Now, the big question is:
How to cite a book in Harvard referencing?
We recommend you to start with a general format and then move to the specific book type you need to cite.
Just copy or download your citation, insert necessary information (like the author’s name, title) — and you are all set.
General Book Format:
Last Name, Initials (Publication Date) Title of book. City: Publisher.
In our citation examples, we use the following color coding:
- Red – Author
- Blue – Title of book/article/charter/webpage
- Pink – Date
- Orange – Website/Publisher
- Turquoise – Place of publication
- Violet – Editor/Translator
- Black – Volume/Issue
- Sienna – Pages
- Gray – URL/database/website where the source is retrieved
- Gold – Book, a part/chapter of which is being cited
Single author
Example:
King, S. (2023) Fairy tale. New York, NY: Scribner.
Two or three authors
Example:
Bohr, A. and Memarzadeh, K. (eds) (2020) Artificial intelligence in healthcare. London: Academic Press.
Four or more authors
Example:
Forbes, D. et al. (2020) Effective treatments for PTSD. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
No author
Example:
The Oxford dictionary of abbreviations (2024) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Multiple works by the same author
Please note that, on the Reference List, works by the same author are arranged by the year of publication with the earliest work put first.
Example:
Pratchett, T. (2021) The carpet people. London: Random House.
Pratchett, T. (2022) Wintersmith. London: Random House.
Multiple works published in the same year by the same author
See those a and b?
Wondering why they are used?
Different letters (in alphabetical order) are used to distinguish between works that have been written by the same author and published in one year.
It’s useful for your in-text citation, so that everyone will understand what exact book you are referring to.
Example:
Pratchett, T. (2021a) The carpet people. London: Random House.
Pratchett, T. (2021b) The Shakespeare codex. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Different editions
Note that when using any edition of the book other than the first, use the publication date of that particular edition and make sure to add the edition number to the entry on the Reference List.
Example:
Israel, A.C., Malatras, J.W. and Wicks-Nelson, R. (2020) Abnormal child and adolescent psychology. 9th edn. London: Routledge.
Encyclopedia or dictionary
Note:
- when using more than one volume of an encyclopedia, note the volumes used on the Reference List entry.
- fill in the rest of the information as you would for an edited book.
Example:
Hitlin, S., Dromi, S.M. and Luft, A. (eds) (2023) Handbook of the sociology of morality (2 vols). New York, NY: Springer.
Chapter in an edited book
Note:
- different formats are used for the name of authors and editors. The author of the chapter is stated at the beginning of the entry in a regular book format (last name followed by initials). However, the name of the editor is listed after the name of the chapter, with initials first, followed by the last name.
- in (ed) and (eds), do not use punctuation.
- remember to include page numbers at the end of the entry.
Example:
Davydov, V.V. (2020) ‘The psychological characteristics of the formation of elementary mathematical operations in children’, in T.P. Carpenter, J.M. Moser, and T.A. Romberg (eds) Addition and subtraction: a cognitive perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 224-238.
Pamphlet
Example:
Beam, C. (2020) Conscious culture: a Carl Beam exhibition pamphlet. Oakville: Sheridan College.
Ebook
Note:
- for ebooks accessed online, make sure to include the date last accessed.
- there is no need to include the publisher or location of publication of the print version.
Example:
Mathers, L. (2022) Curious habits: why we do what we do and how to change. Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindleebooks (Accessed: 23 April 2024).
Thesis (online)
Note:
- when using a thesis, it is important to distinguish it from other types of academic works. Specify the education level for the thesis (MA, MSc or PhD) and the educational institution to which the thesis was submitted.
- if the thesis is available online, provide a current link and fill in the date that you last accessed the document.
Example:
Leonardo, M.C. (2023) Leadership support for teachers’ classroom management and student behavior professional learning. PhD thesis. University of North Texas. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2856723236 (Accessed: 14 April 2024).
Conference paper
Example:
Shafiev, T. (2024) ‘Development of a mathematical model and an efficient computational algorithm for predicting atmospheric pollution in industrial regions’, AIP Conference, Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 11-12 May 2022. Available at: https://pubs.aip.org/aip/acp/article-abstract/3004/1/060005/3270465/Development-of-a-mathematical-model-and-an?redirectedFrom=fulltext (Accessed: 12 April 2024).
Shafiev, T. (2024) ‘Development of a mathematical model and an efficient computational algorithm for predicting atmospheric pollution in industrial regions’, AIP Conference Proceedings, 3004(1), pp. 5-20.