as a separate section in the end of your research paper. The Oxford style on the contrary uses numbered footnotes for citing sources used on your page. In-text citations on this page consist just from numbers of respective notes.  

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Harvard Referencing Style Guide

What is referencing.

Whenever you write, the writings of others will influence your work. Although it is difficult to gauge all the influences, many of your ideas can be traced back to the resources and materials that you have consulted. These might be books, images , articles, reports, or, of course, the internet. These sources help enrich your writing by giving you ideas to build on. It is important always to give credit to the original thinkers and authors.

Referencing is the method that gives credit to the sources you have used in your work. You should provide references whenever you use a direct quote, paraphrase someone else’s idea, or borrow conceptual words and phrases.

Referencing not only allows credit to be given where credit is due, but it also helps track the various influences on any original piece of writing. If you do not cite the sources of the ideas that you have used in your work, you run the risk of plagiarism. Plagiarism is not only unethical but is also an actual crime in some of its forms. But how do you reference?

Elements of Harvard referencing style

Harvard referencing is a popular method of adding citations to your work. Its appeal lies in the simplicity of the basic system it uses – the author-date structure. Along with this, in Harvard style, you only need to mention the source in two locations: in the in-text reference(s) and in the reference list. Both elements together incorporate all the necessary details about a source in the most efficient way.

So, while reading something, when you come across a citation that looks something like this:

Furley (1999) or (Furley, 1999)

it is an in-text reference that follows the author-date system.

This is an entry in the reference list for the same in-text reference.

Furley, D. (1999) Routledge history of philosophy volume II: from Aristotle to Augustine . 1st edn. London: Routledge.

These Harvard referencing examples provide details about the citation formats for different types of sources.

In-text reference/citation

As is obvious from the name, Harvard in-text citations are references included within the text, that is, inside the sentences that make up its content. These can either be direct statements or quotes, or a paraphrasing of the original work. This type of reference helps in precisely pointing out which portions of the text are borrowed from or influenced by which particular source.

In his work, Furley (1999) wrote about… OR …from Aristotle’s works (Furley, 1999).

As you can see, in-text references provide the author’s surname and the year of publication. The year is provided because sometimes two or more works by the same author are referenced. In this case, the year helps in distinguishing between these works. Note that if you are citing a direct quotation, the in-text citation should also include the page number of that quote, for example (Furley, 1999, p. 2).

However, in-text citations don’t provide other important details about these resources. Rather, they are short enough that you don’t get interrupted while reading the text. Other details are presented in the reference list that you include at the end of your paper.

Reference list

A reference list presents the details of all the resources cited throughout the text in the form of a list at the end of your paper. It includes detailed entries about each of the referenced sources.

Citation structure:

Surname, Initial. (Publication year) Name of the document . Place of publication: Publisher.

Every in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the reference list. So, the reference list entry for the in-text citations discussed above would be:

Einstein, M. (2004) Media diversity: economics, ownership, and the FCC. New Jersey: Routledge.

This entry can also include other details like page numbers, editor’s name, edition, URL, access date, etc., depending upon the type of resource. A reference list allows you to provide all the necessary information without crowding your paper. With this list, you can keep track of how many materials you have consulted and even see if you need to include any more or any other kind of references in your text.

The difference between a bibliography and the Harvard referencing system

Typically, you’ll refer to multiple sources and materials for writing a text, and just using a bibliography can be confusing. You can use the Harvard referencing system to point out the exact location of all your references.

By marking the in-text reference, you can easily locate which idea or quote corresponds to which author. This makes your work easy to read and understand. This way, you and your reader can easily trace the specific portions of the work back to the original texts.

You can also show how much of your text uses source material (whether directly or indirectly) and how much of it is your own ideas and thoughts.

Format for Harvard Referencing

Typically, a paper that uses Harvard referencing has the following format:

  • 2.5 cm OR 1-inch margins on all sides
  • Recommended fonts: Arial 12 pt or Times New Roman, with double-spacing
  • Title is in the center of the page just above the text
  • Left-aligned text, with the first sentence of every paragraph indented by 0.5 inch
  • Last name is at the top-right corner of the header, followed by page number
  • Title page is centre-aligned
  • Subheadings are in sentence case and left-aligned

Key takeaways

  • Referencing is a way of crediting the various resources consulted while writing a text. Harvard referencing is a system that allows you to include information about the source materials. It is based on the author-date system.
  • It includes references: 1) as in-text citations and 2) in a reference list (which is different from a bibliography).
  • In-text citations: (Author Surname, Year Published).
  • Reference list entry: Author Surname, Initial. (Year Published) Title . Place of Publication: Name of Publisher.

For more help creating citations in Harvard style, try the EasyBib Harvard referencing generator !

Published October 25, 2020.

Harvard Formatting Guide

Harvard Formatting

  • et al Usage
  • Direct Quotes
  • In-text Citations
  • Multiple Authors
  • Page Numbers
  • Writing an Outline
  • View Harvard Guide

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What is Harvard Style?

What you need to know, harvard style tutorial.

  • Other Styles
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Harvard Style

The Harvard referencing system is known as the Author-Date style . It emphasizes the name of the creator of a piece of information and the date of publication, with the list of references in alphabetical order at the end of your paper.

Unlike other citation styles, there is no single, definitive version of Harvard Style. Therefore, you may see a variation in features such as punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and the use of italics. 

Always check with your instructor and follow the rules he or she gives you.

  • Harvard Style Guidelines Your class handout
  • Harvard Referencing Quick Guide From Staffordshire University

Harvard Style will affect your paper in two places:

  • In-text citations in the body of your paper, and
  • The reference list at the end of your paper
  • All in-text citations should be listed in the reference list at the end of your paper.
  • Reference list entries need to contain all the information that someone reading your paper would need in order to find your source.
  • Reference lists in Harvard Style are arranged alphabetically by first author.
  • Begin your Reference list on a new page after your text and number it consecutively.

Sample References List:

Example of Harvard References List

Click on the Links Below to See Additional Examples:

  • Sample Paper Paper provided by Kurt Olson
  • Harvard Citation Examples Document created by The University of Western Australia

Click on the image below to launch this tutorial that was created by the University of Leeds. The section on Citing in Text is especially useful.

harvard essay format font

  • << Previous: Chicago Style
  • Next: Other Styles >>
  • Last Updated: May 1, 2024 2:04 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.mjc.edu/citeyoursources

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 Licenses .

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Standard Harvard Formatting

Write flawless – write perfect, harvard referencing formatting style guide.

Harvard style is a well-known referencing style used for the purpose of citing sources and formatting papers written within the domain of social sciences.

The page numbers should be put in the right hand top corner.

General Guidelines The paper should be written using 12 pt. Times New Roman font with 1.5 spacing on a standard sized paper (8.5”x 11”) with a margin of 1” on all four sides. The alignment of the entire writing should be made justified.

The paper consists of three main sections: Title Page, Main Body, Reference List.

The first page must contain the title of the written paper written in bold using 12 pt. Times New Roman font with starting letter of each world in caps and middle aligned.

[Heading 1] should be left aligned, bold using 12 pt. Times New Roman font. The first letter of each of the words must be in caps except for articles and conjunctions.

[Heading 2] should be left aligned, bold using 12 pt. Times New Roman font. The first letter of each of the words must be in caps except for articles and conjunctions.

[Heading 3] should be left aligned using 12 pt. Times New Roman font.

Reference List A reference list in Harvard style gives a detailed list of all the sources used for citing any piece of work. The list comprises of various information of the citations like the name of the author, publication date of the source and title of the cited work. The referencing style varies depending on the type of source used like book, journal and electronic source like websites.

A Harvard referencing style must include the following:

  • It is included at the end of the work document and on a distinct sheet of paper.
  • It must be arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the authors whose work has been cited in the writing.
  • Multiple works of same author are arranged in a chronological order and for works whose publication date is of the same year must be arranged alphabetically on the basis of title.  The date must be followed by an alphabet like a, b, c, etc….
  • It must contain full references of all the works cited in the writing.
  • The formatting should be justified using 1.5 spacing and 12pt Times New Roman.
  • Reference List should be Heading 1 and un-bold.

Basics of Referencing In-Text Citations: The portions paraphrased or quoted from someone else’s work must be cited properly using in-text citations.

The in-text citations are written all throughout the main body of the text using proper citations against a piece of quotation or paraphrased portion. The in-text citations in Harvard referencing style consists of the surname of the author(s) or editors(s)’s followed by publication year. Example of in-text referencing citation is of the form:

One Author: For direct quotation: Wang, Courtright and Colbert (2015) states that…. For paraphrased portion: (Wang, Courtright and Colbert, 2015)

Two or Three Authors: For direct quotation: Wang, Courtright and Colbert (2015) states that…. For paraphrased portion: (Wang, Courtright and Colbert, 2015)

Four or More Authors: The surname of the first author must be followed by et al.: For direct quotation: Wang et al. (2015) states that…. For paraphrased portion: (Wang et al., 2015)

Reference List Format: Book: Surname of author(s), initial(s), Year. Title. Place of publication: Name of publisher. Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014.  Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach . Boston: Cengage Learning.

Edited Book: Surname of author(s), initial(s), eds., Year. Title. Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Smith, J.A. eds., 2015.  Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods . California: Sage.

Journal: Surname of author(s), initial(s), Year. Title of Journal. Name of Journal, Issue (Volume), pp. From-To.

García-Morales, V.J., Jiménez-Barrionuevo, M.M. and Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, L., 2012. Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation.  Journal of business research , 65(7), pp.1040-1050.

Online Article: Surname of author(s), initial(s), Year. Title of article. [online] Name of web page. Available at: <url> [Accessed Date Month Year].

Marr, B., 2017. 5 Massive 'Big Data' Myths Most People Believe - But Shouldn't. [online] Forbes. Available at: < https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/09/26/5-massive-big-data-myths-most-people-believe-but-shouldnt/#115b4ab52414 > [Accessed 26 September 2017].

Online PDF: Surname of author(s), initial(s), Year. Title of article. [pdf] Available at: <url> [Accessed Date Month Year]. Tesco PLC, 2016. Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016. [pdf] Available at: < https://www.tescoplc.com/media/264194/annual-report-2016.pdf > [Accessed 26 September 2017].

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Harvard Style Citation and Referencing: a Detailed Guide from Experts

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Defining What is Harvard Citation Style and Referencing

From the first time we put our pen on paper, we're taught how important it is to give credit where it's needed. Whether a research paper outline or a doctoral dissertation, proper references, and citations are the foundation of academic work in any field. And when it's time to cite sources, there's one style that stands out: Harvard style. In this article, we will explore the nuances of Harvard style citations and help you navigate the complexity of this important academic tool.

Developed by the Harvard Graduate School for Education, the Harvard style citation is a Ferrari of citations designed for the ultimate advantage of your research. Harvard Style, like a sports car, is streamlined, precise, and designed for speed. From its inception at Harvard at the beginning 20th century, this style has become a standard of academic reference and has been praised for its clarity and sophistication.

Intended to be simple and accessible to all, the Harvard style quickly became popular in the mid-20s and is based upon using the date-author citation in the document text, together with the detailed list of references at the document's end. Nowadays that it has gained universal acknowledgment, Harvard referencing is a critical instrument for scientists in multiple disciplines, owing to its simple yet tasteful design that has endured for many years.

Importance of Using Harvard Style Citation Properly

Using Harvard style citations and references correctly is like putting a hidden weapon in the arsenal of your academics. It'll be more than just following rules; it'll be about proving your credibility and that your work is grounded in solid evidence and reliable sources. Therefore, proper citations and references are crucial for a wide range of purposes:

  • First, by acknowledging your sources, you avoid plagiarism and demonstrate that you've taken the necessary precautions and are not attempting to pass on someone else's work as yours.
  • Secondly, Harvard citation style and references allow readers to track their sources and verify their assertions. This is especially relevant in fields in which precision and accuracy are important, e.g., in the fields of science and technology.
  • Thirdly, using Harvard style citations and references shows you belong to a larger academic community and know their standards and norms. By conforming to the customary citation and referencing guidelines, you can communicate that you are a reliable and trustworthy scholar who values their work.

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Key Features of Harvard Style Citation and Referencing

Below are a few of the principal characteristics of Harvard Style that make it such a popular choice among scholars:

How to Use Harvard Style Citation and Referencing

As was already established, references and citations in the Harvard style are commonly accepted. Therefore, you should take the required actions to ensure accurate citation. Let's adhere to these basic guidelines to give credit where credit is due:

Harvard Style Citation

Harvard Style Guidelines include:

  • Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial in size 12.
  • Set margins to 1 inch on all sides.
  • Use double spacing throughout the document, including the reference list.
  • Place a header on each page, which should include the title of your paper and the page number, located in the top right-hand corner.
  • Make sure to include a title page with your paper title, your name, the name of your institution, and the date of submission. Or you can always find out more on how to title an essay from our expert writers!
  • Use headings as a way to organize and simplify your paper with bold or italic letters.
  • Include in-text citations
  • Include a reference list at the end of your paper.

By selecting the button below, you may get a template from our research paper writing services that includes a sample of an essay cover page, headers, subheadings, and a reference list.

How to Reference Sources Without an Anchor on Date

In Harvard referencing, if you're citing a source without an explicit date, you can still provide as much information as possible to identify the source and omit the date. Here's how you could format it:

Author(s) Last name, Initials. (Year, if available). Title of the work. Publisher. (if applicable) URL or DOI (if available).

For example, let's say you're citing a web page authored by John Smith, but there's no publication date available:

Smith, J. (n.d.). Title of the Web Page. Retrieved from http://www.example-website.com

In this example, "n.d." stands for "no date." This indicates to your reader that the publication date is unknown. It's important to include as much information as possible to help your readers locate the source themselves. If you're citing a printed source with no date, you can simply omit the date and provide the rest of the information as usual.

harvard citation tips

Common Errors and Pitfalls in Using Harvard Style

While the Harvard Style citation may seem straightforward, there are several common errors and pitfalls that students and researchers should be aware of to ensure they are using the style correctly.

One common error is forgetting to include page numbers when referencing a source. Harvard style requires that page numbers be included when citing a direct quote or paraphrasing from a source. Failing to include page numbers can make it difficult for readers to locate the information being cited and can result in lost points on an assignment or paper.

Another pitfall is the improper formatting of references. Harvard style requires specific formatting for different types of sources, such as italicizing book titles and using quotation marks for article titles. Failure to follow these guidelines can result in a loss of points and confusion for readers.

Another common mistake is inconsistency in formatting and citation styles. It is important to use the same style throughout a document, including in-text citations and the reference list. Mixing different styles can make the document difficult to read and may result in a lower grade. And, if this problem sounds familiar and you wish 'if only somebody could rewrite my essay ,' get our essay writing help in a flash!

Finally, another pitfall to avoid is relying too heavily on online Harvard referencing generator tools. They can be useful for creating references, although they are not always reliable and might not adhere to the exact rules of Harvard style. To guarantee that the references produced by these tools are accurate and in the right format, it is crucial to carefully review and adjust them.

Meanwhile, if you're not really feeling like dealing with the nitty-gritty of referencing your character analysis essay using Harvard style, no sweat! We've got your back on that one too.

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, knowing what is Harvard citation style and how to properly cite sources using this style is an essential ability for any student or researcher writing academically. The main lesson to be learned is that accurate citation not only shows academic honesty but also strengthens the authority of your work and backs up your claims. You may make sure that your writing is correctly referenced, structured, and accepted in the academic world by including these important lessons in it.

And if you feel like you need extra help, our expert paper writing services will provide you with a high-quality Harvard style citation example paper that demonstrates correct citation and formatting, giving you the knowledge and confidence to cite sources effectively in your own work!

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How Do You Format a Citation in Harvard Style?

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Harvard Format (With Example)

Harvard style paper guidelines, harvard style cover page.

Harvard essay format is very specific and organized unlike argumentative essay . It requires a very particular title page with the following instructions:

  • The title of the paper is placed halfway down the page and written in capital letters.
  • After the title, three lines down write the name of the author in small letters.
  • Move four lines down and place the name of the class.
  • Move one line down put the name of the professor.
  • The next line entails the name of the school.
  • Then move to the next and write the city and state located and the final line should have the date.
  • The cover page of the Harvard essay format gives you all the information one needs to know about the author in question.

There are several key components to note when using the Harvard format. The title in a Harvard essay format is right justified. A partial title expresses the main idea in the essay between it, and the page number is exactly five spaces. The Harvard essay format cover sheet would like roughly like this:

The Harvard Essay Template

  • by (Name of the author)
  • Name of the Class (Course)
  • Name of University
  • City and State where university is located

Here are other essay formatting styles:

Paragraphs in a Harvard Format Essay

The Harvard essay format paragraphs are highly structured. The first section of the article is supposed to be captivating and entertaining. The article may begin with a lively quotation or an interesting fact and information that sheds light on the essay in question.

As in the  definition essay , introduction should smoothly lead to the thesis statement. The thesis statement refers to the main idea of the sentence and a summary of what the article body entails.

The first sentence in the body paragraph should tell the reader what the paragraph is discussing. The topic sentence is followed by supporting facts that relate to it. The details in the supporting sentences can be facts, quotations or analysis.

The paragraph then concludes with a sentence that summarizes what the paragraph is about and leads into the next section smoothly. Subheadings can also be used to introduce new subtopics and are italicized.

Transition between the Paragraphs

Writing an article using the Harvard format one should show the transition from one paragraph to the next and these paragraphs should be interconnected.

The topic should gradually grow from one point to the next. A paragraph in Harvard format has three parts:

– The topic sentence

– Supporting details 

– Closing sentence form

Citations in a Harvard Style Paper

One can use in-text citations. With the Harvard style, a quote uses the author’s name and first initial, year of publication and page number where the information appears. Citation for each fact is provided, if not it is considered plagiarism which is a serious offense. In-text citations for example from J. K. Rowling book published in 2004 page 45 would look like (Rowling J.K,2004,45).These quotes make the Harvard format essay easy to understand and comprehend as one read.

Harvard style uses a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial at size 12. Fancy fonts are not allowed because the Harvard format is used in writing outstanding academic and research essays. The essay should be double-spaced with smooth left margins. In the Harvard format titles of journals, newspapers or books or websites are italicized in in-text citations while that of poems and short stories is written in “quotation marks”. This helps readers know what they are referring to read quickly through an essay written in the Harvard format.

The conclusion of a Harvard format essay is vital and should be written with high accuracy understanding and mastery. The first sentence of the conclusion is used to put emphasis on the thesis statement and remind the reader what the essay has proved showed or theorized. After the first sentence provides brief information of the main points that were discussed throughout the whole piece to encourage remembrance of the most important points that were discussed. It mainly involves a summary of the main points of the article in other words. The essay should then finish with an outstanding powerful message that leaves the reader still thinking minutes or hours after they have finished reading the article.

The conclusion is followed by the reference page which consists of the reference list and is placed in its page known as the reference page.

Harvard essay

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Harvard style guide

Abbreviations.

  • Capital Letters

Punctuation

  • Example Reference List
  • Name of Creator
  • Subsidiary Creators and Translators
  • Publication Details
  • Numeration e.g. volume/issue number
  • Standard Identifiers
  • Availability and accessed information
  • Size and non-Roman script

This page will help you with some of the basic styling used in Harvard referencing, including use of punctuation and abbreviations.

Remember, when you reference, you need to give your reader enough information so that they can find that source themselves. You should use the same spellings, punctuation and information that you find in the original source. Your reference list should be alphabetical by author (including institutional authors).

The data should be taken from the resource itself. The preferred source of data for the reference is the title page or equivalent, such as the title screen, home page, disc label or map face. Any information that does not appear in the cited information resource, but you need to include, should be enclosed in square brackets.

When writing for publication you must follow the style rules established by the publisher to avoid inconsistencies in journal articles or conference papers. You need to use a consistent system of punctuation and typography throughout the reference list. Each element of a reference should be clearly separated from subsequent elements by punctuation or change of typeface.

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Capital letters

Capitalise the main words in titles, including the first word after the colon with the remaining words after the colon in lower case, for example:  Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and medical sciences   and  The Blitz and Its Legacy: Wartime destruction to post-war reconstruction.   Capitalise the titles of all sources that are in italics. Capitalise the first word in a complete sentence. For journal articles and conference papers, capitalise the first word. Conjunctions, articles and prepositions do not need to be in capitals as they are not main words. Do not capitalise the second work of a hyphenated word.

Capitalise all proper nouns and adjectives, names of Universities and their Departments, Government Departments and trade names.

The main title of a source (e.g. book title, journal title) should be in italics in your reference list. Titles of contributions (e.g. article titles) should not be in italics.

Words within a source that would normally be italicised should be set in normal type for reverse italicization, such as From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.

Use numerals to express numbers. Use full numbers in page ranges ( 321-327 not 321-7 ) and ranges of dates ( 1985-1987 , not 1985-7 ). Use ordinal numbers in abbreviated form in superscripts in book editions, such as nd or th . Do not include these after the day of the month for dates.

Use a space after all punctuation marks. Use a space after all initials in personal names such as Jackson, C. A.

Do not use a space after internal full stops in abbreviations, such as Ph.D., n.d., s.l. , or in timings such as 20:00 , in numbers, such as 1,000 or in scales such as 1:25,000 . Do not use a space in web addresses in the text of your work or in your reference list, such as  http://www.bbc.co.uk

Use full stops to end a complete sentence. Use full stops with initials of names, such as Jackson, C. A ., with Latin abbreviations such as al. and with reference abbreviations such as Vol. 1. Use full stops for time abbreviations such as min. or hr. Do not use full stops for metric measurements such as cm, m but do use a full stop for in. to avoid confusion.

Do not use a full stop with ordinal abbreviations such as 4 th , 3 rd etc. Do not use a full stop in abbreviations of state names in reference list entries, such as NJ ; in capital letter abbreviations such as BBC, SI, UKCC, HM or URL ; or in abbreviations such as rpm .

Use a comma to set off the year in indirect citations, such as (Conway, 1991) . Use a comma to separate groups of three digits in numbers of 1,000 or more.

Use a semi-colon to separate authors in indirect citations such as (Collini, 2011; Goodman, 2012; Morrall and Goodman, 2012; Roggero, 2011) .

Use a colon in references immediately after the place of publication and then include a space before the publisher’s name, such as London: Faber . Use a colon after the phrase 'Available through' or 'Available at' followed by a space before introducing a web page.

Use double quotation marks to enclose quotations in your text.

Use single quotation marks for the titles of episodes of television programmes, for names that help to identify a piece of music, for example [Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’] , for the title of individual tracks of a music album or for tracks that have been downloaded.

Use round brackets (..) to separate citations in the text of your work. Use round brackets to enclose the publication year when citing directly or when introducing an abbreviation, for example UK Committee on Climate Change (UKCCC). Use round brackets for issue or part numbers in your reference list. Use round brackets to show you have recognised an inaccuracy in the source by including (sic) in your work. Use round brackets to show series numbers as separate elements of the reference.

Use square brackets [..] to designate the medium of the source. This applies to visual sources, the formats of reports and audio-visual material. Use them to supply the format of the music which is being cited and to designate the medium of the archive material. Use square brackets for the translations of titles. Use square brackets to indicate the accessed date of a web page. Use square brackets after the title to clarify a title that is ambiguous or fails to indicate clearly the content, for example: Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major [Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’] . Information such as date, place and publisher not found on the document, but traced from other sources, should be placed in square brackets. For works in another language that have been translated, reference these in the same manner as an English language work but provide a translation of the title immediately after the original title in square brackets. Both of these are illustrated in the example:

Mayer, J. [1995] Pawitri Naukari [A Sacred Service]: Sacer misisterium . Birmingham: [Birmingham Conservatoire].

Example reference list

Arrange the list of reference alphabetically by the author's surname, year and letter (if there is one). For an organisation the first letter of the corporate author is used.

For institutions or for authors with multiple works in different years, list these chronologically so that the earliest publication appears first. In the example reference list, HM Government’s 2010 work appears above its 2019 work.

Arrange the list of surnames on a letter by letter basis. Clark, A. will precede Clark, B. Work on the basis of the completed surname so that Clark, G. precedes Clarke, A. in your reference list even though the latter is ahead of the former in a letter by letter order. Similarly, one author entries precede multiple author entries so that Clarke, G. (2008) precedes Clarke, G. and Werf, Y.V.D. (1998) even though the latter was published earlier.

If you include an appendix, this should come after the reference list. Works cited in any appendices should still be included in your reference list.

Anonymous (2011) Effect of tranexamic acid in traumatic brain injury: a nested randomised, placebo controlled trial (CRASH-2 Intracranial Bleeding Study). BMJ , 343(d3795). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d3795 .

Clark, A. (2004) Natural-born Cyborgs: Minds, technologies and the future of human intelligence . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clark, B. C. and Manini, T. M. (2010) Sarcopenia ≠ dynapenia. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and medical sciences , 63(8), pp. 829-834. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/63.8.829 .

Clark, G. (2008) A Farewell to Alms: A brief economic history of the world . Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Clark, G. and Werf, Y. V. D. (1998) Work in progress? The industrious revolution. Journal of Economic History , 58(3), pp. 830-843. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050700021197 .

Clarke, A. J. (1999) Tupperware: The promise of plastic in 1950s America . Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

Creswell, J. W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among five traditions . 2 nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gibson, D., Aldrich, C. and Prensky, M., eds. (2007) Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and development frameworks . Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.

Gunning, T. (2006) Gollum and Golem: special effects and the technology of artificial bodies. In: E. Mathijs and M. Pomerance, eds. From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. New York: Rodopi, pp. 319-350.

HM Government (2010) The Coalition: Our programme for government . London: Cabinet Office. Available at:  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78977/coalition_programme_for_government.pdf [Accessed 7 June 2013].

HM Government (2019) Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including streamlined energy and carbon reporting guidance . Available at:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/850130/Env-reporting-guidance_inc_SECR_31March.pdf  [Accessed 28 August 2020].

Linn, R. L., ed. (1989) Educational Measurement . 3 rd edn. New York: MacMillan.

Miller, S. (2006a) The Flemish Masters . London: Phaidon.

Miller, S. (2006b) Rubens and His Art . London: Killington Press.

NHS Trust (Name withheld) (2017) Disciplinary Policy . NHS Trust name withheld.

Quantz, J. J. (1752) Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte Traversière du Spielen [On Playing the Flute]. 2 nd edn. Translated by Edward R. Reilly, 1985. London: Faber and Faber.

Robinson, S. R. (2011) Teaching logic and teaching critical thinking: revisiting McPeck. Higher Education Research and Development , 30(3), pp. 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2010.500656 .

School A (Name withheld) (2018) School A’s Sex Education Policy . Available at: (URL withheld) (Accessed 19 December 2018).

United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) (1999) Fitness for Practice: The UKCC Commission for Nursing and Midwifery Education . London: UKCC.

Wittich, W. and Simcock, P. (2019) Aging and combined vision and hearing loss. In: J. Ravenscroft, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Visual Impairment . London: Routledge, pp. 438-456

The sequence of data in the reference list in the BCU Harvard style is consistent with the British Standard BS ISO 690:2010. This standard is governed by  five basic principles . It states that the preferred sequence is:

1. Name(s) of creator(s)

Take the information regarding the author from the source itself. Although there are several naming conventions across the world, this guidance follows the advice contained in Cite Them Right (Pears and Shields, 2022: 37-39) placing the family name first in the citation followed by the initials of the given names.

List the prefixes Mc and Mac on a letter-by-letter basis so that McDonald appears after MacDonald and after MacMullan but before McMullan.

Use "and" to separate the penultimate and last item in a list of authors, not "&".

Secondary elements should follow the practice of the nation to which the author belongs, for example:

Additions to names indicating rank, title, office or status may be retained or supplied to distinguish authors with the same names. Two examples by the same author are these:

McGwin, G. Jr and Brown, D. B. (1999) Characteristics of traffic crashes among young, middle-aged, and older drivers. Accident Analysis & Prevention , 31(3), pp. 181-198.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-4575(98)00061-X .

Stannard, J. P., Volgas, D. A., McGwin III, G., Stewart, R. L., Obremskey, W., Moore, T. and Anglen, J. O. (2012) Incisional negative pressure wound therapy after high-risk lower extremity fractures. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma , 26(1), pp. 37-42.  https://doi.org/10.1097/BOT.0b013e318216b1e5 .

In one case, the advice given was to find out the author's first name from external sources but to acknowledge his title in this example:

Carter, [P.] (2016) Operational Productivity and Performance in English NHS Acute Hospitals: Unwarranted variations. An independent report for the Department of Health by Lord Carter of Coles. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/499229/Operational_productivity_A.pdf  [Accessed 20 December 2017].

Names of authors should be taken from the title page or equivalent or the reverse of the title page. They should be given in the form in which they appear. Although there are several naming conventions across the world, this guidance follows the advice contained in Cite Them Right (Pears and Shields, 2022: 46-49) placing the family name first in the citation followed by the initials of the given names. Further guidance is given in that publication for Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese names. If the author’s name appears in a non-Roman alphabet it can be transliterated.

In some cases, academic practice has taken the information from the cover of the book rather than the title page. In the book written by the current King, most examples use HRH The Prince of Wales as the author and the in-text reference rather than Charles, Prince of Wales. The reference is cited in this example as below, with (HRH The Prince of Wales, 1989) as the in-text citation:

HRH The Prince of Wales (1989) A Vision of Britain: A personal view of architecture . London: Doubleday.

Multiple authors

For sources with multiple authors, all the names should be included in the reference list in the order they appear in the document. Use 'and' without a comma to link the last two multiple authors. In your reference list you must include all the authors. However, some articles contain large numbers of authors. For example, the July 2012 discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs-Boson was reported in articles by the  ATLAS collaboration  (>3000 authors) and the  CMS collaboration  (>3800 authors). For the BCU Harvard style, list the first 10 authors and then use et al. after the tenth. For example:

Haagsma, J. A., Olij, B. F., Majdan, M., van Beeck, E. F., Vos, T., Castle, C. D., Dingels, Z. V., Fox, J. T., Hamilton, E. B., Liu, Z. et al. (2020) Falls in older aged adults in 22 European countries: incidence, mortality and burden of disease from 1990 to 2017. Injury Prevention,  26, i67-i74. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043347 .

Multiple works in the same year by the same author

Where there are several works by one author and published in the same year they should be differentiated by  adding a lower case letter after the date . Works in the same year by the same author should be displayed  in the order referenced in your work  with the earliest first. For example:

Yardley, E. and Wilson, D. (2015a)  Female Serial Killers in Social Context: Criminological institutionalism and the case of Mary Ann Cotton.  Bristol: Polity Press.

Yardley, E. and Wilson, D. (2015b) Making sense of ‘Facebook murder'? social networking sites and contemporary homicide.  The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice,  54(2), pp. 109-134. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12109 .

Editors are treated the same as authors except that ed. or eds. is put after the editor or editors name(s), separated by a comma. For example:

Clapson, M. and Larkham, P. J., eds. (2013)  The Blitz and Its Legacy: Wartime destruction to post-war reconstruction.  Farnham: Ashgate.

McGee, P., ed. (2009)  Advanced Practice in Nursing and the Allied Health Professions . 3 rd edn. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Institutional authors

If the work is by a recognised organisation and has no personal author then it is usually cited under the body that commissioned the work. This applies to publications by associations, companies, and Government Departments such as the Department of Health or institutions such as the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSi).

Note that the full name is the preferred format in the references list followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Your list should provide the full name, for example:

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSi) (2009)  The Productive Ward: Releasing time to care. Learning and impact review.  London: King's College London.

Note : There are some exceptions to this where the abbreviations or initials form part of the official name, such as the BBC.

Title first

For certain sources (e.g. market research reports, dictionaries and encyclopaedias) or if an item is the co-operative output of many individuals, none of whom has a dominant role as creator (e.g. films, radio and television programmes), the title should be used instead of a creator.

Works with no author

If the author cannot be identified, use " Anonymous"  or " Anon."  in the reference list. For example:

Every effort should be made to establish the authorship if you intend to use this work as supporting evidence in an academic submission.

The date of publication should be included after the author's surname and initials followed by a full stop. If there are a number of different reissues or reprints of the item, give the earliest date of the edition you are referring to, for example, if the information in the book reads “1989 reprinted in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000” give the date as 1989.

Artistic works may take years to complete. References to drawings, paintings and sculpture often include a span of dates, for example:

Hodgkin, H. (1983-1985)

The date recorded should reflect the specific instance, edition or version that you have used. For web pages this means you must include the date that you accessed the page and the specific URL that you used. If an exact date is not known, you should supply an approximate date, followed by a question mark or preceded by "ca." (meaning "circa"). For example:

Shahn, B. (ca. 1933-1934)

Every effort should be made to establish the year of publication if you intend to use this work as supporting evidence in an academic submission.

If it is not possible to ascertain the date, use n.d. For example:  Langley (n.d.) advises…

You may wish to question the reliability of the source or find an alternative which is dated.

Normally the year is sufficient, but for some kinds of items (e.g. online resources, newspapers, press releases, television images), you will need to include the month and day, and sometimes the time.

For audio-visual materials cited from a transmission rather than from the physical item, the date and time of transmission and the transmitting organization should be given.

The title should be copied from the item itself if possible and should be in italics. Include the sub-title separated from the title by a colon.

You can supply further information in square brackets after the title to clarify a title that is ambiguous or fails to indicate clearly the content, for example:

Violin Sonata in A Major [Op. 47 'Kreutzer'].

Capitalise the main words in book titles, journal titles and conference proceedings. Capitalise the titles of all sources that are in italics. Capitalise the first word after a colon in all these instances.

For journal titles, use the title from the front cover or the electronic version. Capitalise the first letter of each word except for the linking words and put in italics.

The titles of journal articles or chapters in a book with an editor should not be put in italics.

If there is a mistake in the title (and you do not wish the reader to think that you cannot spell) put the word sic (= thus) in square brackets and italicised after the word(s) for example:

Bruce, A. J., Beard, K. W., Tedford, S., Harman, M. J., and Tedford, K. (1997) African Americans’ and Caucasian Americans’ recognition and likability [ sic ] responses to African American and Caucasian American faces.  Journal of General Psychology , 124(2), pp. 143–156.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309709595513 .

For works in another language that have been translated into English, reference these in the same manner as an English language work but provide a translation of the title immediately after the original title in square brackets.

For example:

Cicero (1972)  De Natura Deorum  [ The Nature of the Gods ]. Translated by Horace C. P. McGregor. London: Penguin.

Quantz, J. J. (1752)  Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte Traversière du Spielen  [ On Playing the Flute ] .  2 nd edn. Translated by Edward R. Reilly, 2001. London: Faber and Faber.

For works in another language that have not been translated, take the title from the item itself and follow the guidelines. For a journal article that is only available online, for example:

Sodré, J. R., Costa, R. C. and Da Silva, R. H. (2008). Efeitos do comprimento do conduto de admissão na performance de um motor de combustão interna.  I Jornada Científica e VI FIPA do CEFET Bambuí.  Available at: https://www.bambui.ifmg.edu.br/jornada_cientifica/str/artigos_aprovados/Area%20de%20Mecanica/28-PT-2.pdf [Accessed 02 August 2017].

Apart from printed sources and websites, you should provide information about the nature of the information resource and/or the form in which it is made available. All formats should start with a lower case letter, apart from capitalized abbreviations and proper nouns.

The formats used in these guidelines are:

Cite the specific edition of the work you are using, for example:  6 th edn.

There is no need to cite the first edition.

6. Subsidiary creators and translators

You should include the name of any editor, director, performer or other person who has collaborated in the production of a source after the edition with an indication of their role. You should include their first name in full if this is given. This will help to identify a particular source and should be included so that the relation between that role and the whole source is clear, for example:

Bram Stoker's Dracula  [feature film] Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Columbia Tristar/American Zoetrope/Osiris, USA, 1992. 120 mins.

Britten, B. (2012) War Requiem . Erin Wall (soprano), Mark Padmore (tenor), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (baritone), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, CBSO Chorus and Youth Chorus, Andris Nelsons (conductor). [blu-ray] Recorded at Coventry Cathedral, 30 May 2012. (Arthaus Musik GmbH 108 070).

Geminiani, F. (1751) The Art of Playing on the Violin . Facsimile edition (1952). Edited by David D. Boyden. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Monteverdi, C. (1999) Vespers (1610) . Edited by Jeffrey Kurtzman. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shakespeare, W. (2004) The Two Gentlemen of Verona . Edited by William C. Carroll. London: Arden Shakespeare.

For references to the work of an author that appears as a chapter, or part of a larger work, that is edited by someone else, include details of both the chapter author and the editor(s) of the entire work, using the initial(s) before the editor's surname. For example:

Archer-Parre, C. (2020) Private pleasures and portable presses: do-it-yourself printers in the eighteenth-century. In: C. Archer-Parre and M. Dick, eds. Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth century . Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 89-106.

Wittich, W. and Simcock, P. (2019) Aging and combined vision and hearing loss. In: J. Ravenscroft, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Visual Impairment . London: Routledge, pp. 438-456.

Multiple editions

If a new edition or updated version of a source is produced by a new creator, the name of the first creator should be used if it still appears as a creator in the source. You will need to acknowledge the work of the new creator by taking the information from the title page and making clear their contribution, for example:

Burnett, C. W. F. (1979) The Anatomy and Physiology of Obstetrics: A short textbook for students and midwives . 6 th edn. Revised by Mary M. Anderson. London: Faber.

Translated sources

As with subsidiary creators, the reference should include details of the translator, annotator and editor, as appropriate. Include their full name in the format first name last name, for example:

Boal, A. (1995) The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy . Translated by Adrian Jackson. London: Routledge.

Derrida, J. (2002) The animal that therefore I am (more to follow) . Translated by David Wills. Critical Inquiry , 28(2), pp. 369-414.

Le Corbusier (2007) Journey to The East . 2 nd edn. Edited, annotated and translated by Ivan Zaknic. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Quantz, J. J. (1752) Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte Traversière du Spielen [On Playing the Flute] . 2 nd edn. Translated by Edward R. Reilly, 2001. London: Faber and Faber.

For major works of historic significance, the date of the original work may be included along with the date of the translation:

Spinoza, B. (1677) The Ethics . Translated by R. H. M. Elwes, 1989. New York: Prometheus Books.

7. Publication details (place and publisher)

You must include the place where the item was published, followed by a colon, space and then the publisher. For larger, well-known places, the place name alone may be given. For smaller places, a qualifier should be added (e.g. county, department, state, province, country) to the place name. It is sensible to include a qualifier to distinguish locations, for example:

Walcott, R. (2010)  Black Like Who?: Writing black Canada . 2 nd edn. London, Ontario: Insomniac Press.

In the example above, London, Ontario is included to distinguish it from London, England.

Abbreviations are used for US states based on the listing in BS EN ISO 3166: Part 2 and are listed in upper case, for example:  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall  or  Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press.

Use BCU Library Search to check publication details.

If there is more than one city of publication given on the title page, choose the first one listed. For example:  for "Oxford London New York Hong Kong",  use  "Oxford".

Occasionally you may not be able to find out the place of publication in which case use  s.l.  ( sine loco : without place). This is increasingly the case where authors have chosen to self-publish their work, for example:

Price, T. J. (2014)  Environmental Management Systems: An easy to use guide to boosting your organization's environmental performance.  3 rd edn. s.l.: CreateSpace.

In certain instances you may find that there is no obvious publisher in which case use  s.n.  ( sine nomine , without name). This is particularly the case with musical scores, for example:

Coccioli, L. (2004)  Flectar: For trombone and live electronics . s.l.: s.n.

Information such as date, place and publisher not found on the document, but traced from other sources, should be placed in square brackets. For works in another language that have been translated, reference these in the same manner as an English language work but provide a translation of the title immediately after the original title in square brackets. All of these are illustrated in the example:

Mayer, J. [1995]  Pawitri Naukari [A Sacred Service]: Sacer misisterium . Birmingham: [Birmingham Conservatoire].

It can be helpful to include further details to identify an item, especially if it is a technical report, Government or European Commission publication. Add the details in round brackets after the place of publication, for example:

Berry, C. and McCarthy, S. (2011)  Guide to Sustainable Procurement in Construction.  London: CIRIA (CIRIA C695).

9. Numeration e.g. volume/issue number

The components of an issue should be referenced in the terms used in that source, with the larger order first, for example:

Children Act 1989, Sch. 1 para. 5.

For journal articles you need to include: volume number followed by issue or part number in round brackets, followed by season or date if this is needed to identify the article. You can leave out the term “volume” and terms for smaller components of a serial publication, for example:  30(3), pp. 275–287.

10. Standard identifiers

ISBNs are not included in references, largely because there are different ISBNs for paperback, hardback and international editions and different ISBNs for electronic books. However, there is a trend in academic articles to include the Digital Object Identifier [DOI] as this uniquely identifies the online resource. Crossref’s DOI display guidelines give the format of the DOI as https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx, preferring the use of https and not using dx in the domain name. 

https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0056 .

If you use a DOI there is no need to include the accessed date as the DOI is the permanent identifier for the source.

11. Availability and accessed information

Try to find an author or a corporate author for a document from a web site. You must include the full URL as it appears in the address bar to enable users to retrieve the source.

Include the date you accessed the web page in square brackets. This is especially important when Government departments change. In the example below the web page was moved from the Department of Health web site to the secure web site  https://www.gov.uk :

Available at:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-people-control-of-the-health-and-care-information-they-need  [Accessed 20 February 2013].

Note:  For journal articles, you do not need to provide an accessed date if you give a DOI as DOIs are permanent.

12. Size and non-Roman script

For visual sources especially, size is usually included in the reference.

Codagnone, A. (1993)  Poster for ACT UP, New York . [poster] 11 x 8.5 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm) Courtesy the artist.

If the source is in a non-Roman script, provide a translation in English and make it clear that the source you have used is not in English.

For a web page, for example, the required elements would appear as:

  • [in Chinese].
  • Available at: URL
  • [Accessed date].

The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (2008) White Paper on China's Drug Supervision . [in Chinese]. Available at:  http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2008-07/18/content_1048848.htm [Accessed 21 August 2019].

For books, an example is:

Xu, Y. (2009)  IPv6 In-depth Analysis.  [in Chinese]. Tsinghua: Tsinghua University Press.

For articles, an example is:

Guoyu, T. and Dalong, Z. (2017) Interpretation of clinical practice guidelines and expert consensuses for the evaluation and management of diabetic kidney disease at home and abroad. [in Chinese]. Chinese Journal of Practical Internal Medicine , 37(3), pp. 211-216.

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UOW Harvard

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Formatting guidelines

  • DOIs and URLs
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  • UOW Harvard PDF This link opens in a new window
  • Referencing & Citing Guide Main Page
  • Begin the reference list on a new page.
  • Use the heading ‘References’ in bold at the top of the page and make sure it is centred.
  • Order the references alphabetically .
  • Double space the reference list, within and between reference list entries. This can be done with the line spacing setting in any word processing software.
  • Use a hanging indent for each entry. You can see a guide on formatting a hanging indent here: https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/microsoft-word/indentation .
  • Previous: Reference list information
  • Next: DOIs and URLs
  • Last Updated: Feb 22, 2024 12:34 PM
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Harvard Style Guide: Introduction

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Back to Academic Integrity guide

Harvard Style what is it?

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Academic writing requires authors to support their arguments with reference to other published work or experimental results/findings. A reference system will perform three essential tasks:

  • enable you to acknowledge other authors’ ideas (avoid plagiarism).
  • enable a reader to quickly locate the source of the material you refer to so they can consult it if they wish.
  • indicate to the reader the scope and depth of your research.

The Harvard style is a widely used referencing system to help you achieve these objectives.

How do I use the Harvard Referencing Style?

The Harvard style involves two tasks:

  • how you refer to other authors in the body of your text (in-text citation).
  • how you compile a list of reference sources at the end of your text (reference list)

In this guide we show how common reference types should look in your reference list along with an example. Immediately following this will be two samples of how that reference should appear as an in-text citation .

If the exact reference type you are looking for is not shown in this guide, look for one similar and follow the same rules. Alternatively consult the book “Cite them Right,” by Richard Pears and Graham Shields which is available in UCD Library.

Harvard style - what does it look like?

Here is an example of what a In-Text-Citation looks like in the Harvard Style

It has been claimed that due to funding being almost exclusively available from the Irish Film Board (IFB), Irish film makers are restricted to the type of Ireland they can depict in their work (MacDougall, 2009). Jervir (2011) argues that subjects such as Northern Ireland are disproportionately represented as these are key areas of interest to the IFB.

Here is an example of what a Reference List looks like in the Harvard Style

Hayes, B. C., McAllister, I. and Dowds, L. (2011) 'Depicting Ireland on film, what are we really saying?', Social Cinema Journal , 54(4), pp. 454-482.

Jervir, C. E. O. (2010) 'Symbolic violence, resistance and how we view ourselves in Irish film', World Cinema , 37(6), pp. 392-407.

MacDougall, H. (2009) 'Who needs Hollywood?: The role of popular genre films in Irish national cinema', The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies , 35(1), pp. 39-46.

Moriarty , D . (2012)  Funding models for Irish film makers . Dublin: Collins Press.

Harvard Style Quotation

The Harvard Style dictates that when using another's exact words, known as direct quotation, then those words must be placed in inverted commas/quotation marks ('' or "") followed by an in-text citation that includes the Author Last name, Year and page numbers. Inverted commas/quotation marks can be single or double, simply be consistent or check with your lecturer/school. 

For materials without page numbers, such as eBook, it is acceptable to use other indications of location such as chapters, paragraph numbers or section headings etc.. See s hort and long quotations see example below.

Short quotations

Short quotations are generally held to be two or three lines in length. They are kept within the structure of the sentence in which they appear. An example of a short direct quotation would be

It was reported that 'findings show children have a high level of enjoyment, while exercising with the system as indicated by the positive responses to all three questions ' (Fitzgerald et al ., 2008, p. 66).

Moran (2012) describes how "mental simulation processes such as motor imagery are crucial to success in sports," particularly in high performance athletes (para. 4).

Downes (2012, p. 6) studied the development of "selective attention skills" in pre-school children with sickle cell disease.

Long quotations

Long quotations are generally held to be longer than three lines. These are laid out in a separate paragraph of text and indented. No inverted commas/quotation marks are included. An example of a long quotation would be

In their research on rehabilitation using Wobbleballs, Fitzgerald and her team conclude that:

The fourth question collected some feedback from children and while most provided positive comments a small number of children (n=13) mentioned that the wobble board was “difficult to control” or “hard to use”. We must therefore investigate some easier methods to control the game as an option for some children. Future research is needed to investigate the benefits of the system as an exercise intervention for children and to examine how training using Wobbleball could be integrated into the existing physical education curriculum in schools. (Fitzgerald et al ., 2008, p. 66)

Quoting ideas

If you are including the ideas of another person from a specific page range or page in a source, rather than direct quotation, Harvard also requires you to include a page number. Your quote would look something like this

In the review it was noted that research shows open plan office spaces damage workers' attention span, creativity and satisfaction (Davis et al ., 2011, p. 22).

If you are unclear as to when to include a page number when quoting ideas, discuss this with your lecturer or tutor. Bring along examples to show them.

Quotation - over use and plagiarism

Too much direct quotation from original sources, with less critical analysis from the writer can lead to accusations of plagiarism, even if full citations and references are provided. 

It is important that quotations are used only when absolutely necessary to the content. Otherwise, it is preferable to paraphrase and interpret the information you are discussing and use your critical analysis skills.

Harvard style quotation and first year (undergraduate or postgraduate)

Finally, because the Harvard Style does not have a manual of style with exact rules, always discuss with your lecturer or module coordinator what their expectations are around quotation, citing and referencing. Show them the advice on this guide, and clarify if they expect any alternative writing practices. This is especially important for first year students or those beginning a course/module.

Harvard Style - printable version

  • Referencing - How to Cite and Reference using the Harvard Style (guide pdf)

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Download the printed Harvard Style Guide (updated March 2022)

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  • Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples

Published on 30 April 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

An in-text citation should appear wherever you quote or paraphrase a source in your writing, pointing your reader to the full reference .

In Harvard style , citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author,  the year of publication, and a page number if relevant.

Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al .

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Table of contents

Including page numbers in citations, where to place harvard in-text citations, citing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard in-text citations.

When you quote directly from a source or paraphrase a specific passage, your in-text citation must include a page number to specify where the relevant passage is located.

Use ‘p.’ for a single page and ‘pp.’ for a page range:

  • Meanwhile, another commentator asserts that the economy is ‘on the downturn’ (Singh, 2015, p. 13 ).
  • Wilson (2015, pp. 12–14 ) makes an argument for the efficacy of the technique.

If you are summarising the general argument of a source or paraphrasing ideas that recur throughout the text, no page number is needed.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

When incorporating citations into your text, you can either name the author directly in the text or only include the author’s name in brackets.

Naming the author in the text

When you name the author in the sentence itself, the year and (if relevant) page number are typically given in brackets straight after the name:

Naming the author directly in your sentence is the best approach when you want to critique or comment on the source.

Naming the author in brackets

When you  you haven’t mentioned the author’s name in your sentence, include it inside the brackets. The citation is generally placed after the relevant quote or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence, before the full stop:

Multiple citations can be included in one place, listed in order of publication year and separated by semicolons:

This type of citation is useful when you want to support a claim or summarise the overall findings of sources.

Common mistakes with in-text citations

In-text citations in brackets should not appear as the subject of your sentences. Anything that’s essential to the meaning of a sentence should be written outside the brackets:

  • (Smith, 2019) argues that…
  • Smith (2019) argues that…

Similarly, don’t repeat the author’s name in the bracketed citation and in the sentence itself:

  • As Caulfield (Caulfield, 2020) writes…
  • As Caulfield (2020) writes…

Sometimes you won’t have access to all the source information you need for an in-text citation. Here’s what to do if you’re missing the publication date, author’s name, or page numbers for a source.

If a source doesn’t list a clear publication date, as is sometimes the case with online sources or historical documents, replace the date with the words ‘no date’:

When it’s not clear who the author of a source is, you’ll sometimes be able to substitute a corporate author – the group or organisation responsible for the publication:

When there’s no corporate author to cite, you can use the title of the source in place of the author’s name:

No page numbers

If you quote from a source without page numbers, such as a website, you can just omit this information if it’s a short text – it should be easy enough to find the quote without it.

If you quote from a longer source without page numbers, it’s best to find an alternate location marker, such as a paragraph number or subheading, and include that:

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style , when you quote directly from a source that includes page numbers, your in-text citation must include a page number. For example: (Smith, 2014, p. 33).

You can also include page numbers to point the reader towards a passage that you paraphrased . If you refer to the general ideas or findings of the source as a whole, you don’t need to include a page number.

When you want to use a quote but can’t access the original source, you can cite it indirectly. In the in-text citation , first mention the source you want to refer to, and then the source in which you found it. For example:

It’s advisable to avoid indirect citations wherever possible, because they suggest you don’t have full knowledge of the sources you’re citing. Only use an indirect citation if you can’t reasonably gain access to the original source.

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

  • (Smith, 2019a)
  • (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). Harvard In-Text Citation | A Complete Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 14 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-in-text-citation/

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  • Formatting Your Dissertation
  • Introduction

Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

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On this page:

Language of the Dissertation

Page and text requirements, body of text, tables, figures, and captions, dissertation acceptance certificate, copyright statement.

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Supplemental material, dissertations comprising previously published works, top ten formatting errors, further questions.

  • Related Contacts and Forms

When preparing the dissertation for submission, students must follow strict formatting requirements. Any deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection of the dissertation and delay in the conferral of the degree.

The language of the dissertation is ordinarily English, although some departments whose subject matter involves foreign languages may accept a dissertation written in a language other than English.

Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions.

  • 8½ x 11 inches, unless a musical score is included
  • At least 1 inch for all margins
  • Body of text: double spacing
  • Block quotations, footnotes, and bibliographies: single spacing within each entry but double spacing between each entry
  • Table of contents, list of tables, list of figures or illustrations, and lengthy tables: single spacing may be used

Fonts and Point Size

Use 10-12 point size. Fonts must be embedded in the PDF file to ensure all characters display correctly. 

Recommended Fonts

If you are unsure whether your chosen font will display correctly, use one of the following fonts: 

If fonts are not embedded, non-English characters may not appear as intended. Fonts embedded improperly will be published to DASH as-is. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that fonts are embedded properly prior to submission. 

Instructions for Embedding Fonts

To embed your fonts in recent versions of Word, follow these instructions from Microsoft:

  • Click the File tab and then click Options .
  • In the left column, select the Save tab.
  • Clear the Do not embed common system fonts check box.

For reference, below are some instructions from ProQuest UMI for embedding fonts in older file formats:

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2010:

  • In the File pull-down menu click on Options .
  • Choose Save on the left sidebar.
  • Check the box next to Embed fonts in the file.
  • Click the OK button.
  • Save the document.

Note that when saving as a PDF, make sure to go to “more options” and save as “PDF/A compliant”

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2007:

  • Click the circular Office button in the upper left corner of Microsoft Word.
  • A new window will display. In the bottom right corner select Word Options . 
  • Choose Save from the left sidebar.

Using Microsoft Word on a Mac:

Microsoft Word 2008 on a Mac OS X computer will automatically embed your fonts while converting your document to a PDF file.

If you are converting to PDF using Acrobat Professional (instructions courtesy of the Graduate Thesis Office at Iowa State University):  

  • Open your document in Microsoft Word. 
  • Click on the Adobe PDF tab at the top. Select "Change Conversion Settings." 
  • Click on Advanced Settings. 
  • Click on the Fonts folder on the left side of the new window. In the lower box on the right, delete any fonts that appear in the "Never Embed" box. Then click "OK." 
  • If prompted to save these new settings, save them as "Embed all fonts." 
  • Now the Change Conversion Settings window should show "embed all fonts" in the Conversion Settings drop-down list and it should be selected. Click "OK" again. 
  • Click on the Adobe PDF link at the top again. This time select Convert to Adobe PDF. Depending on the size of your document and the speed of your computer, this process can take 1-15 minutes. 
  • After your document is converted, select the "File" tab at the top of the page. Then select "Document Properties." 
  • Click on the "Fonts" tab. Carefully check all of your fonts. They should all show "(Embedded Subset)" after the font name. 
  •  If you see "(Embedded Subset)" after all fonts, you have succeeded.

The font used in the body of the text must also be used in headers, page numbers, and footnotes. Exceptions are made only for tables and figures created with different software and inserted into the document.

Tables and figures must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a table or a figure is alone on a page (with no narrative), it should be centered within the margins on the page. Tables may take up more than one page as long as they obey all rules about margins. Tables and figures referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation.

  • Given the standards of the discipline, dissertations in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning often place illustrations at the end of the dissertation.

Figure and table numbering must be continuous throughout the dissertation or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.). Two figures or tables cannot be designated with the same number. If you have repeating images that you need to cite more than once, label them with their number and A, B, etc. 

Headings should be placed at the top of tables. While no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions are required, a consistent format must be used throughout the dissertation (contact your department for style manuals appropriate to the field).

Captions should appear at the bottom of any figures. If the figure takes up the entire page, the caption should be placed alone on the preceding page, centered vertically and horizontally within the margins.

Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.

Landscape orientation figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin. Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in portrait orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.

If a graphic artist does the figures, Harvard Griffin GSAS will accept lettering done by the artist only within the figure. Figures done with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles done by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text.

Original illustrations, photographs, and fine arts prints may be scanned and included, centered between the margins on a page with no text above or below.

Use of Third-Party Content

In addition to the student's own writing, dissertations often contain third-party content or in-copyright content owned by parties other than you, the student who authored the dissertation. The Office for Scholarly Communication recommends consulting the information below about fair use, which allows individuals to use in-copyright content, on a limited basis and for specific purposes, without seeking permission from copyright holders.

Because your dissertation will be made available for online distribution through DASH , Harvard's open-access repository, it is important that any third-party content in it may be made available in this way.

Fair Use and Copyright 

What is fair use?

Fair use is a provision in copyright law that allows the use of a certain amount of copyrighted material without seeking permission. Fair use is format- and media-agnostic. This means fair use may apply to images (including photographs, illustrations, and paintings), quoting at length from literature, videos, and music regardless of the format. 

How do I determine whether my use of an image or other third-party content in my dissertation is fair use?  

There are four factors you will need to consider when making a fair use claim.

1) For what purpose is your work going to be used?

  • Nonprofit, educational, scholarly, or research use favors fair use. Commercial, non-educational uses, often do not favor fair use.
  • A transformative use (repurposing or recontextualizing the in-copyright material) favors fair use. Examining, analyzing, and explicating the material in a meaningful way, so as to enhance a reader's understanding, strengthens your fair use argument. In other words, can you make the point in the thesis without using, for instance, an in-copyright image? Is that image necessary to your dissertation? If not, perhaps, for copyright reasons, you should not include the image.  

2) What is the nature of the work to be used?

  • Published, fact-based content favors fair use and includes scholarly analysis in published academic venues. 
  • Creative works, including artistic images, are afforded more protection under copyright, and depending on your use in light of the other factors, may be less likely to favor fair use; however, this does not preclude considerations of fair use for creative content altogether.

3) How much of the work is going to be used?  

  • Small, or less significant, amounts favor fair use. A good rule of thumb is to use only as much of the in-copyright content as necessary to serve your purpose. Can you use a thumbnail rather than a full-resolution image? Can you use a black-and-white photo instead of color? Can you quote select passages instead of including several pages of the content? These simple changes bolster your fair use of the material.

4) What potential effect on the market for that work may your use have?

  • If there is a market for licensing this exact use or type of educational material, then this weighs against fair use. If however, there would likely be no effect on the potential commercial market, or if it is not possible to obtain permission to use the work, then this favors fair use. 

For further assistance with fair use, consult the Office for Scholarly Communication's guide, Fair Use: Made for the Harvard Community and the Office of the General Counsel's Copyright and Fair Use: A Guide for the Harvard Community .

What are my options if I don’t have a strong fair use claim? 

Consider the following options if you find you cannot reasonably make a fair use claim for the content you wish to incorporate:

  • Seek permission from the copyright holder. 
  • Use openly licensed content as an alternative to the original third-party content you intended to use. Openly-licensed content grants permission up-front for reuse of in-copyright content, provided your use meets the terms of the open license.
  • Use content in the public domain, as this content is not in-copyright and is therefore free of all copyright restrictions. Whereas third-party content is owned by parties other than you, no one owns content in the public domain; everyone, therefore, has the right to use it.

For use of images in your dissertation, please consult this guide to Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media , which is a great resource for finding images without copyright restrictions. 

Who can help me with questions about copyright and fair use?

Contact your Copyright First Responder . Please note, Copyright First Responders assist with questions concerning copyright and fair use, but do not assist with the process of obtaining permission from copyright holders.

Pages should be assigned a number except for the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate . Preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents, list of tables, graphs, illustrations, and preface) should use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages must contain text or images.  

Count the title page as page i and the copyright page as page ii, but do not print page numbers on either page .

For the body of text, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) starting with page 1 on the first page of text. Page numbers must be centered throughout the manuscript at the top or bottom. Every numbered page must be consecutively ordered, including tables, graphs, illustrations, and bibliography/index (if included); letter suffixes (such as 10a, 10b, etc.) are not allowed. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter heading.

  • Check pagination carefully. Account for all pages.

A copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC) should appear as the first page. This page should not be counted or numbered. The DAC will appear in the online version of the published dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

The dissertation begins with the title page; the title should be as concise as possible and should provide an accurate description of the dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

  • Do not print a page number on the title page. It is understood to be page  i  for counting purposes only.

A copyright notice should appear on a separate page immediately following the title page and include the copyright symbol ©, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author:

© [ year ] [ Author’s Name ] All rights reserved.

Alternatively, students may choose to license their work openly under a  Creative Commons  license. The author remains the copyright holder while at the same time granting up-front permission to others to read, share, and (depending on the license) adapt the work, so long as proper attribution is given. (By default, under copyright law, the author reserves all rights; under a Creative Commons license, the author reserves some rights.)

  • Do  not  print a page number on the copyright page. It is understood to be page  ii  for counting purposes only.

An abstract, numbered as page  iii , should immediately follow the copyright page and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract will appear in the online and bound versions of the dissertation and will be published by ProQuest. There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 

  • double-spaced
  • left-justified
  • indented on the first line of each paragraph
  • The author’s name, right justified
  • The words “Dissertation Advisor:” followed by the advisor’s name, left-justified (a maximum of two advisors is allowed)
  • Title of the dissertation, centered, several lines below author and advisor

Dissertations divided into sections must contain a table of contents that lists, at minimum, the major headings in the following order:

  • Front Matter
  • Body of Text
  • Back Matter

Front matter includes (if applicable):

  • acknowledgements of help or encouragement from individuals or institutions
  • a dedication
  • a list of illustrations or tables
  • a glossary of terms
  • one or more epigraphs.

Back matter includes (if applicable):

  • bibliography
  • supplemental materials, including figures and tables
  • an index (in rare instances).

Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of the dissertation in an appendix, not within or at the end of a chapter. If additional digital information (including audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the dissertation, it should be uploaded as a supplemental file through ProQuest ETD . Supplemental material will be available in DASH and ProQuest and preserved digitally in the Harvard University Archives.

As a matter of copyright, dissertations comprising the student's previously published works must be authorized for distribution from DASH. The guidelines in this section pertain to any previously published material that requires permission from publishers or other rightsholders before it may be distributed from DASH. Please note:

  • Authors whose publishing agreements grant the publisher exclusive rights to display, distribute, and create derivative works will need to seek the publisher's permission for nonexclusive use of the underlying works before the dissertation may be distributed from DASH.
  • Authors whose publishing agreements indicate the authors have retained the relevant nonexclusive rights to the original materials for display, distribution, and the creation of derivative works may distribute the dissertation as a whole from DASH without need for further permissions.

It is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is available to help the author determine whether she has retained the necessary rights or requires permission. Please note, however, the Office of Scholarly Communication is not able to assist with the permissions process itself.

  • Missing Dissertation Acceptance Certificate.  The first page of the PDF dissertation file should be a scanned copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC). This page should not be counted or numbered as a part of the dissertation pagination.
  • Conflicts Between the DAC and the Title Page.  The DAC and the dissertation title page must match exactly, meaning that the author name and the title on the title page must match that on the DAC. If you use your full middle name or just an initial on one document, it must be the same on the other document.  
  • Abstract Formatting Errors. The advisor name should be left-justified, and the author's name should be right-justified. Up to two advisor names are allowed. The Abstract should be double spaced and include the page title “Abstract,” as well as the page number “iii.” There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 
  •  The front matter should be numbered using Roman numerals (iii, iv, v, …). The title page and the copyright page should be counted but not numbered. The first printed page number should appear on the Abstract page (iii). 
  • The body of the dissertation should be numbered using Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, …). The first page of the body of the text should begin with page 1. Pagination may not continue from the front matter. 
  • All page numbers should be centered either at the top or the bottom of the page.
  • Figures and tables Figures and tables must be placed within the text, as close to their first mention as possible. Figures and tables that span more than one page must be labeled on each page. Any second and subsequent page of the figure/table must include the “(Continued)” notation. This applies to figure captions as well as images. Each page of a figure/table must be accounted for and appropriately labeled. All figures/tables must have a unique number. They may not repeat within the dissertation.
  • Any figures/tables placed in a horizontal orientation must be placed with the top of the figure/ table on the left-hand side. The top of the figure/table should be aligned with the spine of the dissertation when it is bound. 
  • Page numbers must be placed in the same location on all pages of the dissertation, centered, at the bottom or top of the page. Page numbers may not appear under the table/ figure.
  • Supplemental Figures and Tables. Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the back of the dissertation in an appendix. They should not be placed at the back of the chapter. 
  • Permission Letters Copyright. permission letters must be uploaded as a supplemental file, titled ‘do_not_publish_permission_letters,” within the dissertation submission tool.
  •  DAC Attachment. The signed Dissertation Acceptance Certificate must additionally be uploaded as a document in the "Administrative Documents" section when submitting in Proquest ETD . Dissertation submission is not complete until all documents have been received and accepted.
  • Overall Formatting. The entire document should be checked after all revisions, and before submitting online, to spot any inconsistencies or PDF conversion glitches.
  • You can view dissertations successfully published from your department in DASH . This is a great place to check for specific formatting and area-specific conventions.
  • Contact the  Office of Student Affairs  with further questions.

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HARVARD FORMATTING STYLE

Table of contents, what is harvard style, harvard outline for referencing, harvard outline format, harvard style guide, harvard format, harvard writing style cover page.

Many academic works involve researching various areas. Many Institutions of Higher Learning have courses that involve assigning students academic essays, papers, and other forms of academic writing. 

The Harvard style is a referencing style in use in a range of academic institutions. However, there is no elaborate standardization to the referencing style and various institutions modify it to meet their needs . Aspects like Harvard font and some referencing conventions are however elaborate.

Harvard Citation Rules

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In various ways, the Harvard referencing style starkly varies with other formatting styles. The Harvard style mainly includes in-text references as well as reference lists at the end of the work.

The Harvard Outline format differs when it comes to in-text references and reference lists.

In-text Referencing

In-text references or citations include the surname of the author or the authors and the year of publication . In some cases, the authoring body can be used in place of the names of the authors if the names are not available. There are no punctuation marks between the name and the year of the publication. However, the two should be in brackets.

(Atkin and Cava 2017).

There are cases where there is explicitly referencing a particular page or section in a book or journal or other published material. In such situations, there is a need to mention the page number in the in-text reference explicitly.

(Atkin and Cava 2017, p.6)

Reference Lists

In most cases, the reference list features at the final section of the paper and starts on a new page as is in the conventions. The reference list should start on a new page and most likely the last page with the word References as the title.

Here, the references should be in alphabetical order. The convention is that the author's name should start every reference in the list followed by other details as required. Reference lists often contain the sources used in crafting the essay or paper.

Atkin T. & Cava L. G. ‘The Transmission of Monetary Policy: How Does It Work?’ Reserve Bank of Australia.

Essentially, reference lists contain vital information that points readers to the source of information.

The Harvard referencing style, a component of the Harvard writing style guide, has its unique conventions when it comes to referencing.

References for Books with a Single Author

This involves a particular order for listing the main particulars required. The sequence c onsists in starting with the first name of the author, the last name, the title of the book, its Edition, city of publication and the publisher.

Soros, G. (1987). The Alchemy of Finance. New York: Simon & Schuster.

References for Books with Two or Three Authors

Here, the names of all the authors featured in the reference.

Christian B. and Griffiths, T. (2016). Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions. London: HarperCollins Publishers.

Evans, D., McDonald, F. and Jackson, T. (2008). Getting the Best Service. Nottingham: Delectable Publications.

References for Articles in Print Journals

Under Harvard Referencing, the convention includes writing the last name, first name, year of publication, the article title, name of the journal, volume issue and the pages of the article in the journal.

Fialkowski, A. and Tiwari H. (2019). SimCorrMix: Simulation of Correlated Data with Multiple Variable Types Including Continuous and Count Mixture Distributions. The R Journal, Vol 11/1, pp 250-286.

References for Newspaper Articles Online

When found in websites of newspapers, the articles take citations as follows.

Dawson, A. (2019, October 16). Patrick Day, a 27-year-old American, Has Died from Boxing Injuries Suffered in Saturday’s Fight. Business Insider.

Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/patrick-day-27-has-died-from-boxing-injuries-2019-10  

References for Websites

The main point here is to bring up or highlight the aspect of authorship. Websites that are not newspapers or online journals or magazines could have an individual author behind them. However, there are cases that authors are not traceable. In such scenarios, the website itself can take credit for the authorship.

The convention here involves naming the website if there is no author, and then the year. Details on the topic of the web page, the last day of modification or update and the Link to the website follow.

Ahrefs Blog (2019). What is SEO? How to Optimize for Search Engines Like Google. [online]. Available at: https:///www.ahrefs.com/blog/what-is-seo/

The Harvard format is uniquely for referencing purposes. Academic essay Harvard format requires students to consider the tenets of Harvard referencing. Whether it is in-text citations or referencing lists, students have to ensure that they meet the bare minimum.

At its core, Harvard referencing serves the purpose of presenting references in the most precise and elaborate fashion . Whether it is a book, an article in a journal, an article in a newspaper or an article on a website, Harvard allows for the creation of references for the same. In-text citations help to improve the quality of the essay and its referencing bit as well.

The organization of the cover page in Harvard style writing is very elaborate. The title of the essay or paper is halfway and written in capital letters. Its position is also half down the page. The name of the paper’s author features three lines below the title. The author’s name is in small letters.

Four lines down the author’s name are the class and a line down is the professor’s name or the course instructor’s name. The line that follows contains details that are the name of the school. The line that follows contains the name of the city and state, and the final name bears the date.

Primarily, the structure and outline of the cover page provide all the necessary information about the author of the work.

FREE Harvard Referencing Generator | Cite This For Me. (2010). Retrieved from Cite this for Me | Free Reference Generator – Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago... website: https://www.citethisforme.com/citation-generator/harvard

Subject and Research Guides: Referencing : Harvard. (2010). Retrieved from Mq.edu.au website: https://libguides.mq.edu.au/referencing/Harvard

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A Complete Essay Format Guide

25 June, 2020

11 minutes read

Author:  Tomas White

So, you’ve crafted your essay. Congratulations! The hard part is truly over. Now comes the time to choose the proper essay format. It is no longer about your content, but rather about the way you arrange it. You do it to meet your school’s requirements.

Essay Format Guide

In this guide, we will focus on common formatting styles:

  • APA essay format;
  • MLA essay format;
  • Harvard format essay, and
  • Chicago essay format.

So, without further ado, let’s get right to business.

What is an Essay Format?

An essay format is the structure and the general guidelines of an essay that keep its content organized and well-structured.

The primary purpose of the college essay format is to help the readers follow main ideas behind the content without stumbling upon its structure. It is not a daunting task to deal with. It is a great way to organize your thoughts for the target audience to understand what you were trying to say in the first place.

Moreover, at least 10% of your grade depends on the proper essay format . Thus, it is in your best interests to stick to the guidelines and use correct essay format.

And it is also true in case you want to get into a college of your dream. Half of the success is in proper college application essay format. So, don’t miss your chance!

Educational institutions require different essay formats. Therefore, to get the highest grades, one must know the difference between types of essay formats and follow the guidelines when working on a piece.

In just a bit, you will find out the difference between the APA, Chicago, Harvard, and MLA format for essays.

Types of Essay Formats

Here are four most common types of essay formats, as we have mentioned above.

types of essay formats

They all have their specifics, and each school has its own requirements. However, MLA remains the top essay format. We don’t say that it’s the best essay writing format. However, it is the most popular one.

And unless you have clear instructions on what essay format to use in your paper, you’d rather opt for an MLA format essay.

The essay format style has nothing to do with the complexity of your paper. The argumentative essay format at your school depends on the preferences of your tutors, not on the academic level of the paper. So, don’t fall victim to this silly idea.

How to Format a College Essay

Set of requirements for essay formats

To get the highest grade, a student has to know how to format an essay in accordance with these requirements. Here’s an example of how essay formats might differ.

The Difference Between MLA and APA Essay Formats

We’ll give more details on each of these essay formats later in the guide, but for now, let’s see what differences one should know about when it comes to these two formats.

  • The list of works used in the paper is called differently in APA and MLA formats (“ References ” and “ Works cited ” respectively). And even though both of them list works used in the essay alphabetically, with MLA, the name of the author is written in full, while with the APA, only the first letter of his name is mentioned following the last name.
  • In general, APA essay format is mostly used in papers on social studies , while the MLA essay format is typically the top choice for other subjects .
  • Finally, in case you are adding citations inside the text and mention the author within the quote, MLA essay format requires you to add a number of the page you found the quote on at the end of the sentence while in case of the APA essay format you need to mention the year . Here is an APA format essay example with the quote: “Bill Gates (1985) stated that young people would have no problem finding a good job as long as they view computers as tools.”

These might seem like insignificant differences. Yet, when it comes to grading your paper, the tutor will look closely at each of these essay format requirements to see how well you did your homework.

Now that you understand the differences between MLA and APA essay formats let’s go into specifics of each one of them.

How to Write an Essay in MLA Format

The basic guidelines for the MLA essay format are the following:

  • Font : Times New Roman
  • Size of the font : 12pt
  • Margins : 1-inch margin on all the sides of the pape
  • Header : Each page should have a header that will contain the author’s last name and a page number
  • Alignment : To the left-hand side
  • Spacing : Double
  • Indentation : Yes, at the beginning of each paragraph
  • Title : The title comes on the first page at the same font size as the rest of the text, only aligned to the center of the page.
  • Footnotes : Not required

When explaining to you how to start an essay in MLA format, we have to mention that every piece begins with a heading. Place it in the upper right corner, and make sure to include the following facts into it:

  • Your first and last name;
  • Your tutor’s (or professor’s) name;
  • The course you’re taking;

Here is a good MLA essay format example of the headline:

“Mark Snow Jonathan Brown Psychology September 24, 2018.”

If you need more information on the MLA essay format , check our recent guide on this topic.

How to Write an Essay in APA Format

This essay format is also quite common. Its main requirements include but are not limited to:

  • Margins : 1-inch margin on all the sides of the paper
  • Header : Each page should have a header that will contain the title of the paper and a page number. Note that in this essay format the title cannot exceed 50 characters.
  • Title : The title comes on the first page at the same font size as the rest of the text. With it, according to this essay format guidelines, a student must mention his full name and the educational establishment he is currently studying at.

In this case, the APA essay format example of the cover page will look like this:

“Foreign Language Education: How to Teach English to Adults” Mark Snow Yale University”

To find more details on this essay format, please read our complete guide to APA essay format .

Chicago Style Essay Format

Requirements for this essay format include but are not limited to:

  • Font : Times New Roman (unless your tutor specified a different one)
  • Font size : 12pt
  • Margins : 1-inch margins on sides, top, and bottom;
  • Header : Each page should have a page number at the top right corner and your last name. Don’t put a number on the title page.
  • Indentation : 1/2″ indent for paragraph beginnings
  • Footnotes : Required

A title page in case of this essay format starts with a title of your paper placed ¼ page down from the top. Then ½ page down from top comes your full name followed by the course number, the name of the professor and due date at the bottom of the page. You should write each of these points in separate lines with double spacing.

Take a look at this essay format example of a cover page if you need brighter examples to clarify the subject.

Chicago format cover page

Harvard Format

Last but not least is the Harvard essay format . Here are the requirements for this essay writing format:

  • Font : Times New Roman or Arial
  • Header : Each page should have a short version of the paper’s title and a page number in the top right corner with exactly five spaces in between them.
  • Alignment : To the left-hand side.

The cover page in the Harvard essay format is very specific.

The title of your essay should be capitalized and written ½ page down. Then you have to go three lines down to place the author of the work (no capitalization here). From there, you have to go four more lines down to mention the class you are taking first and the tutor’s full name in the next line. Finally, this essay format requires you to specify the name of the educational establishment, its location, and the due date in the following lines.

It doesn’t matter what paper you are writing using this essay format. The structure stays the same.

Here is an example of the compare and contrast essay format. Feast your eyes on it:

Harvard format cover page

Essay Outline Format

Apart from sticking to the requirements of these essay formats, students should also pay close attention to following the essay writing guidelines when it comes to its outline.

Thus, the scholarship essay format, as well as the persuasive essay format, are only considered correct if the text contains all the essential components.

Any essay should have the following structure.

a-grade essay structure

Related Posts: Essay outline | Research Paper outline

Over to You

These are four common essay formats every student should know. Use this guide as a cheat sheet whenever needed.

And in case you don’t want to deal with essay formats, you can always trust us with this important task. Our Online Essay Writer service is your best choice when it comes to excellent essay writing services and perfect essay format.

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HAA-CRO Style Guide

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Formatting, Layout, Special Sections

  • Created by Emily Poore , last modified on Oct 23, 2017

We want to keep formatting in Class Reports uniform across Reunion years and throughout the life of the individual Class. Here are details about book layout, copy formatting, and special sections.

Entry format .

Name in itals and caps, rest of the text in plain font with as much information as to date and place of death as can be found.

Joseph M. Smith.  Died November 21, 2008, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

In Twenty-fifth and Fiftieth, the deceased’s name appears in roman text with the  icon— wingdings, letter h —preceding name. 

No abbreviations in deceased line (“Died . . . in . . . ”) or in obits.

Died references for spouses and children in stats lines

(died Nov. 16, 1995) (died, November 1995) (died, 1995) (deceased) [with no date]

In Memoriam List

For deceased, name in Records and In Memoriam appear as mail name (as a default) and more formally in obituary.

Okay in Record/In Memoriam list to have Charles S. Brodsky and in obit to have Charles Seymour Brodsky.

For obits, check Commencement program if Advance doesn’t provide full middle name.

Editor's Notes

Occasionally, editors need to add in a note to readers about a Report entry. These are used often to inform readers that the alum who wrote an entry died before publication or a spouse or child has submitted an entry on an alumni's behalf. Here's how they should read:

[ The following was submitted for publication by Mr. Anders before his death. —Ed .] [ The following was submitted for publication by Mrs. Vanessa Cruz, wife of Mr. Cruz, on his behalf. —Ed. ]

Layout and Formatting

Bulleted lists with hanging indents.

The left indent for the first line of each new bulleted item should be set at 0.25. Use tabs to keep the space between the bullet and the text consistent,  not  individual spaces.

Remove the regular space that will initially be present between the bullet and the text. Set a left tab stop at 0.3333 and then hit tab. Repeat this process for the initial line of each bulleted item.

All hanging indents should be aligned at 0.3333, but you may have to adjust that number by a few hundredths or a tenth either way, depending upon how it looks on the page.

Justify all text along the left margin for each bulleted item.

Epigraphs and postscript quotations

Quoted material should be set in roman without quotation marks.

The name of the publication should be set in roman; name of the author should be set in italics.

Names of short works (names of poems, etc.) should be set in roman and in quotation marks.

All books use 10-pt font over 11.5 leading as their standard, so reduce the font size and leading for the epigraph or postscript quotation to 9-pt over 10.5.

Indent at 0.25. Set quoted material in roman without quote marks. Reduce to 9-pt/10.5 leading (quoted material only).

Original poems

Check original entry online for line breaks and abide by those, but keep font and leading standard.

Images as Narratives

Files must be given in .tif

Dimensions should not exceed 5x7.5 inches, as to leave room for stats on the same page. These dimensions can change from entry to entry, be sure to talk with alum about their image needs. 

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  • Harvard Referencing Generator

Free Harvard Referencing Generator

Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!

🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.

It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.

👩‍🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?

Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).

🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:

  • It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
  • It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.

A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?

Here's how to use our reference generator:

  • If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
  • Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
  • Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
  • Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.

MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:

🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?

There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:

  • Cite Them Right
  • Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
  • University of the West of England (UWE)

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Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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COMMENTS

  1. PDF Harvard Formatting and Style Guide

    Harvard formatting requires a very specific title page. About halfway down the page is ... The Harvard Essay Template: The Essay Title is Centered and Capitalized ... You should not use fancy fonts, colors in the text, or excessive amounts of boldface, underlining, or italics. The whole paper should be double-spaced with smooth left margins and

  2. Harvard Referencing Style & Format: Easy Guide + Examples

    Text: double-spaced and left-aligned. Indent: first line of a paragraph has indent of 0.5 inch. Margins: 1 inch from each side. A Harvard style citation must have a Title page, header (or running head), headings and Reference list. We will take a closer look at formatting each section down below.

  3. Harvard Referencing Style Guide

    Format for Harvard Referencing. Typically, a paper that uses Harvard referencing has the following format: 2.5 cm OR 1-inch margins on all sides; Recommended fonts: Arial 12 pt or Times New Roman, with double-spacing; Title is in the center of the page just above the text; Left-aligned text, with the first sentence of every paragraph indented ...

  4. Harvard Style

    Format Your Paper & Cite Your Sources. Learn to format your papers and cite your sources in MLA, APA, Chicago, and other styles. Citing Sources; Avoid Plagiarism; MLA Style (8th/9th ed.) APA Style, 7th Edition; ... The Harvard referencing system is known as the Author-Date style. It emphasizes the name of the creator of a piece of information ...

  5. Demystifying Harvard: Font, Spacing, & Margins

    Mastering Harvard: Font, Spacing, & Margins • Learn the secrets of proper formatting in academic writing using the Harvard citation style. Discover the right...

  6. University approved Harvard formatting rules

    General Guidelines. The paper should be written using 12 pt. Times New Roman font with 1.5 spacing on a standard sized paper (8.5"x 11") with a margin of 1" on all four sides. The alignment of the entire writing should be made justified. The page numbers should be put in the right hand top corner.

  7. Complete Guide to Harvard Style Citation: Tips, Examples

    The full guide that will help you to format your essay in the Harvard style citation and referencing. Find inside the citation and reference list example. ... Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial in size 12. Set margins to 1 inch on all sides. Use double spacing throughout the document, including the reference list.

  8. Mastering Harvard Citation Style: Comprehensive Guide by Experts

    Harvard citation style is among the most popular formatting styles for academic papers, alongside APA, MLA, and Chicago. Harvard style dictates the overall layout of the paper, including margin sizes, preferred fonts, and more. Harvard referencing style is often used in these fields: Humanities.

  9. Harvard Referencing Sample Paper

    Harvard referencing format varies from school to school, but there are general guidelines you can follow. ... Font type and size: Use a clear and readable font, like Times New Roman or Arial, in 12 pt. font. ... For help writing your essay, research paper, or other project, check out these writing tips. Cover page formatting.

  10. Harvard Format (With Example)

    Fancy fonts are not allowed because the Harvard format is used in writing outstanding academic and research essays. The essay should be double-spaced with smooth left margins. In the Harvard format titles of journals, newspapers or books or websites are italicized in in-text citations while that of poems and short stories is written in ...

  11. A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing

    When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors' names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ' et al. ': Number of authors. In-text citation example. 1 author. (Davis, 2019) 2 authors. (Davis and Barrett, 2019) 3 authors.

  12. Harvard style guide

    Size and non-Roman script. This page will help you with some of the basic styling used in Harvard referencing, including use of punctuation and abbreviations. Remember, when you reference, you need to give your reader enough information so that they can find that source themselves.

  13. Formatting guidelines

    Formatting guidelines. Begin the reference list on a new page. Use the heading 'References' in bold at the top of the page and make sure it is centred. Order the references alphabetically. Double space the reference list, within and between reference list entries. This can be done with the line spacing setting in any word processing software.

  14. Introduction

    The Harvard style involves two tasks: how you refer to other authors in the body of your text (in-text citation). In this guide we show how common reference types should look in your reference list along with an example. Immediately following this will be two samples of how that reference should appear as an in-text citation.

  15. PDF Harvard Style Sheets

    Font size 10. Text justified. Indented from both sides left and right, 0.5cm. Body Text/Main Text: Three spaces between the abstract and the main text. Font size 11. Justified. Single space between lines and words. Indent every section of the main text, except the first section after the title or the sub-title.

  16. Harvard Style Bibliography

    Formatting a Harvard style bibliography. Sources are alphabetised by author last name. The heading 'Reference list' or 'Bibliography' appears at the top. Each new source appears on a new line, and when an entry for a single source extends onto a second line, a hanging indent is used: Harvard bibliography example.

  17. Harvard In-Text Citation

    In Harvard style, citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author, the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al. Harvard in-text citation examples.

  18. Formatting Your Dissertation

    To embed your fonts in recent versions of Word, follow these instructions from Microsoft: Click the File tab and then click Options. In the left column, select the Save tab. At the bottom, under Preserve fidelity when sharing this document, select the Embed fonts in the file check box. Clear the Do not embed common system fonts check box. Click OK.

  19. How to Use Harvard Style in Academic Writing By Trust My Paper!

    Aspects like Harvard font and some referencing conventions are however elaborate. Harvard Citation Rules By: Writer144311. ... Academic essay Harvard format requires students to consider the tenets of Harvard referencing. Whether it is in-text citations or referencing lists, students have to ensure that they meet the bare minimum. ...

  20. College Essay Format Guide: APA, MLA, Chicago

    Here are the requirements for this essay writing format: Font: Times New Roman or Arial; Font size: 12pt; Margins: 1-inch margins on sides, top, ... The cover page in the Harvard essay format is very specific. The title of your essay should be capitalized and written ½ page down. Then you have to go three lines down to place the author of the ...

  21. Formatting, Layout, Special Sections

    Font size. All books use 10-pt font over 11.5 leading as their standard, so reduce the font size and leading for the epigraph or postscript quotation to 9-pt over 10.5. Poetry. Indent at 0.25. Set quoted material in roman without quote marks. Reduce to 9-pt/10.5 leading (quoted material only). Original poems

  22. Free Harvard Referencing Generator [Updated for 2024]

    A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style. It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

  23. Harvard Format (With Example)

    Harvard essay format is very specific and organized unlike argumentative essay. Computers requires a very particular title page with of following instructions: ... Harvard style uses a regular font such when Times New Roman or Arial at product 12. Fancy fonts are not allowed for the Harvard format belongs used in print super academic and ...