Why does Harvard look different at different universities?

There is no single governing body for Harvard referencing, so institutions publish their own variants. The author–date logic is constant, but punctuation, capitalisation, and italics differ. Always match your own guide.

Is Harvard the same as APA?

Both are author–date systems and look similar in-text, but their reference-list formatting differs. Do not mix them within one piece of work.

Harvard

Author–date referencing common across UK and Australian universities and many disciplines.

Typically used inBusiness, the social sciences, nursing, and many UK and Australian programmes.

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Key rules

The rules that actually get marked.

These are the distinctive rules for Harvard. Edge cases vary by edition and institution, so confirm anything unusual against your department's guide.

In-text citations use author surname and year: (Smith, 2020), with a page number for quotations: (Smith, 2020, p. 14).
The reference list is titled 'References' or 'Reference List', alphabetised by author, with a hanging indent.
Harvard is a style family, not a single standard: exact punctuation and italics vary by institution, so follow your department's guide.
Reference entries typically give author, year, title, edition, place of publication, and publisher.
Multiple works by one author in the same year are distinguished with 2020a, 2020b, and so on.

Questions

Harvard, clarified.

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