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BU Guide to Citation in the

Harvard Style
When writing a piece of work, you need to refer in your text to material written or produced by others. This
procedure is called citing or quoting references. Consistency and accuracy are important to enable readers to
identify and locate the material to which you have referred. The same set of rules should be followed every time
you cite a reference.
The principles used in the Harvard System, also known as the Author Date method, are widely applied and
interpretations exist which differ from the Bournemouth University guide. However, our guidance here is based
on both the British Standard for the citation and referencing of published material in the Harvard Style and
interpretations of that system used in academic and research institutions.
In common with most authorities, and as detailed below, we recommend that references to person-to-person
communications such as letters and emails are given only within the running text and are not detailed in the
reference list. Advice on citing such documents can be found in BS 6371:1983, Recommendations for citing of
unpublished documents.
For Law, we use a different approach based on the Oxford Standard for Citing Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). Our
guide Citing References:Law is available through the myBU Library tab or you may also access resources via the
Library webpages.
You are also recommended to consult our Using Information Community on myBU - where you will find worked
examples of references using, as appropriate, either the Harvard System or the OSCOLA system for citing legal
materials. When you submit work for external publication please follow the guidelines for authors issued to you
by your publisher. These may differ from the guidelines set out here.

The Harvard System (Author Date Method)

dominant role, e.g. videos or films, the title may be

used instead of an originator or author.

All statements, opinions, conclusions etc. taken from

another writers work should be cited, whether the
work is directly quoted, paraphrased or
summarised.

Where neither of these options are apparent and

there is clearly no identifiable person/body
responsible, use Anon..

In the Harvard System cited publications are referred

to in the text by giving the authors surname and the
year of publication (see section 1, Citing in the text)
and are listed in a bibliography at the end of the text
(see section 2, References at the end of a piece of
work).

Dates: if an exact year or date is not known, an

approximate date preceded by ca. may be supplied
and given in square brackets. If no such
approximation is possible, that should be stated, e.g.
[ca.1750] or [no date]. Note that for web pages, it
may be preferable to cite the year in which the page
was accessed, e.g. [ca.2009], than use [no date].

Originators/authors: name(s) of the person or

organisation shown most prominently in the source
as responsible for the content in its published form
should be given. This includes Editors who have
been responsible for the editorial aspects of
publication but may not have written an individual
contribution. For web sites, this may be the
publisher of the web site in the absence of any
identifiable individual.
For certain kinds of work, e.g. dictionaries or
encyclopaedias, or if an item is the co-operative
work of many individuals, none of whom have a

Citing in the text

Quotations: as a general rule, if the quote is less
than a line it may be included in the body of the text
in quotation marks. Longer quotations are indented
and single-spaced; quotation marks are not required.
Pagination: for citing quotations from particular
parts of the document the relevant page number(s)
etc. should be given after the year within the
parentheses. This also applies to online documents

Available in alternative formats. Please ask:

Tel +44(0)1202 965959 Email [email protected]

Page 1

BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

except where pagination is absent. In such cases,

the extent of the item may be indicated in terms
such as the total number of lines, screens, etc., e.g.
"[35 lines]" or "[approx. 12 screens]".
Summaries or paraphrases give the citation where
it occurs naturally or at the end of the relevant piece
of writing. Page numbers are not required.
Diagrams, illustrations should be referenced as
though they were a quotation if they have been
taken from a published work. So page numbers are
after the year within the parentheses.

e.g.

Matthews and Jones (1997) have

proposed that
vi) If there are more than two authors the surname
of the first author only should be given, followed by
et al.:e.g.

Office costs amount to 20% of total costs

in most business (Wilson et al. 1997)
(A full listing of names should appear in list of
references.)
vi) If the work is anonymous then Anon. should
be used:e.g.

Examples
i) If the authors name occurs naturally in the
sentence, the year is given in parentheses:e.g.

In a popular study Harvey (1992) argued

that we have to teach good practices

e.g.

As Harvey (1992, p.21) said, good

practices must be taught and so we

ii) If the name does not occur naturally in the

sentence, both name and year are given in
parentheses:e.g.

A more recent study (Stevens 1998) has

shown the way theory and practical work
interact.

e.g.

Theory rises out of practice, and once

validated, returns to direct or explain the
practice (Stevens 1998).

iii) When an author has published more than one

cited document in the same year, these are
distinguished by adding lower case letters (a,b,c,
etc.) after the year and within the parentheses:e.g.

Johnson (1994a) discussed the subject

NB The addition of letters is determined by the

order of appearance within the main text, not by the
alphabetical sequence of the items themselves.
Thus, a citation Johnson (1994a) will always
precede Johnson (1994b)
iv) When more than one source is cited, the
sequence of citations may be either chronological,
e.g. (Smith 1999; Jones 2001; Turner 2006) or in
order of academic relevance.
v) If there are two authors the surnames of both
should be given:-

Page
Page 26

In one history (Anon. 1908) it was stated

that

vii) If it is a reference to a newspaper article with

no author the name of the paper can be used in
place of Anon.:e.g.

More people than ever seem to be using

retail home delivery (The Times 1996)
(You should use the same style in list of references.)
viii) If you refer to a source directly quoted in
another source you cite both in the text:e.g.

A study by Smith (1960 cited Jones 1994)

showed that
(You should list only the work you have read, i.e.
Jones, in list of references.)
ix) If you refer to a contributor in a source you cite
just the contributor:e.g.

Software development has been given as

the cornerstone in this industry (Bantz
1995).
See Section References at the end of a piece of
work below for an explanation of how to list
contributions (chapters in books, articles in journals,
papers in conference proceedings) in list of
references.
x) If you refer to a person who has not produced a
work, or contributed to one, but who is quoted in
someone elses work it is suggested that you should
mention the persons name and you must cite the
source author:e.g.

e.g.

Richard Hammond stressed the part

psychology plays in advertising in an
interview with Marshall (1999).

Advertising will always play on peoples

desires, Richard Hammond said in a
recent article (Marshall 1999, p.67).
(You should list the work that has been published,
i.e. Marshall, in list of references.)

BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

Person-to-person communications (letters, emails,

interviews, etc):

name of the university, do not include the place of

publication.

Where authorship is attributed to an organisation

or corporation instead of an individual author, e.g.
BBC, ascribe authorship to the smallest identifiable
organisational unit. Give the author as it is written
e.g. BBC, Training and Development or UNESCO.

Taken from: APA, 2009. Publication Manual of

the American Psychological Association. 6th
ed. Washington: APA.

They do not provide recoverable data and so are not

included in the reference list. Cite personal
communications in the text only. Give initials as well
as the surname of the communicator and provide as
exact a date as possible. When citing research data
which you have collected, it is advisable to also
include copies or summaries of source data in
Appendices.
e.g.

Many designers do not understand the

needs of disabled people according to J.
O. Reiss (personal communication, April
18, 1997).

Each reference should use the elements and

punctuation given in the following examples for the
different types of published work you may have
cited. Underlining is an acceptable alternative to
italics when bibliographies are hand written.
Reference to a book
Authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of publication.
Title. Edition (if not the first). Place of publication:
Publisher.
e.g.

References at the end of a piece of work

At the end of a piece of work list references to
documents cited in the text. This list may be called a
Bibliography or References. Exceptionally you may
be asked to list references not cited in the text but
which make an important contribution to your work.
These are usually listed under the heading of
Further Reading. You are advised to review the
guidelines issued to you for the preparation of work
to clarify this point.
In the Harvard System, the references are listed in
alphabetical order of authors names. If you have
cited more than one item by a specific author they
should be listed chronologically (earliest first), and
by letter (1993a, 1993b) if more than one item has
been published in the same year.
Whenever possible, elements of a bibliographical
reference should be taken from the title page of the
publication.
For place of publication give the city. If more than
one town/city is listed give the first one or the
location of the publishers head office. If the
town/city is not well known, you may in addition
add a county, region or state. Note that in the United
States of America states are denoted by a two letter
code, for example Hillsdale, NJ.
For the publishers name omit superfluous terms
such as Publishers, Co, or Inc. Always retain the
words Books or Press. Where the publisher is a
university and the place or location is included in the

Mercer, P.A. and Smith, G., 1993. Private

viewdata in the UK. 2nd ed. London:
Longman.

Reference to a contribution in an edited book

Contributing authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of
publication. Title of contribution. Followed by In:
Surname, INITIALS., of author or editor of
publication followed by ed. or eds. if relevant. Title
of book. Place of publication: Publisher, Page
number(s) of contribution.
e.g.

Bantz, C.R., 1995. Social dimensions of

software development. In: Anderson,
J.A., ed. Annual review of software
management and development. Newbury
Park, CA: Sage, 502-510.

Reference to an article in a journal

Authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of publication.
Title of article. Title of journal, Volume number and
(part number), Page numbers of article.
e.g.

Evans, W.A., 1994. Approaches to

intelligent information retrieval.

Information processing and management,

7 (2), 147-168.
Reference to a newspaper article
Authors Surname, INITIALS., (or Newspaper Title,)
Year of publication. Title of article. Title of
newspaper, Day and month, Page number/s and
column number.
e.g.

Independent, 1992. Picking up the bills.

Independent, 4 June, 28a.

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BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

Reference to a map
Originators Surname, first name or initials, (may be
cartographer, surveyor, compiler, editor, copier,
maker, engraver, etc.) year of publication. Title,
Scale. (should be given normally as a ratio) Place of
publication: Publisher.
e.g.

Silver, K., 1991. Electronic mail: the new

way to communicate. In: Raitt, D.I., ed.

9th international online information

meeting, 3-5 December 1990 London.
Oxford: Learned Information, 323-330.
Reference to a report from a corporate author
(e.g. a government department or other
organisation).
Name of Issuing Body, Year of publication. Title of
publication. Place of publication: Publisher, Report
Number (where relevant).
e.g.

UNESCO, 1993. General information

programme and UNISIST. Paris: Unesco,
PGI-93/WS/22.

Reference to a thesis
Authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of publication.
Title of thesis. Designation, (and type). Name of
institution to which submitted.
e.g.

Agutter, A.J., 1995. The linguistic

significance of current British slang.

Thesis, (PhD). Edinburgh University
Reference to a patent
Originator, (name of applicant), Year of publication.
Title of patent. Series designation which may
include full date.
e.g.

e.g.

Mason, James, 1832. Map of the countries

lying between Spain and India,
1:8,000,000. London: Ordnance Survey.

Reference to a conference paper

Contributing authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of
publication. Title of contribution. Followed by In:
Surname, INITIALS., of editor of proceedings (if
applicable) followed by ed or eds if relevant. Title of
conference including date and place of conference.
Place of publication: Publisher, Page numbers of
contribution.
e.g.

Reference to a translation
Author's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title. Translated
from given language by Translator. Place of
publication: Publisher (Originally published in given
year).

Philip Morris Inc., 1981. Optical

perforating apparatus and system.

Kotler, P. 2003. Les cls du marketing.

Translated from English by Marie-France
Pavillet. Paris: Village Mondial (Originally
published in 2003).

Reference to a video, film or broadcast

Title, Year. (For films the preferred date is the year
of release in the country of production.) Material
designation. Subsidiary originator. (Optional but
director is preferred) Production details place:
organisation.
e.g.

Macbeth, 1948. Film. Directed by Orson

Welles. USA: Republic Pictures.

e.g.

Birds in the garden, 1998. Video.

London: Harper Videos.

Programmes and series: the number and title of the

episode should normally be given, as well as the
series title, the transmitting organisation and
channel, the full date and time of transmission.
e.g.

Yes, Prime Minister, Episode 1, The

Ministerial broadcast, 1986. TV, BBC2.
1986 Jan 16.

e.g.

News at ten, 2001. Jan 27. 2200 hrs.

Contributions: individual items within a programme

should be cited as contributors.
e.g.

Blair, Tony, 1997. Interview. In: Six

oclock news. TV, BBC1. 1997 Feb 29.
1823 hrs.

Reference to CD-ROMs and DVDs

This example refers to CD-ROMs and DVDs which
are works in their own right and not a video, film, or
bibliographic database.
Author's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title [type of
medium, e.g. CD-ROM]. (Edition). Place of
publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available
from: Supplier/Database identifier or number
(optional) [Accessed Date] (optional).
e.g.

European patent application 0021165 A1.

1981-01-07.

Hawking, S.W., 1994. A brief history of

time: an interactive adventure. [CD-ROM].
London: Crunch Media.

e.g.

Herigstad, G. 2005. Houdini 101: interface

and workflow [DVD] Hollywood : Gnomon
Workshop

Page
Page 46

BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

Consciousness. Psycoloquy, 6 (15).

Available from:
http://psycprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/
00000462/ [Accessed 20 May 2004].

Referencing Online Materials

The recommendations here follow best practice in
referencing online resources.
NB Scanned chapters, journal articles, etc, located on
Unit pages in myBU have been provided from print
sources located within the BU Library and thus
should be referenced the same as their print
original.
Equally, lecture notes, whether downloaded from
myBU or not, are not regarded as published
materials and are intended as pointers toward such
sources rather than as source materials in
themselves.
Reference to a book located in a database
Author's /Editor's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title.
(Edition). Place of publication: Publisher (if
ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed
Date].
e.g.

Moloney, K., 2000. Rethinking public

relations: the spin and the substance.

London: Routledge. Available from:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/bournemouth
[Accessed 22 May 2006].
Reference to an online journal article
If you are certain that the copy you find on a
database is identical to the printed version you may
omit the URL and reference as a printed journal. If
you are in any doubt you should use one of the
options below.
If the article has been located on a bibliographic
database, e.g. Business Source Complete, or a
publisher's archive, e.g. Emerald, then also give
core URL, e.g. www.sciencedirect.com, so:
Author's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title. Journal
Title, volume (issue), page numbers (if available).
Available from: core URL [Accessed Date].
e.g.

Mcfall, R., 2005. Electronic textbooks that

transform how textbooks are used.
Electronic Library, 23 (1), 72-81. Available
from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com
[Accessed 20 May 2006].

In all other cases, give full URL, so:

Author's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title. Journal
Title, volume (issue), page numbers (if available).

NB See page 1-2 for advice about pagination.

Reference to web pages and e-books
Author's /Editor's Surname, INITIALS., Year. Title.
(Edition). Place of publication: Publisher (if
ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed
Date].
e.g.

National Centre for Social Research, 2006.

Qualitative research. London: National

Centre for Social Research. Available
from:
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/natcen/pages/h
w_qualitative.htm [Accessed 14 August
2006].
Reference to a conference paper from the Internet
Contributing authors Surname, INITIALS., Year of
publication. Title of contribution. Followed by In:
Surname, INITIALS., of editor of proceedings (if
applicable) followed by ed or eds if relevant. Title of
conference including date and place of conference.
Place of publication: Publisher (if ascertainable).
Available from: URL [Accessed Date].
e.g.

Wilde, E., 2006. Merging trees: file system

and content integration. In: 15th

international conference on World Wide

Web, WWW 2006, May 23-26, 2006,
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Available from:
http://dret.net/netdret/docs/wildewww2006-fsx.pdf [Accessed 29 June
2007].
Reference to a digital map
Originators Surname, first name or initials, (may be
cartographer, surveyor, mapping agency, editor,
copier, maker, engraver, etc.), year of publication.
Title (if not supplied, provide an appropriate title).
Scale (should normally be given as a ratio). Place of
publication: Publisher. Available from: core URL
[Accessed Date].
e.g.

Ordnance Survey, 2008. Bournemouth,

Poole and surrounding area, 1:50000.
Southampton: Ordnance Survey. Available
from http://digimap.edina.ac.uk [Accessed
16 January 2009].

Available from: URL [Accessed Date].

e.g.

Korb, K.B., 1995. Persons and things:

book review of Bringsjord on RobotPage 57

BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

Reference to a Blog
Author's Surname, INITIALS., Day Month Year.
Subject of message. Blog Title. Available from: list
e-mail address [Accessed Date].
e.g.

Schofield, J., 20 May 2006. Yahoo is

winning in the portal wars. GU
technologyblog. Available from:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/
[Accessed 22 May 2006].

Reference to photographs/images accessed online

Photographer/Artists Surname, INITIALS., Year of
publication. Title of image [type of medium
photograph/image]. Place of publication: Publisher
(of online image) if ascertainable. Available from:
URL [Accessed Date].
e.g.

[photograph]. Bournemouth, Dorset Coast

Digital Archive. Available from:
http://www.dcda.org.uk/images/jpg600/d
cm_pht_11442d3.jpg [Accessed 22 May
2006]

Reference to JISCmail/listserv e-mail lists

Author's Surname, INITIALS., Day Month Year.
Subject of message. Discussion List. Available from:
list e-mail address [Accessed Date].
e.g.

Brack, E.V., 2 May 2004. Re: Computing

short courses. Lis-link. Available from:
[email protected] [Accessed 17 Jun
2004].

e.g.

Jensen, L.R., 12 Dec 1999.

Recommendation of student radio/tv in
English. IASTAR. Available from:
[email protected] [Accessed 29 Apr
2004].

It should be noted that items may only be kept on

discussion group servers for a short time and hence
may not be suitable for referencing. A local copy
could be kept by the author who is giving the
citation, with a note to this effect.

Sweetman, E. A., 1935. The Square and

Compass Inn, Worth Matravers

Reference to a computer program

Authors Surname, INITIALS., (if given, see also
advice on using corporate authors). Date (if given).
Title of program. Version (in brackets) [type of
medium e.g. computer program]. Place of
Publication: Publisher.
e.g.

Thomson ResearchSoft, EndNote. (9.0.1)

[computer program]. Stamford, Conn.:
Thomson ResearchSoft.

Citing unpublished material

See BS 6371:1983. Citation of unpublished
documents. B.S.I. (available online via British
Standards Online).

Plagiarism
Reference to moving images accessed online
Use originator/author if ascertainable otherwise use
title.
Originator. Year. Title. Place of publication or
production (if ascertainable): Publisher or Producer
(if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed
Date].
e.g.

Walkers Crisps. 2009. Builders wheel a

wheelbarrow full of crisps while
announcing the flavour. Available from:
www.creativeclub.co.uk [Accessed 19
June 2009]

Heroes of Gallipoli. 1915. London: Imperial

War Museum Film and Video Archive.
Available from: www.filmandsound.ac.uk
[Accessed 19 June 2009]

MoCap Studio Bournemouth University Pt

1. 2008. Bournemouth. Available from:
www.youtube.com [Accessed 19 June
2009]

Page 6

Remember that you must acknowledge your source

every time you refer to someone else's work. Failure
to do so amounts to plagiarism, which is against the
University rules and is a serious offence. Further
information about plagiarism can be found on the
plagiarism web pages at
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/p
lagiarism.html or via the Using Information
Community on myBU.

Copyright
You do not have to seek permission to include third
party copyright material in your academic work, as
long as it is fully referenced.
Further information about copyright can be found on
notices next to photocopiers, on the copyright
compliance web pages at
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/c
opyright.html or via the Using Information
Community on myBU.

BU Guide to Citation in the Harvard Style

Endnote
A version of the Bournemouth University Harvard
Style is available for both EndNote and EndNote
Web users. Further information about Endnote can
be found on the Citing References web pages at
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/c
iting_refs_main.html or via the Using Information
Community on myBU.

Citing this document

This document may be printed, copied, or otherwise
used wholly or in part for non-commercial use once
permission has been granted by BU Library
([email protected]), provided the
following notice is present:
2009 Bournemouth University
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_refere
nces/docs/Citing_Refs.pdf. Last updated date month
year.
If you wish to cite this document please use the
following notation:Bournemouth University, 2009. BU guide to citation
in the Harvard style. Poole: Bournemouth University.
Available from:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_refere
nces/docs/Citing_Refs.pdf [Accessed Date].
Student and Academic Services
Bournemouth University
July 2009

Page 7

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Notes

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