How to set out references

In the Harvard system the year of publication appears after the name of the author. The citation order for a Harvard reference is:  

Author(s) or editor(s) or organisation(s) responsible for writing or compiling the book  
Year of publication 
Title and sub-title 
Edition, if not the first  
Place of publication  
Publisher  

[H4] Tips 

• Always cite the author(s) surname in the form in which it appears on the title page.  

• Use initials for the author’s first name(s).  

• Where there is more than one author, cite them in the order in which they appear on the title page.  

• Where there are more than three authors, include only the first three.  

• Sometimes the author is an organisation or government department. This is known as a corporate author. Always cite the corporate author(s) in the form in which it appears on the title page.  

• Always cite the title which appears on the title page – sometimes this is different from what appears on the cover!  

• Always give the full title, including any sub-title information which should appear after a colon, eg First line management: a practical approach.  

• Always use italics for the title.  

• Always use lower case for the title and the subtitle. Only use a capital letter for the first word of the title and for any proper nouns.  

• Always record the place of publication as it appears on the item. Where a publisher has more than one office, this is usually the first named place.  

• Always cite the publisher in the form it appears on the title page or back of the title page.  

• Always make sure that you cite the publication date for the edition that you wish to refer to and include an edition statement, eg 2nd ed, where appropriate.  

• If the author and the publisher are the same and the publisher is a corporate body also known by its acronym eg TUC you can use the acronym for the publisher as long as you put the corporate author’s name in full, eg Trades Union Congress (see Books with authors section for examples).  

• If the author is a corporate body with a sub-body, the sub-body should be entered in lower case, eg DUNDEE UNIVERSITY. Department of History.  

• If you can’t find the place of publication on the document but you know where the publisher/body is based it is customary to put the place in square brackets: [London].  

• Put ‘no date’ when the publication date is not available.  

•  For electronic documents always include the URL of the web page where the document appears and include the date that you accessed the document on a website as material on websites is often removed.  

The list below provides examples of books with one, two and three authors.  

BURKEMAN, O. (2012) The antidote: happiness for people who can’t stand positive thinking. Edinburgh: Canongate.  

CORFIELD, T. (1998) An evaluation of the introduction and application of personal development plans at Commercial Union. [Unpublished MSc dissertation]. Sheffield: Sheffield Business School.  

DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS. (2006) Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system. [London]: DWP.  

GRAYLING, A.C. (2002) The meaning of things: applying philosophy to life. London: Phoenix.  

MACLEOD, D. and BRADY, C. (2008) The extra mile: how to engage your people to win. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.  

PINK, D. (2010) Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. Edinburgh: Canongate.  

TRUSS, C., MANKIN, D. and KELLIHER, C. (2012) Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  

If a book has an editor(s) or a compiler rather than an author, it will need to be cited as the examples given below.  

BACH, S. and SISSON, K. (eds). (2000) Personnel management: a comprehensive guide to theory and practice. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Business.  

HØYRUP, S., BONNAFOUS-BOUCHER, M. and HASSE, C. (eds). (2012) Employee driven innovation: a new approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.  

KIRKPATRICK, D.L. (comp). (1975) Evaluating training programs: a collection of articles from the Journal of the American Society for Training and Development. Madison, WI: American Society for Training and Development.  

Sometimes you might want to cite chapters or comments which appear in other items. The correct format should be...In:  

For a chapter:  
CHEN, X., BISHOP, J.W. and SCOTT, K.D. (2000) Teamwork in China: where reality challenges theory and practice. In: LUI, J.T., TSUI, A.S. and WELDON, E. (eds). Management and organizations in the Chinese context. New York: St. Martin’s Press. pp269-283.  

DOYLE, M. (2001) Management development. In: BEARDWELL, I. and HOLDEN, L. (eds). Human resource management: a contemporary approach. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. pp369-431.  

TRUSS, C. (2012, forthcoming) The distinctiveness of HRM in the public sector. In: BURKE, R., NOBLET, A. and COOPER, C. (eds). HRM in the public sector. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.  

And for a comment: 
DOYLE, M. (2001) In: BEARDWELL, I. and HOLDEN, L. (eds). Human resource management : a contemporary approach. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. p2.  

MOYNAGH, M. and WORSLEY R. (2005) Working in the twenty-first century. Leeds: Economic & Social Research Council and King’s Lynn: The Tomorrow Project.  

Citing reports in Harvard is very much like citing books except you must include any series information and where they exist, series numbers. The list below gives examples of citations for reports including citations for web-based reports.  

BATES, P. and HUWS, U. (2002) Modelling e-work in Europe: estimates, models and forecasts from the emergence project. IES Report, No 388. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.  

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2012) Resourcing and talent planning: annual survey report 2012 [online]. London: CIPD. 
Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/resourcing-talent-planning-2012.aspx [Accessed 10 May 2013].  

GREENAN, N. and LORENZ, E. (2009) Learning organisations: report prepared for OECD’s innovation strategy [online]. EDU Working Paper, EDU/WKP(2009)6. [Paris]: OECD. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/44191153.pdf [Accessed 26 February 2013].  

JOHNSTON, T. (2008) Knowledge and use of mediation in SMEs [online]. Research Paper, No 02/08. London: Acas. Available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/researchpapers [Accessed 19 December 2012].  

LATRIELLE, P. (2011) Mediation: a thematic review of the Acas/CIPD evidence [online]. Research Paper, No 13/11. London: Acas. Available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/researchpapers [Accessed 19 December 2012].  

SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR MENTAL HEALTH. (2007) Mental health at work: developing the business case [online]. Policy Paper, No 8. London: Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. Available at: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-09/mental_health_at_work.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

TAYLOR, M., JENKINS, S. and SACKER, A. (2011) Financial capability, income and psychological wellbeing [online]. ISER Working Paper Series: 2011–18. Colchester: Institute for Social & Economic Research. 
Available at: www.iser.essex.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/iser/2011-18.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

There are other kinds of monographs such as factsheets, guides etc that you may wish to cite. These are two examples from the CIPD website. 

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2011) Coaching and mentoring [online]. Factsheet. London: CIPD. Available at: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/coaching-mentoring.aspx [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) Workplace financial education: a win-win proposition [online]. Guide. London: CIPD. Available at: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/ 

In the Harvard system the year of publication appears after the name of the author. The citation order for a Harvard reference for a journal article is:  

Author(s)  
Year of publication  
Title and sub-title  
Title of journal  
Volume and issue number or month  
Pages numbers of the article  

Tips 

• Always cite the author(s) in the form in which it appears in the article. 

• Where there is more than one author, cite them in the order in which they appear. 

• Where there are more than three authors, include only the first three. 

• Always give the full title, including any sub-title information which should appear after a colon. 

• Always use lower case for the title and the subtitle. Only use a capital letter for the first word of the title and for any proper nouns. 

• Always use italics for the title of the journal. 

• Always give the full reference to the item including volume, part number and/or month and year. 

• And don’t forget the pages! 

The list below provides examples of references for journal articles with authors. 

CHIARONI, D., CHIESA, V. and FRATTINI, F. (2011) The open innovation journey: how firms dynamically implement the emerging innovation management paradigm. Technovation. Vol 31, No 1, January. pp34-43.  

LUBKE, G. H. and MUTHEN, B. (2005) Investigating population heterogeneity with factor mixture models. Psychological Methods. Vol 10, No 1. pp21-39. Available at: http://www.statmodel.com/download/psymeth.pdf [Accessed 26 February 2013].  

SAMMER, J. (2012) Financial education – stress = improved productivity. HR Magazine. Vol 57, No 6, June. pp71–76. 

SHANTZ, A., ALFES, K. and TRUSS, C. (2012, forthcoming) Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and 21st century practice. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 

Articles with no obvious personal authors are quite common. The following is an example of a citation.  

In safe hands: coping with aggression in the NHS. (2001) IRS Employment Review. No 738, 15 October. pp40-42. 

Sometimes you may wish to cite a journal without specifying a particular article. If so you will need to include the International Standard Serial Number or ISSN. ISSNs have been used since the 1970s and are a universally accepted way of identifying serials. Do bear in mind that a printed journal will have a different ISSN from the online version of the same journal.  

Employee Benefits. ISSN 1366-8722 (print format).  

Competency and Emotional Intelligence Quarterly. ISSN 1469-333X (print format).  

Competency and Emotional Intelligence Quarterly. ISSN 1469-3321 (electronic format). 

Articles with authors 

PEACOCK, L. (2013) Premier Inn to create 500 apprenticeships. Telegraph. 14 March.  

PERLROTH, N. (2013) Researchers find 25 countries using surveillance software. New York Times. 13 March.  

Articles with no authors 

Civil servants may transfer to private sector. (2012) Irish Times. 26 July.  

Howlin faces public pay battle as unions reveal guarantees. (2012) Irish Independent. 1 June.  

UK austerity in a world awash with money. (2013) Guardian. 14 March. 

Sometimes papers which have featured at conferences can be difficult to trace especially if the only record you have is an online one. The examples below have identifiable authors, titles, series statements, places of publication and publishers but this might not always be the case.  

BOYATZIS, R., JACK, A. and CESARO. R. (2010) Coaching with compassion: an FMRI study of coaching to the positive and negative emotional attractor. Academy of Management 2010 Best Paper Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY: Academy of Management.  

SHIPPER, F. and WEER, C. (2011) A longitudinal investigation of the impact of positive and negative coaching on team effectiveness. Presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2011, San Antonio,Texas. Briarcliff Manor, NY: Academy of Management.  

The following are examples of citations for UK Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments, Government Command Papers and Hansard. Most of these documents are available online. 

Localism Act 2011. (2011) [online] London: The Stationery Office. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/20/pdfs/ukpga_20110020_en.pdf [Accessed 3 October 2012].  

Equal Pay Act 1970 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005. (2005) SI 2005/145 [online]. London: The Stationery Office.  Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2005/145/pdfs/nisr_20050145_en.pdf  [Accessed 13 March 2013].  

The Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. (2002) SI 2002/ 034 [online]. London: The Stationery Office. Available at : http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2034/pdfs/uksi_20022034_en.pdf  [Accessed 13 March 2013]. 

Command papers are Green Papers, White Papers and other Government publications. They are always referenced with an abbreviation of Command plus the serial number. The abbreviation of Command has existed in various forms depending on the time periods. Most of these documents are available online. 

Command papers from 1900-1918 are cited Cd  

Command papers from 1919-1956 are cited Cmd  

Command papers from 1956-1986 are cited Cmnd  

Command papers from 1987 onwards are cited Cm 

HOME DEPARTMENT. (2012) Statement of changes in immigration rules [online]. Cm 8337. London: The Stationery Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-cm8337-april-2012 [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

HOME DEPARTMENT. (2011) Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions: part 1 report [the Winsor report] [online]. Cm 8024. London: The Stationery Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-police-officer-and-staff-remuneration-and-conditions-final-report [Accessed 3 October 2012]. 

House of Lords debates on bills, delegated legislation, statements, questions, introductions, general debates and grand committees are available online from November 1995 by date. Commons debates, statements and written answers are available online by date from November 1988.  

There are various ways of citing Hansard but the preferred way is first the relevant House, the date, the volume and the column reference. It is also helpful to add “WA” to indicate a written answer, “WS” to indicate a written statement and “GC” for a grand committee. The Lords cite the column references differently from the Commons. You can add in a link to the actual page if you think that it would be helpful. The date that you accessed the document is probably unnecessary as the information is unlikely to be removed from the website. 

HL Hansard Deb. 14 January 2014. Vol 742, C513-514.  

HL Hansard Deb. 14 January 2014. Vol 742, CGC124-126.  

HL Hansard Deb. 25 February 2013. Vol 743, CWS75.  

HL Hansard Deb. 25 February 2013. Vol 743, CWA75.  

HC Hansard Deb. 23 January 2013. Vol 557, C11WS.  

HC Hansard Deb. 23 January 2013 Vol 557, C373WA.  

HC Hansard Deb. 15 January 2013 Vol 556, C717. 

HOME OFFICE. (2012) Immigration (employment-related settlement, overseas domestic workers: Tier 5 of the points-based system and visitors) – WMS. This written ministerial statement was laid in the House of Commons on 29 February 2012 by Theresa May, and in the House of Lords by Lord Henley [online]. London: Home Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/immigration-employment-related-settlement-overseas-domestic-workers-tier-5-of-the-points-based-system-and-visitors-wms [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

HOME OFFICE. (2013) Statement of intent: codes of practice for skilled workers [online]. London: Home Office. Available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/immigration/soi-cop-skilled-workers?view=Binary [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

MIGRATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE. (2012) Analysis of the impacts of migration [online]. London: Migration Advisory Committee. Available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/workingwithus/mac/27-analysis-migration/01-analysis-report/analysis-of-the-impacts?view=Binary [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS. (2010) Standard occupational classification 2010 [online]. (SOC 2010). Newport: ONS. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc/soc2010 [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

UK BORDER AGENCY. (2013) Immigration rules [online]. [London]: UK Border Agency. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-rules-archive-1-july-to-31-july-2013 [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

HM GOVERNMENT. (2012) Open public services [online]. London: HM Government. Available at: http://files.openpublicservices.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/HMG_OpenPublicServices_web.pdf [Accessed 3 October 2012].  

MACLEOD, D. and CLARKE, N. (2009) Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement [the Macleod report] [online]. London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.  

Available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20121205082246/http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file52215.pdf [Accessed 3 October 2012]. 

The following are examples of European Union publications.  

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. (2009) Proposal for a Council directive implementing the revised framework agreement on parental leave concluded by BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC and repealing directive 96/34/EC [online]. COM(2009) 410 final. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Available at: http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0410:FIN:EN:PDF [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. (2008) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council directive on temporary agency work: political agreement on a common position (QMV) [online]. COM(2008) 569 final. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0569:FIN:EN:PDF [Accessed 11 March 2013]. 

CAMERON, D. (2011) “The real issue is this: migrants are filling gaps in the labour market left wide open by a welfare system that for years has paid British people not to work. That's where the blame lies – at the door of our woeful welfare system, and the last government who comprehensively failed to reform it” [online]. In: Speech by David Cameron on immigration in Romsey, Hampshire, 14 April 2011. London: Conservative Party.  
Available at: http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2011/04/David_Cameron_Good_immigration_not_mass_immigration.aspx [Accessed 11 March 2013].  

MILIBAND. E. (2012) “Where there are sectors in which the migrant share of the workforce has dramatically increased, it can be a sign that we haven’t done enough to equip young people with the skills they need to compete” [online]. In: Speech by Ed Miliband given with the Institute for Public Policy Research, 22 June 2012. London: Labour Party.  
Available at: http://www.labour.org.uk/to-deal-with-peoples-concerns-on-immigration-we-must-change-how- [Accessed 11 March 2013]. 

Increasingly we need to provide references to multimedia. The following are some examples. Try to get the editor or author or compiler name, title of the resource, name of hosting site (if appropriate), publisher, place of publication (if appropriate), date created and access date. 

CANFIELD, J. (1991) Self-esteem and peak performance [audio cassette]. Milton Keynes: Careertrack Tapes. 

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) Leadership: episode 2 [podcast]. London: CIPD. http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts [Accessed 8 May 2007].  

GILLEN, T. (2009) Persuade, influence and negotiate [DVD]. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  

Newsnight [television programme]. (2013) BBC 2, 14 March. 10.30pm.  

• The references should always appear at the end of the text.  

• References should be listed in alphabetical order of the author’s name and then by year and by letter.  

• Where an entry lacks an author, the entry should be listed by title and interfiled with the authors as shown below.  

Quoting references in the text 

In the Harvard system, the year of publication is given after the name of the author. 

• In a recent report (Taylor 2002) it was suggested that…  

If there are two authors  

• In a recent report (Taylor and Brown 2002) it was suggested that…  

If there are more than two authors  

• In a recent report (Taylor et al 2002) it was suggested that  

If you wish to cite individual pages, quote or paraphrase the content of a document, the page number(s) should be included after the date and separated by a comma  

• In a recent report (Taylor and Brown 2002, p236)  

• In a recent report (Taylor and Brown 2002, pp236-238)  

Where you need to cite more than one work published in the same year by the same author, you can indicate this as follows: 

• In a recent report (Taylor 2002a)  

• In a recent report (Taylor 2002b) etc  

AVIVA. (2012) Working lives: a research report into employer and employee attitudes to saving in the workplace [online]. Edition 1. London: Aviva. Available at: www.aviva.com/data/report-library/WORKING_LIVES.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2012) Learning methods [online]. Factsheet. London: CIPD. Available at: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/learning-methods.aspx [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2012) Reward management survey 2012 [online]. Survey report. London: CIPD. Available at: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/reward-management-2012.aspx [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. (2012) Employee Benefits/Alexander Forbes benefits research 2012 [online]. London: Employee Benefits. Available at: www.employeebenefits.co.uk/download/6411/BB_0512_RESEARCH.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. (2005) Promoting pensions to employees: a guide for employers [online]. London: FSA. Available at: www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/guide4employers.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. (2012) Changes to the way you get financial advice [online]. London: FSA. Available at: www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/rdr-consumer-guide.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

In safe hands: coping with aggression in the NHS. (2001) IRS Employment Review. No 738, 15 October. pp40-42.  

LIFE ACADEMY. (2012) Your retirement 2012/2013. Planning for retirement: a practical guide. Guildford: Life Academy.  

METLIFE. (2012) 10th Annual study of employee benefits trends: seeing opportunity in shifting tides [online]. New York: MetLife. Available at: www.metlife.com/assets/institutional/services/insights-and-tools/ebts/ml-10-Annual-EBTS.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT SAVINGS TRUST. (2012) NEST’s golden rules of communication [online]. Guide. London: NEST. Available at: www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/golden-rules-of-communication,PDF.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2012].  

SENGE, P. (1990) The leader’s new work: building learning organizations. Sloan Management Review. Vol 32, No 1. pp7-23.  

SENGE, P. (1992) The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. London: Century Business.  

SENGE, P., ROBERTS, C. and ROSS, R.B. (1994) The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization. London: Nicholas Brealey.