Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

In Harvard style, the bibliography or reference list provides full references for the sources you used in your writing.

• A reference list consists of entries corresponding to your in-text citations.
• A bibliography sometimes also lists sources that you consulted for background research, but did not cite in your text.

The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. If in doubt about which to include, check with your instructor or department.

The information you include in a reference varies depending on the type of source, but it usually includes the author, date, and title of the work, followed by details of where it was published. You can automatically generate accurate references using our free reference generator:

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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 reference examples

Reference list or bibliography entries always start with the author’s last name and initial, the publication date and the title of the source. The other information required varies depending on the source type. Formats and examples for the most common source types are given below.

Books

Journal articles

Websites

Multimedia

Newspapers and magazines

Referencing sources with multiple authors

When a source has up to three authors, list all of them in the order their names appear on the source. If there are four or more, give only the first name followed by ‘et al.’:

Referencing sources with missing information

Sometimes a source won’t list all the information you need for your reference. Here’s what to do when you don’t know the publication date or author of a source.

No date

Some online sources, as well as historical documents, may lack a clear publication date. In these cases, you can replace the date in the reference list entry with the words ‘no date’. With online sources, you still include an access date at the end:

No author

When a source doesn’t list an author, you can often list a corporate source as an author instead, as with ‘Scribbr’ in the above example. When that’s not possible, begin the entry with the title instead of the author:

Frequently asked questions about Harvard bibliographies

What’s the difference between a bibliography and a reference list?

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

• A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation.
• A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

How do I cite a source with multiple authors in Harvard style?

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-text citation	Reference list
1 author	(Smith, 2014)	Smith, T. (2014) …
2 authors	(Smith and Jones, 2014)	Smith, T. and Jones, F. (2014) …
3 authors	(Smith, Jones and Davies, 2014)	Smith, T., Jones, F. and Davies, S. (2014) …
4+ authors	(Smith et al., 2014)	Smith, T. et al. (2014) …

 

How do I cite multiple sources by the same author published in the same year?

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.

How do I create a hanging indent in Word?

To create a hanging indent for your bibliography or reference list:

1. Highlight all the entries
2. Click on the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the ‘Paragraph’ tab in the top menu.
3. In the pop-up window, under ‘Special’ in the ‘Indentation’ section, use the drop-down menu to select ‘Hanging’.
4. Then close the window with ‘OK’.