how to quote in essay harvard

Harvard Referencing

• Summarising/Paraphrasing
• Citations/Direct Quotations
• Books (print or online)
• Electronic Journal Article
• Website/Web Document
• Journal/Magazine Article
• Academic publications
• Audiovisual material
• News Article (print or online)
• Figures/Tables
• Public documents
• Performance
• Reference List Example
• More Information

If you are quoting someone word-for-word or using someone else's ideas or statistics in your writing, you will need to reference it within the body of your work. Work the author’s surname or organisation’s name, the year of publication and the page number into the paragraph you are writing. The purpose is to give basic details so your reader can get more information from the list at the end.

Example 1: 'In the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place' (Walker 2011, p. 222). Example 2: Walker (2011, p. 222) states that 'in the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place'. Example 3: In his 2011 text, Walker states that 'in the food and beverage industry, it is estimated that 25 percent of employees steal regardless of the controls in place' (p. 222). Note that page numbers are only necessary for in text citations when direct quotes or precise information is used. Direct quotations  

•    should be used sparingly in an assignment
•    can be used if you need to record exact words or phrases
•    are useful if you find some writing which expresses exactly what you want to say very well
•    can be a phrase, a short sentence, or longer

Small quotations  (less than 30 words)are included in your writing with the text in single quote marks: The pearl has been 'a particularly potent literary device' (Joyce & Addison 1992, p. 15) in many cultures from ancient times. If the quotation is longer than 30 words, set it out like this: The post-war years were not a time of great innovation.  As Ewing (2001, p. 167) states:    To get back to normal, which meant to order and stability, was the general longing and fashion voiced this conservative mood in a series of smooth, well-balanced lines, embodied in clothes of notable elegance, carefully designed, well-made and flattering. OR The post-war years were not a time of great innovation:      To get back to normal, which meant to order and stability, was the general longing and fashion voiced this conservative mood in a series of smooth, well-balanced lines, embodied in clothes of notable elegance, carefully designed, well-made and flattering.  (Ewing 2001, p. 167) Points to remember for longer quotes:  

• place a colon (:) at the end of your writing before the quote
• leave a space of one line before and after the quotation
• do not use quotation marks around the quotation
• use a smaller font for the quote, e.g. if your assignment is in 12, use 10 for the quotation
• indent the quote
• if your assignment is in double spacing, keep the quote in single spacing

Citing Someone Else's Quotation

Sometimes an author will cite another author and you may want to use this in your assignment.  Care needs to be taken with quotations and citations taken out of context.  It is a good idea to try to track down the original work.  If you are not able to find the original work, you may still use a quotation from or a reference to the cited work, making sure that you acknowledge both of the authors.

Original text:

'Although Barnes sees the mods as a male-dominated youth culture (Barnes, 1991: p.8), Garber and McRobbie argue that the mods were the first 'softer' working-class subculture, in which girls could participate more openly and directly (Garber & Mc Robbie, 1979: p.226).'

In-text citation:

Some writers disagree with the idea that the mods were a male dominated subculture (Garber & McRobbie 1979, p. 226 in Jenss 2005, p. 192).

Garber & McRobbie (1979 p. 226 in Jenss 2005, p. 192) claim that the mods were one of the first youth subcultures in which girls could participate more fully.

Reference list:

Jenss, H. 2005, 'Sixties dress only!', in A. Palmer & H. Clark (eds), Old clothes, new looks: second hand fashion, Berg Publishers, Oxford.

Personal Communications

References to personal communications such as letters, emails, interviews, or phone conversations can be included in assignments. The in-text citation should have the author's surname followed by their initials, then the abbreviation pers. comm. and the date. These citations should  not be included in the Reference List/Bibliography.

The patient valued the knowledge and experience of other cancer patients more than medical information ( Wilson, P. 2013, pers. comm., September 10).

When interviewed, Susan Jones said she halted her information seeking because of fearful and contradictory information (Jones, S. 2013, pers. comm., September 28).

Information From More Than One Source

If you include the authors in the sentence, they are listed in chronological order by year of publication in brackets.

If the author's names are not included in the sentence, they are enclosed together in one set of brackets and presented chronologically, starting with the first published. A semi-colon is inserted after each citation of the author and year of publication.

Morrow & Young (1996), Irish & Parsons (2016) and Elish-Piper (2017) all stress the importance of parent participation in children's literacy development. 

Previous research has found that parents play a key role in their children's literacy development and school success (Morrow & Young, 1996; Irish & Parsons, 2016; Elish-Piper, 2017).

Using Abbreviations

If you are referring numerous times to an organisation with a long title, you may use the relevant acronym or initialism. The first time you refer to the organisation, include both the full title and, in parentheses (round brackets), the acronym or initialism. Thereafter, the acronym or initialism will suffice. Both acronyms and initialisms are written without full stops .

Example in text :

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has a policy on removing injured animals. The RSPCA is permitted to enter a property at any time following a report of complaint (RSPCA 2006).

In the reference list, both the long title and the acronym or initialism must be included. For example:

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) 2006, Policy statement on removal of animals at risk , RSPCA, Brisbane.

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Harvard Style

• Position of the citation
• Secondary Referencing
• Date of Publication
• Page numbers
• Citing from Web pages

Quotations longer than 40 words

Modifying a direct quotation

• Paraphrasing and Summarising
• Examples of References in Harvard style
• Harvard Reference Examples A-Z
• Setting the Bibliographic Style
• Inserting In-text Citations
• How to create a Reference List
• Managing Sources
• Editing Citations
• Updating your Reference list
• Find Sources
• Evaluate Sources
• Write the Reference
• Write the Annotation
• Examples of Annotations

To quote is to directly use another’s words and to acknowledge the source. If you are quoting someone word-for-word or using someone else's ideas or statistics in your writing, you will need to reference it within the body of your assignment. 

Small quotations (less than 40 words) are included in your writing with the text in single  quotation marks. After the quote, add the author’s surname, the date of publication and the page number(s) of the quote.

If a quotation is longer than 40 words, no quotation marks are used, and the quotation is indented instead:

• place a colon (:) at the end of your writing before the quote
• leave a space of one line before and after the quotation
• do not use quotation marks around the quotation
• use a smaller font for the quote, e.g. if your assignment is in font 12, use 10 for the quotation
• indent the quote

If you want to omit a word or words from a quotation, indicate this with an ellipsis (three dots) with a space before and after the ellipsis ( ... ). A direct quotation should neither start nor end with an ellipsis. Words should only be omitted from a quotation if they are superfluous to the reason why you are using the quotation and the meaning of the quote is not affected by the change.

Square Brackets

If you need to add a word or words to a quotation, or change the capitalisation of a word to fit with your writing, put the word(s)/letter in square brackets [ ]. Words should only be added to a quote for explanatory reasons (e.g. a name might be added to explain who a pronoun is referencing).

If you need to indicate a misspelling, grammatical error or lack of inclusive language, insert the word [sic] (meaning so or thus) in square brackets immediately following the error but do not change the error in the quotation.

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• Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024 10:05 AM
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