The Coventry University Guide to Referencing in Harvard Style

IN-TEXT CITATIONS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

1. What should I do if I cannot find the date on a website?

 

For the purpose of accuracy, if you cannot find the date, it is best to write ‘n.d.’, which means ‘no date’.

 

Example

Students are gaining increasingly high grades (National Student Forum n.d.).

 

2. What should I do if I cannot find the author of a source?

 

If no individual author name/s is/are provided, check carefully if you can identify a corporate author (an organisation, governmental department etc) and use this instead (e.g. NHS, UK Government etc.).  If neither individual nor corporate authors are provided, for online sources you should use the name of the website (e.g. The Guardian, MSN News etc.).

 

If all this fails, you still have two options:

 

Option 1

If the source is anonymous, you can write ‘Anon.’ instead of the author.

 

Example

At the turn of the twentieth century, research in biology was influenced by scientific positivism (Anon. 1900).

 

Option 2:

You can also give the title of the document instead of the author.

 

Example

In this leaflet, Crickhowell is described as a 'fair tax town' ('Fair Tax Town' 2016).

 

3. Can I cite more than one source in the same sentence?

 

Cite more than one author in the same sentence if they deal with the same topic or make similar points or use similar methods or evidence. List the sources in alphabetical order and separate each one with a comma.

 

Examples

Health informatics will radically change the nature of the National Health Service by the year 2010 (Brown 2002: 3, Lee 2006: 44 and Padda 2005: 14).

 

4. How do I cite a single source with multiple authors?

 

4.1. For up to three authors, give all the authors’ surnames in your in-text citation.

 

Example

Cox, Patel, and Pavliotis (2004) discuss Britain’s future adoption of the euro.

 

4.2. However, if there are more than three authors, use ‘et al.’

 

Example

Fletcher et al. (2006: 88) suggest that in this century global climate change has caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

 

N.B. 'Et al.' is short for ‘et alii’ meaning ‘and others’ in Latin. Note that there is a full stop after ‘al.’ because it is an abbreviation (a shortened form of the original word). Remember that although only one surname is given, you are referring to multiple authors, so the next verb in your sentence must agree in the plural rather than the singular.

 

5. How do I cite two authors who have the same surname?

 

If two or more of your cited authors have the same surname, include their initial to differentiate them.

 

Example

The circulation of capital is essential to the development of cities (Harvey, D. 1987).

 

6. Does the full stop go before or after in-text citations?

 

Even when quoting, do not use a full stop until AFTER your in-text citation in brackets because the in-text citation is part of your sentence.

 

Example

Anderson posits that vitamin E has ‘life-changing effects’ (2006: 8).

 

7. When should I use Italics?

 

7.1 Put the title of a print publication in Italics (do not use Bold or Underline). The titles of all the main documents must be italicised, such as titles of books, titles of journals, titles of websites, etc. so that readers can see at a glance which physical sources you have cited.

 

Example

Dickens wrote many novels, but Hard Times (Jones 2004: 16) is the most interesting from a philosophical perspective.

 

7.2 Put all foreign words in italics.

 

7.3 Do not use italics for the title of journal articles or book chapters. Instead, use single quotation marks. The title of any sub-document or sub-section of a main document, such as the article or chapter that sits within a publication, must sit within single quotation marks.

 

Example

Peterson’s recent article on oncology entitled ‘Meningioma Detection’ (2006) makes a real contribution to cancer research.

 

7.4 Do not write quotes in italics.

 

8. When should I include page numbers?

 

If page numbers are provided in the original source, include a page number or page range in your in-text citation whenever you make reference to information that can be retrieved on a specific page (or a limited number of pages). This enables readers to locate the exact passage you have cited for their own use, or to check that you have quoted, re-phrased or summarised the source accurately.

 

Example

Crude oil price rises have been ‘alarming’ (Brown 2006: 5).