How to cite a book in Harvard

Harvard has no single official manual. This page follows Cite Them Right, the version many UK universities use, checked against university library guides based on it. Schools vary, so check your own guide before you submit.

Reference list format

Author, A. (Year) Title of the book. Edition (if not the first). Publisher.

Moreno, L. (2021) How cities remember. Harbor Street Press.

• Author. Surname, then initials. Join the last two names with “and”.
• Year. In round brackets.
• Title. Italic. The guides’ examples capitalise only the first word and proper nouns.
• Publisher. The publisher’s name, after the title (and edition).
• Place of publication. Leave it out. Current Cite Them Right guidance no longer includes it for books. Older guides and some schools still ask for it.

Editions

Add the edition only when it isn’t the first. Write it as “3rd edn.” after the title:

Moreno, L. (2021) How cities remember. 3rd edn. Harbor Street Press.

E-books

If the e-book looks like the print book, with the same page numbers, reference it as the print book. Otherwise add a DOI if it has one, or the web address and the date you accessed it:

Moreno, L. (2021) How cities remember. Harbor Street Press. Available at: https://example.org/ebook (Accessed: 8 March 2025).

Guides differ on the publisher here. Westminster keeps it, while Reading’s e-book example leaves it out.

Edited books

When a book is a collection edited by someone, put the editor in the author’s place with “(ed.)” after the name, or “(eds)” for more than one:

Ito, K. and Brandt, H. (eds) (2020) Water and the modern city. Harbor Street Press.

To cite one chapter of an edited book, the chapter’s author and title come first, then “in”, the editor and the book.

In-text citation

Give the author and the year, with the page when you quote or point to one passage: (Moreno, 2021, p. 45). With three authors, name all three. With four or more, use the first author and et al.: (Moreno et al., 2021).

Check before you submit

• Your copy. Use the year, edition and page numbers of the copy you read.
• Edition wording. Reading’s and Wolverhampton’s guides write “edn” for edition, which keeps it apart from “ed.” for editor. Westminster’s writes “ed.”, so match your own guide.
• Alphabetical order. The reference list goes in one alphabetical list by author’s surname.