Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Free Harvard referencing generator.
Harvard is a family of author–date styles rather than one fixed standard, so universities each publish their own version. This generator follows Cite Them Right Harvard, the version most UK universities use, with the surname and year in the text and a reference list at the end.
Paste a DOI, a link, an ISBN or a title. The generator finds the source's details, lets you check and edit them, then writes the reference and both forms of in-text citation. If your university's guide differs, follow it.
The style
How Harvard citations work.
Used in: Widely used in the UK, Ireland, Australia and South Africa, across most subjects.
Harvard in-text citations
- Use the surname and year with a comma: (Akbari, 2016). Narrative: Akbari (2016) argues…
- Two or three authors: name them all, (Wong, Smith and Adebole, 2015), with no comma before "and". Four or more: (Santamouris et al., 2017), with et al. in italics.
- Add pages after a comma: (Akbari, 2016, p. 836). Include them for quotations and specific points.
- No date: write "no date" in full, (Harvey and Williams, no date). No author: use the italic title.
- Corporate authors: (World Health Organization (WHO), 2021) first, then (WHO, 2021).
The Reference list
- Title the list "Reference list" and order it alphabetically by first author.
- Give authors as Surname, Initials with no spaces between initials: Oke, T.R. Join the last two with "and", not "&".
- Put the year in round brackets with no full stop after it: Oke, T.R. (2017) Urban climates.
- Put article and chapter titles in single quotation marks, in sentence case. Italicise book and webpage titles (sentence case) and journal names (title case).
- Always use "pp." for journal page ranges. Give DOIs as "Available at: https://doi.org/…" and URLs as "Available at: URL (Accessed: 4 November 2026)."
Harvard citation examples
Journal article
LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y. and Hinton, G. (2015) 'Deep learning', Nature, 521(7553), pp. 436–444. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.
In text: (LeCun, Bengio and Hinton, 2015)
Book
Austen, J. (2003) Pride and prejudice. Penguin Books.
In text: (Austen, 2003)
Book chapter
Moreno, L. (2021) 'Green roofs in dense districts', in R. Patel (ed.) Cooling the city. Routledge, pp. 45–68.
In text: (Moreno, 2021)
Webpage with no date
World Health Organization (no date) Depressive disorder (depression). Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression (Accessed: 4 November 2026).
In text: (World Health Organization (WHO), no date)
The journal, book and webpage examples are real sources; the chapter is an illustrative example from the style rules.
Common Harvard mistakes
- Using APA punctuation: "&", a full stop after the year, or no quotation marks around article titles.
- Using double quotation marks for article titles; Cite Them Right uses single ones.
- Leaving out the comma in (Surname, Year), or using et al. for three authors.
- Writing a DOI without "Available at:", or a URL without "(Accessed: …)".
- Writing "n.d." instead of "no date".
FAQ
Harvard citation questions.
Is this Harvard referencing generator free?
Yes. You can create references without an account, up to 20 an hour. EssayMate students can also cite from inside the essay editor.
Which version of Harvard does it use?
Cite Them Right Harvard, the version most UK universities use. Some universities have their own Harvard guide with small differences, such as full stops or bracket styles; when yours does, follow it.
Do I need an access date?
For webpages and other online sources without a DOI, yes: "(Accessed: 4 November 2026)". Sources with a DOI don't need one.
What's the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?
A reference list includes only the sources you cite. A bibliography also lists background reading you didn't cite. Most assignments ask for a reference list.
Writing the essay too?
EssayMate finds real sources and cites them while it writes.
Give it the brief and it delivers a cited essay as a Word or PDF file, in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard or IEEE.