Harvard Style Bibliography: Guide on Formatting & Example

The main goal of a Harvard bibliography is to provide detailed information about the sources cited in the text, allowing readers to locate the referenced materials. It also includes any background readings or other information you may have used but did not cite. 

Read on our comprehensive guide to find all details about how to format a bibliograpphy in Harvard style. We will attach a genral structure and example for each individual source you might use in your project. 

Harvard bibliography format determines an author’s name along with their last name, date of published resources and page list if given. The sources are arranged alphabetically by the last name of an author. The top of the page has the header “Reference list” or “Bibliography.” Each new source displays on a new line. A hanging indent is utilized when an entry for a single source runs onto a second line. Take a look at an example of how bibliography format should look.

Harvard style bibliography is often used when citing books. It also provides the same in its in-text citation and references page. Remember that when citing books in bibliography you should put surname of an author first, followed by initials. Also note that book title should be given in italics. It is pretty easy to cite a book in Harvard citation style. All you need to do is to follow the formula given below.

Formula:

Author surname, initial. (Year) Book title. City: Publisher.

Also, check out our example to get a better understanding of how it should be used.

Edited books are collections of different writers' chapters. Structure of their reference is fairly similar to that of a book reference. Except that instead of an author's name, an editor's name is used, followed by (ed.) to indicate that they are an editor. A fundamental format is as follows:

Editor surname, initial. (ed.) (Year) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.

Here is an example of how edited books citation should look like:
  

Harvard bibliography style for referencing journals include author names and other details. The basics include author or authors and their surname followed by initials. Then publication year should be added along with an article title and journal title. If volume is present, then journal’s volume number and issue number should be included as well. Finally, add pages for a reference. Check our basic formula first:

Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. page range.

The below is a good example of citing journal articles.  

For Harvard style bibliography a style and publication of newspaper article must be included in your referencing. Referencing a newspaper is identical to citing a journal article. But edition and publication date are required instead of volume and issue number. ‘Article title', Newspaper Title, day month number of pages are also included. It's worth noting that the term "edition" is only used when it's appropriate.

Follow this formula to cite newspapers properly:

Author surname, initial. (Year) ‘Article title’, Newspaper Name, date, p. page number.

Below is a valid example:  

Bibliography Harvard website can be used in-text and cited through an online resource at the end of references page. Basic format to fully cite a web resource is to provide a surname and initials of an author who might be publishing this resource on the internet followed by year of publication and page title it was procured from. Finally, citation should be completed with a URL at the end of your reference. The following can be seen as a primary example of website in Harvard referencing style.

Author surname, initial. (Year) (page created or revised). Page title, Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

Also, take a look at an example below.  

Harvard bibliography requires documents with different details to be cited with author names in its references page. This is done by stating an author’s surname. Which is then followed by the initials of an author themselves. This process is repeated until all authors have been stated. The last author being preceded by the word (&) prior to them being mentioned.

Harvard style bibliography sometimes requires more than one author to be cited in the bibliography. The word is that most university publications have multiple authors. That means the following format is one of the primary ways in which you can cite these authors without making any errors. An example should be taken as a reference only.

Example:  

If you’re using Harvard bibliography, you have to check if the same author has multiple works or not. There are many guides that we can check online. But the simplest format in such a case would be as follows:

For the work having no authors, Harvard bibliography style provides a detailed read of the references. In-text references must also appear in your reference list. Personal correspondence and classical works are exceptions to this norm, as are newspaper articles and encyclopedia entries where no author can be recognized. They are referenced in text alone and are not included in the reference list.

Here are some examples of formula for citation with no author:

For websites:

Title of web page or document, Year, Publisher (if applicable), viewed Day Month Year, URL.

Example:  

For journals, magazines, and newspapers:

'Article title', Year, Newspaper Title, Day, Month, viewed Date Month Year, URL.

Example:  

Harvard bibliography style with given list of pages and other details must follow a specific set of formatting. Basically, a reference list is a comprehensive list of all the sources utilized in the creation of your work. This list contains information on sources, such as an author, publication date, source title, and more. Harvard reference list must include the following items:

By the way, if you seek an annotated bibliography writer, we may offer you one of our brilliant specialist.