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To be made up of:
- Year of submission (in round brackets).
- Title of thesis (in italics).
- Degree statement.
- Degree-awarding body.
- Available at: URL.
- (Accessed: date).
In-text citation:
(Smith, 2019)
Reference List:
Smith, E. R. C. (2019). Conduits of invasive species into the UK: the angling route? Ph. D. Thesis. University College London. Available at: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072700 (Accessed: 20 May 2021).
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Harvard Style Guide: Theses
- Introduction
- Harvard Tutorial
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Back to Academic Integrity guide
Reference : Author, Initial. (Year of submission) Title of thesis . Degree statement. Degree-awarding body.
Example : Allen, S. J. (2009) The social and moral fibre of Celtic Tiger Ireland . Unpublished PhD thesis. University College Dublin.
In-Text-Citation :
- Author Last name (Year)
- (Author Last name, Year)
- Allen (2009) disagrees with this…..
- As argued elsewhere (Allen, 2009)….
Still unsure what in-text citation and referencing mean? Check here .
Still unsure why you need to reference all this information? Check here .
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- How it works
How to Cite a Dissertation in Harvard Style
Published by Alaxendra Bets at August 27th, 2021 , Revised On September 25, 2023
What is a Dissertation?
In the UK, countries of Western Europe, as well as New Zealand and Australia, the term ‘ dissertation ’ is used instead of a ‘thesis.’ The majority of the remaining countries in the world prefer to use ‘thesis’ instead of ‘dissertation.’
Both represent the same thing, though: a full-length, academic piece of writing that students must submit after their undergraduate, post-graduate (Master), or PhD studies.
More specifically, a dissertation can refer to:
- Large-scale research as part of a degree.
- An article based on a small-scale study as part of a degree.
- A review of another study, research or an accumulation of both.
- Other full-length body texts are a requirement of the student’s degree program, no matter which level it is.
1. Basic Format
In Harvard, the following in-text citation format is used for the dissertation:
(Author Surname, Year Published)
For example, ‘Occasionally the talent for drawing passes beyond mere picture-copying and shows the presence of a real artistic capacity of no mean order. (Darius, 2014)’
In Harvard, the following reference list entry format is used for the dissertation:
Author Surname, Author Initials. (Year Published). Title of the dissertation in italics. Level. Institution Name.
For example, reference list entry for the above source would be:
Darius, H. (2014). Running head: SAVANT SYNDROME – THEORIES AND EMPIRICAL FINDINGS . University of Skövde, University of Turku.
However, a slightly different format is also used in some institutions. According to that, in-text citations are done in the following way:
Author surname Year, p.#
For instance, Exelby (1997, p. 3) described the process … OR … processing gold (Exelby 1997, p. 3).
But in the case of reference list entries, these ‘other’ institutions recommend naming the dissertation title not in italics but in single quotation marks. The format would then be:
Author Surname, Initials Year of Publication, ‘Title of thesis in single quotation marks’, Award, Institution issuing degree, Location of the institution.
So, according to this format, the above example’s reference list entry would be:
Exelby, HRA 1997, ‘Aspects of Gold and Mineral Liberation’, PhD thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld.
Whichever format is followed largely depends on one’s institutional guidelines. The format specified by the university is the one that should be followed. Furthermore, it should be followed consistently throughout a manuscript.
2. Citing a Dissertation Published Online
The format for both in-text and reference list entries is the same for online and print dissertations. For example:
- In-text citation: (Ram 2012) OR (Ram 2011, p. 130)
- Reference list entry: Ram, R 2012, ‘Development of the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities’, PhD thesis, The University of Sydney, viewed 23 May 2014, <http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8208>.
An important point to note: While referencing dissertations published online, the URL may or may not be enclosed within < > symbols. Whichever format is chosen, it should be used consistently throughout the text.
3. Citing an Unpublished Dissertation
This type of dissertation also uses the same formatting for in-text and reference list entries in Harvard style. For example:
- In-text citation: (Sakunasingha 2006) OR (Sakunasingha 2006, p. 36)
- Reference list entry: Sakunasingha, B 2006, ‘An empirical study into factors influencing the use of value-based management tools’, DBA thesis, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do i cite my dissertation.
To cite your dissertation, follow your chosen citation style (e.g., APA, MLA). Generally, include author name, year, title, and source details. For APA: Author. (Year). Title. Source. For MLA: Author. “Title.” Degree, University, Year.
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What is a thesis?
What is a dissertation, getting started, staying on track.
A thesis is a long-term project that you work on over the course of a semester or a year. Theses have a very wide variety of styles and content, so we encourage you to look at prior examples and work closely with faculty to develop yours.
Before you begin, make sure that you are familiar with the dissertation genre—what it is for and what it looks like.
Generally speaking, a dissertation’s purpose is to prove that you have the expertise necessary to fulfill your doctoral-degree requirements by showing depth of knowledge and independent thinking.
The form of a dissertation may vary by discipline. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your department.
- PhD This site directs candidates to the GSAS website about dissertations , with links to checklists, planning, formatting, acknowledgments, submission, and publishing options. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus . Consult with your committee chair about specific requirements and standards for your dissertation.
- DDES This document covers planning, patent filing, submission guidelines, publishing options, formatting guidelines, sample pages, citation guidelines, and a list of common errors to avoid. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus .
- Scholarly Pursuits (GSAS) This searchable booklet from Harvard GSAS is a comprehensive guide to writing dissertations, dissertation-fellowship applications, academic journal articles, and academic job documents.
Finding an original topic can be a daunting and overwhelming task. These key concepts can help you focus and save time.
Finding a topic for your dissertation should start with a research question that excites or at least interests you. A rigorous, engaging, and original dissertation will require continuous curiosity about your topic, about your own thoughts on the topic, and about what other scholars have said on your topic. Avoid getting boxed in by thinking you know what you want to say from the beginning; let your research and your writing evolve as you explore and fine-tune your focus through constant questioning and exploration.
Get a sense of the broader picture before you narrow your focus and attempt to frame an argument. Read, skim, and otherwise familiarize yourself with what other scholars have done in areas related to your proposed topic. Briefly explore topics tangentially related to yours to broaden your perspective and increase your chance of finding a unique angle to pursue.
Critical Reading
Critical reading is the opposite of passive reading. Instead of merely reading for information to absorb, critical reading also involves careful, sustained thinking about what you are reading. This process may include analyzing the author’s motives and assumptions, asking what might be left out of the discussion, considering what you agree with or disagree with in the author’s statements and why you agree or disagree, and exploring connections or contradictions between scholarly arguments. Here is a resource to help hone your critical-reading skills:
http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf
Conversation
Your dissertation will incorporate some of the ideas of the other scholars whose work you researched. By reading critically and following your curiosity, you will develop your own ideas and claims, and these contributions are the core of your dissertation. However, your dissertation will also acknowledge the work of scholars who came before you, and you must accurately and fairly attribute this work and define your place within the larger discussion. Make sure that you know how to quote, summarize, paraphrase , integrate , and cite secondary sources to avoid plagiarism and to show the depth and breadth of your knowledge.
A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have.
The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed. The project can feel daunting or even overwhelming unless you break it down into manageable pieces and create a timeline for completing each smaller task. Be realistic but also challenge yourself, and be forgiving of yourself if you miss a self-imposed deadline here and there.
Your program will also have specific deadlines for different requirements, including establishing a committee, submitting a prospectus, completing the dissertation, defending the dissertation, and submitting your work. Consult your department’s website for these dates and incorporate them into the timeline for your work.
Accountability
Sometimes self-imposed deadlines do not feel urgent unless there is accountability to someone beyond yourself. To increase your motivation to complete tasks on schedule, set dates with your committee chair to submit pre-determined pieces of a chapter. You can also arrange with a fellow doctoral student to check on each other’s progress. Research and writing can be lonely, so it is also nice to share that journey with someone and support each other through the process.
Common Pitfalls
The most common challenges for students writing a dissertation are writer’s block, information-overload, and the compulsion to keep researching forever.
There are many strategies for avoiding writer’s block, such as freewriting, outlining, taking a walk, starting in the middle, and creating an ideal work environment for your particular learning style. Pay attention to what helps you and try different things until you find what works.
Efficient researching techniques are essential to avoiding information-overload. Here are a couple of resources about strategies for finding sources and quickly obtaining essential information from them.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_criticism.html
https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques
Finally, remember that there is always more to learn and your dissertation cannot incorporate everything. Follow your curiosity but also set limits on the scope of your work. It helps to create a folder entitled “future projects” for topics and sources that interest you but that do not fit neatly into the dissertation. Also remember that future scholars will build off of your work, so leave something for them to do.
Browsing through theses and dissertations of the past can help to get a sense of your options and gain inspiration but be careful to use current guidelines and refer to your committee instead of relying on these examples for form or formatting.
DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.
HOLLIS Harvard Library’s catalog provides access to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .
MIT Architecture has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.
Rhode Island School of Design has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.
University of South Florida has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.
Harvard GSD has a list of projects, including theses and professors’ research.
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Harvard referencing style
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Thesis or dissertation
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- Referencing
- Leeds Harvard referencing examples
- Thesis or dissertation
Leeds Harvard: Thesis or dissertation
Reference examples.
Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title . Type of qualification, academic institution.
Dang, V.A. 2007 . Three essays in financial economics . Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds.
Citation examples
Author and date.
When the author name is not mentioned in the text, the citation consists of the author’s name and the year of publication in brackets.
It was emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent (Jones, 2017).
If you have already named the author in the text, only the publication year needs to be mentioned in brackets.
Jones (2017) emphasised that citations in the text should be consistent.
Three or more authors
If a source has three or more authors, the name of the first author should be given, followed by the phrase "et al."
It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent (Jones et al., 2017).
Jones et al. (2017) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent.
Leeds Harvard does not use ibid to refer to previously cited items. If you are citing the same item twice in a row (i.e. you do not cite any other items in the text between the two citations) you must write the full citation again. As usual, if you are directly quoting or paraphrasing specific ideas, you should include a page number (if there is one).
Jones et al. (2017, p.24) emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent and argued that referencing is a key part of academic integrity (2017, p.27). Furthermore, having a broad range of references in a text is an indicator of the breadth of a scholar's reading and research (Jones et al., 2017, p.14).
When to include page numbers
You should include page numbers in your citation if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table, etc. from a source.
"It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (Jones, 2017, p.24).
When referencing a single page, you should use p. For a range of pages, use pp.
p.7 or pp.20-29.
If the page numbers are in Roman numerals, do not include p. before them.
(Amis, 1958, iv)
Common issues
When you're referencing with Leeds Harvard you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Harvard.
Skip straight to the issue that affects you:
- Online items
- URL web addresses
- Multiple authors
- Corporate author(s) or organisation(s)
- Multiple publisher details
- Editions and reprints
- Missing details
- Multiple sources with different authors
- Sources written by the same author in the same year
- Sources with the same author in different years
- Two authors with the same surname in the same year
- The work of one author referred to by another
- Anonymising sources for confidentiality
- Identifying the authors’ family name (surname)
Harvard Citation Style: Theses
Introduction
- Books / E-Books
Company Information
Conference Proceedings
- Internet / Websites
Journal Articles
Lecture Notes
- Multi-Media Formats
- Patents and Standards
All Examples
- Writing Support
- Citation Support
In This Guide...
Click on the links below for further information on referencing each material type
- Why is Referencing Important?
- Getting Started
Reference Formats
- References by Format
- Citing Info Someone Else has Cited
Books/eBooks
- 1, 2 or More Authors
- 1, 2 or More Editors
- Chapters in Books
- Company Reports
- Company Profiles
Internet/Websites
- Web Documents
- Computer Software
- CMO Articles
Multimedia Formats
- Audio-Visual Material
Newspaper Articles
Patents & Standards
- Citing Patents: Examples
- Citing Patents: Standards
Citing Theses: Examples
- A table of examples in all formats for quick reference
Citing Theses
Theses can come in a number for formats, they can be published, unpublished, or retrieved from a database. The principles when citing a thesis are similar to those employed when citing a book.
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NWU Harvard Referencing Guide
- Introduction
- Text references
- Reference list
- Elements of a reference list entry
- Chapter in a collected work
- Electronic books (ebooks)
- Encyclopedias
- Dictionaries
Theses and dissertations
- Journal articles
- Internet and other electronic sources
- Conference publications
- Study guides
- Newspaper articles
- Acts and law reports
- Government publications
- Bible and other religious writings
- Classical works
- Personal correspondance
- Patents and standards
- Musical scores
- Audiovisual and other media
- Unpublished work
- Harvard PDF document
Other styles
- NWU Law Referencing Guide
- APA Referencing Guide
Use recognised abbreviations for universities and degrees. According to the NWU manual for master’s and doctoral studies, the following terms are used:
For international theses and dissertations use the terms on the title page. Full stops are optional in the abbreviations for qualifications, eg: M.Sc. or MSc (Magister Scientiae), Ph.D. or PhD (Philosophiae Doctor).
Saah, P. 2017. Exploring Mintzberg’s managerial roles of academic leaders at a selected higher education institution in South Africa . Mafikeng: North-West University. (Mini-dissertation – MBA). Text reference: (Saah, 2017:103).
Doctoral theses and master’s dissertations are widely available on institutional repositories. Include the permanent link (“handle”) to the thesis / dissertation in the reference list.
Note: when giving a permanent link, a date of access is not necessary.
International theses / dissertations accessed from a commercial database e.g. ProQuest:
Carroll, A.R. 2018. Ecosystems, communities, and species: understanding mammalian response to ancient carbon cycle perturbations . Ann Arbor, MI: University of New Hampshire. (Dissertation – PhD). http://nwulib.nwu.ac.za/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.nwulib.nwu.ac.za/docview/2058145688? accountid=12865 Date of access: 13 Apr. 2019. Text reference: (Carroll, 2018:59).
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Cite A Dissertation in Harvard style
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- Select style:
- Archive material
- Chapter of an edited book
- Conference proceedings
- Dictionary entry
- Dissertation
- DVD, video, or film
- E-book or PDF
- Edited book
- Encyclopedia article
- Government publication
- Music or recording
- Online image or video
- Presentation
- Press release
- Religious text
Use the following template or our Harvard Referencing Generator to cite a dissertation. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator .
Reference list
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
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- How to cite a Magazine in Harvard style
- How to cite a Music or recording in Harvard style
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- How to cite a Podcast in Harvard style
- How to cite a Presentation or lecture in Harvard style
- How to cite a Press release in Harvard style
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Harvard Referencing (2002 version)
- Number of authors
- Information for EndNote users
- Books and eBooks
- Chapter of a Book/eBook
- Conference paper
- Dictionary & Encyclopedia
- Government publications, ABS
- Film/Television/Radio
- Image, Tables & Figures
- Journal article
- Lecture notes/Class handout
- Newspaper article
- Personal communication
- Podcast/Blog/YouTube/Social Media
Thesis - online
Thesis - print.
- Web site/Web document
The title is not italicised and is placed in single 'quotation marks'.
Author, AA Year of preparation of thesis, ‘Title of thesis', award (g.g PhD, Masters, etc), Institution issuing degree, Location of institution, viewed date, <URL>.
Adam, B 2016, 'Cosmic warfare: changing models of the universe and C.S. Lewis's defence of truth and meaning', PhD thesis, James Cook University, viewed 17 April 2017, <https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/52960/>.
In-text citation:
Adam (2016) suggests that …
Author, AA Year of preparation of thesis, ‘Title of thesis', award (g.g PhD, Masters, etc), Institution issuing degree, Location of institution.
Ward, I 1998, 'Sedimentary history of the Pandora wreck and surrounds', M.A. thesis, James Cook University, Townsville.
Ward (1998) described the process …
… processing gold (Ward 1978)
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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Harvard Referencing
Harvard Referencing Style Guide
What is referencing.
Whenever you write, the writings of others will influence your work. Although it is difficult to gauge all the influences, many of your ideas can be traced back to the resources and materials that you have consulted. These might be books, images , articles, reports, or, of course, the internet. These sources help enrich your writing by giving you ideas to build on. It is important always to give credit to the original thinkers and authors.
Referencing is the method that gives credit to the sources you have used in your work. You should provide references whenever you use a direct quote, paraphrase someone else’s idea, or borrow conceptual words and phrases.
Referencing not only allows credit to be given where credit is due, but it also helps track the various influences on any original piece of writing. If you do not cite the sources of the ideas that you have used in your work, you run the risk of plagiarism. Plagiarism is not only unethical but is also an actual crime in some of its forms. But how do you reference?
Elements of Harvard referencing style
Harvard referencing is a popular method of adding citations to your work. Its appeal lies in the simplicity of the basic system it uses – the author-date structure. Along with this, in Harvard style, you only need to mention the source in two locations: in the in-text reference(s) and in the reference list. Both elements together incorporate all the necessary details about a source in the most efficient way.
So, while reading something, when you come across a citation that looks something like this:
Furley (1999) or (Furley, 1999)
it is an in-text reference that follows the author-date system.
This is an entry in the reference list for the same in-text reference.
Furley, D. (1999) Routledge history of philosophy volume II: from Aristotle to Augustine . 1st edn. London: Routledge.
These Harvard referencing examples provide details about the citation formats for different types of sources.
In-text reference/citation
As is obvious from the name, Harvard in-text citations are references included within the text, that is, inside the sentences that make up its content. These can either be direct statements or quotes, or a paraphrasing of the original work. This type of reference helps in precisely pointing out which portions of the text are borrowed from or influenced by which particular source.
In his work, Furley (1999) wrote about… OR …from Aristotle’s works (Furley, 1999).
As you can see, in-text references provide the author’s surname and the year of publication. The year is provided because sometimes two or more works by the same author are referenced. In this case, the year helps in distinguishing between these works. Note that if you are citing a direct quotation, the in-text citation should also include the page number of that quote, for example (Furley, 1999, p. 2).
However, in-text citations don’t provide other important details about these resources. Rather, they are short enough that you don’t get interrupted while reading the text. Other details are presented in the reference list that you include at the end of your paper.
Reference list
A reference list presents the details of all the resources cited throughout the text in the form of a list at the end of your paper. It includes detailed entries about each of the referenced sources.
Citation structure:
Surname, Initial. (Publication year) Name of the document . Place of publication: Publisher.
Every in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the reference list. So, the reference list entry for the in-text citations discussed above would be:
Einstein, M. (2004) Media diversity: economics, ownership, and the FCC. New Jersey: Routledge.
This entry can also include other details like page numbers, editor’s name, edition, URL, access date, etc., depending upon the type of resource. A reference list allows you to provide all the necessary information without crowding your paper. With this list, you can keep track of how many materials you have consulted and even see if you need to include any more or any other kind of references in your text.
The difference between a bibliography and the Harvard referencing system
Typically, you’ll refer to multiple sources and materials for writing a text, and just using a bibliography can be confusing. You can use the Harvard referencing system to point out the exact location of all your references.
By marking the in-text reference, you can easily locate which idea or quote corresponds to which author. This makes your work easy to read and understand. This way, you and your reader can easily trace the specific portions of the work back to the original texts.
You can also show how much of your text uses source material (whether directly or indirectly) and how much of it is your own ideas and thoughts.
Format for Harvard Referencing
Typically, a paper that uses Harvard referencing has the following format:
- 2.5 cm OR 1-inch margins on all sides
- Recommended fonts: Arial 12 pt or Times New Roman, with double-spacing
- Title is in the center of the page just above the text
- Left-aligned text, with the first sentence of every paragraph indented by 0.5 inch
- Last name is at the top-right corner of the header, followed by page number
- Title page is centre-aligned
- Subheadings are in sentence case and left-aligned
Key takeaways
- Referencing is a way of crediting the various resources consulted while writing a text. Harvard referencing is a system that allows you to include information about the source materials. It is based on the author-date system.
- It includes references: 1) as in-text citations and 2) in a reference list (which is different from a bibliography).
- In-text citations: (Author Surname, Year Published).
- Reference list entry: Author Surname, Initial. (Year Published) Title . Place of Publication: Name of Publisher.
For more help creating citations in Harvard style, try the EasyBib Harvard referencing generator !
Published October 25, 2020.
Harvard Formatting Guide
Harvard Formatting
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Dissertation (thesis): how to cite in Harvard style?
Create a spot-on reference in harvard, general rules.
According to the Harvard citation style, the same template is used for referencing a master's thesis and a doctoral dissertation in a list of bibliographic references:
Author , ( year ). Title . Work type , University .
NB: Fill in the 'Work type' field the type of work and the academic grade, for instance, 'Ph.D. thesis'.
If the text of the work can be accessed online, use the following template for your reference:
Author , ( year ). Title . Work type , University . [Viewed date viewed ]. Available from: URL
NB: The text '[online]' is not given after the title of the work, in contrast to the references to a book , a journal article , etc.
Examples in a list of references
Middleton, H. J., (2020). *ABA syncretism patterns in pronominal morphology . Ph.D. thesis, University College London. [Viewed 12 January 2021]. Available from: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10105591/
Reed, B. H., (1992). The genetic analysis of endoreduplication in Drosophila melanogaster. Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge.
Other citation styles:
- What is APA Style (7th ed.)?
- Examples of bibliographic references in APA (7th ed.)
- APA 7 vs APA 6: key differences
- How to cite authors?
- How to format the references page with APA (7th ed.)?
- In-text citations
- Archival document
- Book chapter
- Conference paper
- Dictionary/encyclopedia/dictionary entry/encyclopedia article
- Dissertation (thesis)
- Journal article
- Newspaper article
- Press release
- Religious text
- Social media post
- Software / mobile app
- Video (online)
- Video game / computer game
- What is MLA Style (8th ed.)?
- Examples of references in works cited in MLA (8th ed.)
- How to format the works cited page in MLA (8th ed.)?
- What is Chicago Style?
- Examples of bibliographic references in Chicago Style – notes and bibliography (17th ed.)
- How to format the bibliography page?
- Notes and in-text citations
- Examples of bibliographic references in Chicago Style – author-date (17th ed.)
- What is Harvard referencing style?
- Examples of bibliographic references in Harvard style
- Online video
- What is IEEE Style?
- Examples of bibliographic references in IEEE Style
- How to format the references pages in IEEE Style?
- What is Vancouver Style?
- Examples of bibliographic references in Vancouver Style
- Free Tools for Students
- Harvard Referencing Generator
Free Harvard Referencing Generator
Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!
🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?
A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.
It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.
The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.
👩🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?
Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).
🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?
A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:
- It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
- It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.
A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.
⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?
Here's how to use our reference generator:
- If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
- Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
- Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
- Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.
MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:
🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?
There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:
- Cite Them Right
- Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
- University of the West of England (UWE)
Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.
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- Reference a Website in Harvard Style | Templates & Examples
Reference a Website in Harvard Style | Templates & Examples
Published on 19 May 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 7 November 2022.
To reference a website in Harvard style , include the name of the author or organization, the year of publication, the title of the page, the URL, and the date on which you accessed the website.
Different formats are used for other kinds of online source, such as articles, social media posts and multimedia content. You can generate accurate Harvard references for all kinds of sources with our free reference generator:
Harvard Reference Generator
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Table of contents
Online articles, social media posts, images, videos and podcasts, referencing websites with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard website references.
Blog posts and online newspaper articles are both referenced in the same format: include the title of the article in quotation marks, the name of the blog or newspaper in italics, and the date of publication.
The format for a magazine article is slightly different. Instead of a precise date, include the month, season, or volume and issue number, depending on what the magazine uses to identify its issues.
The URL and access date information are included only when the article is online-exclusive.
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To reference posts from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, include the username and the platform in square brackets. Write usernames the way they appear on the platform, with the same capitalization and symbols.
If the post has a title, use it (in quotation marks). If the post is untitled, use the text of the post instead. Do not use italics. If the text is long, you can replace some of it with an ellipsis.
Online content is referenced differently if it is in video, audio or image form.
To cite an image found online, such as an artwork, photograph, or infographic, include the image format (e.g. ‘Photograph’, ‘Oil on canvas’) in square brackets.
Online videos, such as those on YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo and Dailymotion, are cited similarly to general web pages. Where a video is uploaded under the name of an individual, write the name in the usual format. Otherwise, write the username of the uploader as it appears on the site.
If you want to locate a specific point in a video in an in-text citation, you can do so using a timestamp.
For a podcast reference, you just need the name of the individual episode, not of the whole series. The word ‘Podcast’ is always included in square brackets. As with videos, you can use a timestamp to locate a specific point in the in-text citation.
Online sources are often missing information you would usually need for a citation: author, title or date. Here’s what to do when these details are not available.
When a website doesn’t list a specific individual author, you can usually find a corporate author to list instead. This is the organisation responsible for the source:
In cases where there’s no suitable corporate author (such as online dictionaries or Wikis), use the title of the source in the author position instead:
In Harvard style, when a source doesn’t list a specific date of publication, replace it with the words ‘no date’ in both the in-text citation and the reference list. You should still include an access date:
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It’s important to assess the reliability of information found online. Look for sources from established publications and institutions with expertise (e.g. peer-reviewed journals and government agencies).
The CRAAP test (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose) can aid you in assessing sources, as can our list of credible sources . You should generally avoid citing websites like Wikipedia that can be edited by anyone – instead, look for the original source of the information in the “References” section.
You can generally omit page numbers in your in-text citations of online sources which don’t have them. But when you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a particularly long online source, it’s useful to find an alternate location marker.
For text-based sources, you can use paragraph numbers (e.g. ‘para. 4’) or headings (e.g. ‘under “Methodology”’). With video or audio sources, use a timestamp (e.g. ‘10:15’).
In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’
A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.
The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.
Cite this Scribbr article
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.
Caulfield, J. (2022, November 07). Reference a Website in Harvard Style | Templates & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 26 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-website-reference/
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How to cite an online thesis in Harvard
To cite an online thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:
- Author(s) of the online thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.
- Year of submission: Give the year in round brackets.
- Title of the online thesis: Give the title as presented in the source. Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
- Degree description: Type of degree.
- Degree-awarding institution: Give the name of the institution.
- URL: Give the full URL of the web page including the protocol (http:// or https://).
- Date of access: Give the day month and year.
Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of an online thesis in Harvard style:
Author(s) of the online thesis . ( Year of submission ) Title of the online thesis . Degree description . Degree-awarding institution . Available at: URL (Accessed: Date of access ).
Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the Harvard style guidelines in action:
A master's thesis found in an online platform
Bauger, L . ( 2011 ) Personality, Passion, Self-esteem and Psychological Well-being among Junior Elite Athletes in Norway . Master's Thesis . University of Tromsø . Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/29a9/ef96c34e577211246b83b11813a2585033c5.pdf (Accessed: 5 July 2018 ).
A PhD thesis found in an online platform
Confait, M. F . ( 2018 ) Maximising the contributions of PHD graduates to national development: the case of the Seychelles . PhD thesis . Edith Cowan University . Available at: Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2060"> (Accessed: 5 June 2019 ).
This citation style guide is based on the Cite Them Right (10 th edition) Harvard referencing guide.
More useful guides
- Harvard Referencing: Theses
- Referencing with Harvard: Thesis or dissertation
- Citing and referencing: Theses/Dissertations
More great BibGuru guides
- MLA: how to cite an online newspaper article
- Chicago: how to cite a film
- Chicago: how to cite a book
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Harvard; Thesis or dissertation; Search this Guide Search. Harvard. This guide introduces the Harvard referencing style and includes examples of citations. Welcome Toggle Dropdown. A-Z of Harvard references ; Citing authors with Harvard ; ... In-text citation: (Smith, 2019) Reference List:
Theses. Reference: Author, Initial. (Year of submission) Title of thesis. Degree statement. Degree-awarding body. Example: Allen, S. J. (2009) The social and moral fibre of Celtic Tiger Ireland. Unpublished PhD thesis. University College Dublin. In-Text-Citation:
In Harvard, the following reference list entry format is used for the dissertation: Author Surname, Author Initials. (Year Published). Title of the dissertation in italics. Level. Institution Name. For example, reference list entry for the above source would be: Darius, H. (2014).
To cite a master's thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:. Author(s) of the master's thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.
When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors' names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ' et al. ': Number of authors. In-text citation example. 1 author. (Davis, 2019) 2 authors. (Davis and Barrett, 2019) 3 authors.
A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have. Timelines. The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed.
Harvard referencing style; Thesis or dissertation; Search this Guide Search. Harvard referencing style. Harvard; In-text citations and reference list; Articles; Books; Conference papers; Webpages; ... In-text citation (Author Year) Reference list: Author Year, 'Title', Type of thesis, Publisher, Place of Publication. Example.
You should include page numbers in your citation if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table, etc. from a source. Example: "It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (Jones, 2017, p.24).
Thesis: Unpublished. (Hos 2005) Hos, JP 2005, Mechanochemically synthesized nanomaterials for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell membranes. Ph.D thesis, University of Western Australia. Thesis: Published. (May 2007) May, B 2007, A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud. Bristol UK, Canopus Publishing.
Doctoral theses and master's dissertations are widely available on institutional repositories. Include the permanent link ("handle") to the thesis / dissertation in the reference list. Note: when giving a permanent link, a date of access is not necessary. International theses / dissertations accessed from a commercial database e.g. ProQuest:
Cite A Dissertation in Harvard style. Use the following template or our Harvard Referencing Generator to cite a dissertation. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.
Author, AA Year of preparation of thesis, 'Title of thesis', award (g.g PhD, Masters, etc), Institution issuing degree, Location of institution. Example: Ward, I 1998, 'Sedimentary history of the Pandora wreck and surrounds', M.A. thesis, James Cook University, Townsville. In-text citation: Ward (1998) described the process … OR
Harvard referencing is a system that allows you to include information about the source materials. It is based on the author-date system. It includes references: 1) as in-text citations and 2) in a reference list (which is different from a bibliography). In-text citations: (Author Surname, Year Published). Reference list entry: Author Surname ...
To cite an undergraduate thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:. Author(s) of the undergraduate thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.
Citing a Secondary Source: In this case, state the reference you used first followed by 'cited in' and the original author: Smith 2000 (cited in Mitchell, 2017, p. 189) or (Smith, 2000, cited in Mitchell, 2017, p. 189) 3. How to Cite Different Source Types. Reference list references vary quite a lot between sources.
Formatting a Harvard style bibliography. Sources are alphabetised by author last name. The heading 'Reference list' or 'Bibliography' appears at the top. Each new source appears on a new line, and when an entry for a single source extends onto a second line, a hanging indent is used: Harvard bibliography example.
According to the Harvard citation style, the same template is used for referencing a master's thesis and a doctoral dissertation in a list of bibliographic references: Author, ( year ). Title. Work type, University. NB: Fill in the 'Work type' field the type of work and the academic grade, for instance, 'Ph.D. thesis'.
A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems: It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper. It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.
To cite a PhD thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements: Author (s) of the PhD thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing ...
In Harvard style, citations appear in brackets in the text. An in-text citation consists of the last name of the author, the year of publication, and a page number if relevant. Up to three authors are included in Harvard in-text citations. If there are four or more authors, the citation is shortened with et al. Harvard in-text citation examples.
To reference a website in Harvard style, include the name of the author or organization, the year of publication, the title of the page, the URL, and the date on which you accessed the website. In-text citation example. (Google, 2020) Reference template. Author surname, initial. ( Year) Page Title.
A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Social Studies | page 1 Committee on Degrees in Social Studies ... Harvard College Funding Sources: www.funding.fas.harvard.edu ... Chicago Manual of Style online guide to citation formatting: www.chicagomanu-alofstyle.org appendix two. page 34 | Sample Grant Proposals ...
To cite an online thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:. Author(s) of the online thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.
The first of several to join us in the 1980s was Ian Johnson, whose Australian National University (ANU) dissertation championed the need for a systematic field-to-lab data recording system. He became a particularly important addition to the program and introduced very early use of personal computers to the department.