A Guide to Harvard Formatting and Style
In different academic settings, you will often be required to present various research papers or write dissertations. In these cases, there are times when the works of others will have an impact on your writing. Although it might be quite difficult to identify all the sources of inspiration, it is possible to trace the origins of many of your ideas to the materials and resources you will have used. By providing you with foundational concepts, sources such as books, reports, journals, and the internet will enhance your writing. Consequently, proper formatting, and citation of the original authors is essential. In this guide, we take you through the issues you need to consider in applying the Harvard formatting style.
Formatting your paper in Harvard Style
In all academic research papers, (including definition essays, case studies, critical analysis essay and explanatory essays), you should always provide references and citations whenever you directly quote or borrow ideas from other writers. If not, you run the risk of plagiarism. To achieve this, different styles of referencing are employed, with one of the most commonly used being the Harvard formatting and style.
What is Harvard Formatting Style?
Developed in the Harvard Graduate School for Education, Harvard formatting is an international citation system that emphasizes the use of parenthetical citations. Parentheses are used to incorporate the author’s name and the date of publication; hence, it is sometimes called the author-date format. Additionally, a list of references put in alphabetical order is included at the end of the paper. As such, the Harvard format style is similar to other referencing styles such as APA, with only a few variations in the content and punctuation of the full citation. Still, it is important to note that, unlike other citation styles, there is no single, definitive version of the Harvard style. As a result, minor details like punctuation, capitalization, acronyms, and italics could differ. Examples of these variations can be seen in Harvard style essay examples found online.
Harvard format: General requirements
After going through countless Harvard samples and writing different assignments that required the Harvard referencing style, these are some of the general requirements I came across;
- Font: Times New Roman or Arial
- Size: 12 pt.
- Page numbers
- Double-spacing and left-aligned
- The first line of a paragraph should have an indent of 0.5 inch
- Margins: 1 inch from each side
Additionally, a Harvard-style citation must have a title page, headings, in-text citations, and a reference list. In this article, we will further focus on how to effectively write each of these sections.
You can also read How To Write A Critical Analysis Essay which you will come across it in your course work.
A cover page
Harvard formatting requires a specific title page. As we all know, the title page is the front page; hence, it is first to be observed by your reader. Therefore, it is crucial to format it properly. Approximately at the top 3rd of your cover page should be the title of the paper, fully capitalized and centered. Following this, about two lines down should be the name of the author, centered and placed in the middle of your page. Further down, in each line include the name of the instructor, the name of the university, and the submission date. Below is an example of a cover page.
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Title: HAVARD STYLE FORMATTING
Jane Doe
ENG 106: English Composition Professor John Doe Grand Canyon University 6/17/2024
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In-text citation
The Harvard citation format employs embedded parenthetical citations of authors and dates. This style uses parenthesis to surround the author’s last name and publication year. Moreover, if a page number is included in the parenthesis, you use an abbreviation p., for one page or pp., for a page range. These in-text citations come after incorporating material from a source either in a sentence, a phrase, or a paragraph. However, keep in mind that these citations should be placed before punctuation marks such as periods or commas at the end of a paragraph. Additionally, a full citation should be provided in the reference list at the conclusion of your paper.
The following are examples of different types of in-text citations:
Citing an author and date
One of the most valuable aspects of literary innovation was, has been, and is related to the fact that it creates new scales, measures, and proportions (Doe, 2024, p.5).
Narrative citation
The Harvard citation format, like other forms, permits narrative citations, which include the author and/or year directly in the text. In this scenario, repeating the information in the citation is unnecessary, thus it can be omitted if you choose to.
For example;
As Doe notes on page 5, one of the most valuable aspects of literary innovation was, has been, and is related to the fact that it creates new scales, measures, and proportions (2024).
Citing two different authors
When citing two different authors in Harvard style of referencing, it is cited as follows;
(Jane, 2021; Doe, 2024)
Citing more than three authors
In instances where you are writing a term paper and you need to cite a source which has more than three authors, you should only display the first author identified and use the Latin expression ‘et al.’ in italics. In the simplest terms, this proves that there are at least three writers on the source. For example (Doe et al., 2024, p.271).
No date
If you are unable to locate the publication date of the document or paper you are citing, you can substitute [n.d.] for the date. For example (Doe, n.d. p.271).
Note: Always verify with your school to see if there are any particular requirements for using Harvard reference style since some universities have their own Harvard referencing guidelines.
Reference list
Like other academic writing forms, Harvard-style referencing necessitates a bibliography at the conclusion of the work that includes complete citations for all sources utilized. This bibliography is alphabetized by author’s last name and is double-spaced with a hanging indent. Nonetheless, there are various styles of Harvard referencing depending on the material used. The following is a general format;
- Book
Book Author’s Last Name, First Initial, Year of Publication. The title of the book is capitalized like a sentence. City of Publication: Publisher.
Example: Anderson, D.G., Salm, S. and Allen, D.P., 2016. Nester’s Microbiology: A Human Perspective. McGraw-Hill.
- Journal articles
Article Author’s Last Name, First Initial & Second Author’s Last Name, First Initial, Year of Publication. The article title is capitalized like a sentence without quotation marks. Journal Title, Volume Number (Issue Number): pp. Pages.
Example: Kelly, C.P., Poxton, I.R., Shen, J., Wilcox, M.H., Gerding, D.N., Zhao, X., Laterza, O.F., Railkar, R., Guris, D. and Dorr, M.B., 2020. Effect of endogenous Clostridioides difficile toxin antibodies on recurrence of C. difficile infection. Clinical infectious diseases, 71(1), pp.81-86.
- Website
Last name, Initial. / Name of organization. (Year of publication) Title of page/site [online]. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Example: Grammarly. (2023) A guide to in-text citations: APA, MLA, and Chicago [online]. Available at: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/in-text-citations (Accessed: 2 August 2023).
Conclusion
To sum up, in this guide, we have presented you with concise information on how to apply Harvard formatting in your written work. However, we understand that the process can be overwhelming. If you need help with writing your Harvard paper, our expert writers at Skilled Tutorials are always available to assist, all at a reasonable cost.
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