Harvard in-text citation

Harvard is a family of author–date styles rather than one official manual. This page follows Cite Them Right, the version most UK and Australian universities adopt.

Harvard in-text citation generator

Style
Citation type
Author family names (or an organisation, e.g. World Health Organization)

Your Harvard parenthetical citation

(Nguyen, 2021, p. 14)

Where it goes in a sentence

Sleep loss impairs next-day recall (Nguyen, 2021, p. 14).

SituationHarvard (Cite Them Right)APA 7, for comparison
Two authors(Nguyen and Ortiz, 2021)(Nguyen & Ortiz, 2021)
Three authors(Nguyen, Ortiz and Park, 2021)(Nguyen et al., 2021)
Four or more(Nguyen et al., 2021)(Nguyen et al., 2021)
No date(Nguyen, no date)(Nguyen, n.d.)
Quotation(Nguyen, 2021, p. 14)(Nguyen, 2021, p. 14)
Several sources(Lee, 2019; Nguyen, 2021)(Lee, 2019; Nguyen, 2021)

How Harvard in-text citations work

Every citation gives the author’s family name and the year of publication, so the reader can find the full entry in your reference list, which is ordered alphabetically by author. Add a page number when you quote or refer to a specific passage.

Order of multiple sources

Cite Them Right lists several sources chronologically or alphabetically; pick one and be consistent. APA requires alphabetical.

Which Harvard does my university use?

Your library’s referencing guide is the final word. The biggest variations are when “et al.” starts and whether “p.” is used before page numbers. The generator follows Cite Them Right defaults.

Harvard, like APA, uses both forms of citation. See parenthetical vs narrative for when to use each.

Questions students ask

What is the Harvard in-text citation format?
Author family name, year and (for quotations) the page: (Nguyen, 2021, p. 14). Narrative: Nguyen (2021) argues… This site follows Cite Them Right, the Harvard version most UK and Australian universities use.
Is Harvard the same as APA?
They are both author-date and look similar. Differences in Cite Them Right Harvard: “and” instead of “&”, “no date” instead of “n.d.”, and all authors named up to three before switching to et al.
When do I use et al. in Harvard?
Cite Them Right uses et al. for four or more authors: (Nguyen et al., 2021). Some universities’ versions use it from three, so check your module handbook.
How do I cite a website with no date in Harvard?
Use the author or organisation and “no date”: (British Library, no date). If there’s no author, use the page title in italics.