How to cite a YouTube video 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

Channel or creator (Year) Title of the video. Day Month. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

Harbor Science (2024) How tides work in five minutes. 4 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAMPLE (Accessed: 8 March 2025).

• Author. The channel or person who posted the video.
• Year. The year the video was posted, in round brackets.
• Title. Italic. The guides’ examples capitalise only the first word and proper nouns.
• Day and month. The upload date goes after the title, without the year, since the year is already in brackets.
• Available at. The video’s web address.
• Accessed. The date you watched it.

The same pattern works for videos on other sharing sites. Cite Them Right groups them as videos from online sharing platforms.

In-text citation

Give the channel and the year: (Harbor Science, 2024). If you name the channel in your sentence, put only the year in brackets: Harbor Science (2024) shows…

Videos have no page numbers. For a quotation or a specific moment, add the time in the video after the year: (Harbor Science, 2024, 2:34). The University of Reading’s guide shows this form.

Check before you submit

• The channel name. Use the name of the account that posted the video.
• Upload date, not viewing date. The date after the title is when the video was posted. The date you watched it goes in the accessed part.
• Films and TV. A film or TV programme you watched on a streaming service is referenced differently. Check your guide for that format.