One author
RuleGive the author's surname and the year, separated by a comma.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (Poropat, 2009)
- Narrative
- Poropat (2009)
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Harvard in-text citation
How to cite a source in the text in Harvard style, following Cite Them Right, with examples for each case. Type the authors, year and page, or a DOI, and get the narrative and parenthetical citation. No sign-in.
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Narrative and parenthetical citations
Harvard in-text citations give the author's surname and the year. There is no single official version of Harvard: this page follows Cite Them Right, which many UK universities use. If your university has its own Harvard guide, check the details against it.
A parenthetical citation puts the author and year in parentheses, separated by a comma. A narrative citation names the author in your sentence and puts the year in parentheses right after the name.
Rules and examples
Two authors
RuleGive both surnames, joined by and.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (Kluger and DeNisi, 1996)
- Narrative
- Kluger and DeNisi (1996)
Three authors
RuleName all three: a comma after the first, and the word and between the last two.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (Richardson, Abraham and Bond, 2012)
- Narrative
- Richardson, Abraham and Bond (2012)
Four or more authors
RuleGive the first author's surname followed by et al.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (Freeman et al., 2014)
- Narrative
- Freeman et al. (2014)
Group author
RuleGive the group's full name.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (World Health Organization, 2021)
- Narrative
- World Health Organization (2021)
No date
RuleWrite no date in place of the year.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (National Institute of Mental Health, no date)
- Narrative
- National Institute of Mental Health (no date)
Page numbers
RuleWhen you quote, or point to one passage, add the page after the year and a comma: p. for one page and pp. for a range.
Example
- Parenthetical
- (Poropat, 2009, p. 330)
- Narrative
- Poropat (2009, p. 330)
Other styles
FAQ
- Is the in-text citation builder free?
- Yes. You don't need an account. If you build a lot of citations in a few minutes, the tool asks you to wait a moment before the next one.
- Do you store what I type?
- No. The details go to our server, which formats the citation and sends it back to your browser. A DOI is looked up in Crossref and OpenAlex. We don't save what you typed or the results.
- Which version of Harvard does this follow?
- Cite Them Right, a Harvard guide many UK universities use. Other Harvard guides differ in small details, such as when to use et al., so check yours.
- How is Harvard different from APA in the text?
- Both give the author and year. Cite Them Right joins two authors with and where APA uses an ampersand in parentheses, names up to three authors where APA uses et al. from three, and writes no date where APA writes n.d.