Harvard is an author-date system: every in-text citation carries the surname and the year, and the reference list is alphabetical by author. Unlike APA there is no comma between author and year.
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In-text citation
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What this style does
There is no single official Harvard manual. Harvard is a family of author-date conventions and each university publishes its own version (Cite Them Right is the common UK base). This generator uses the most widely taught form — always check it against your department's own guide.
Author and year sit next to each other with no comma between them: (Ahmed 2022), not (Ahmed, 2022). That is the single most visible difference from APA.
Harvard joins authors with and in prose; the ampersand is an APA convention. With three or more authors, most Harvard guides use et al. from the first citation.
Article titles go in single quotation marks; book and journal titles are italicized. Volume and issue read 45(3), and page ranges carry pp.
Online sources normally end with Available at: and the URL plus an accessed date in brackets — a Harvard habit that APA dropped.
How to use it
Pick the source type at the top of the form.
Fill in the fields that apply — leave optional ones empty.
The reference entry and the matching in-text citation update as you type; copy the reference with the button.
No. Harvard has no governing body and no single official manual, so punctuation and element order vary between institutions. Use this tool to get the structure right, then compare against the guide your school or journal publishes.
What is the difference between Harvard and APA?
Both are author-date systems, but Harvard has no comma between author and year, uses and rather than & between names, keeps the place of publication in book references, and puts article titles in single quotation marks.
When do I use et al. in Harvard?
Most Harvard guides use et al. once there are three or more authors, including on first citation. With exactly two authors, name both every time.
Do I need an accessed date?
Most Harvard versions require one for online sources, written as (Accessed: Day Month Year) after the URL. Some institutions have dropped it, so follow your own guide.
Is anything uploaded to a server?
No — the page is self-contained JavaScript and your citations never leave your browser.