In-Text Citation Examples in Harvard

• Tomas Elliott (Ph.D.)
• Published on 08/22/2025

In in-text citation in academic writing, borrowed ideas, arguments, or facts from other sources should be acknowledged. The Harvard referencing system is prevalent in research and assignments, especially in social sciences and humanities. Harvard in-text citations appear in a simple author–date format, and it is quick for the reader to locate the full details in the reference list.

Harvard in-text citation format depends on the number of authors, whether corporate or individual authors, or when the source is non-attributed. Each of these has its specific rule. This article explains the most widely used forms of Harvard style in-text citations both in parenthetical and narrative forms.

Parenthetical and Narrative Structures Importance

Harvard style in-text citations are in two forms:

• Parenthetical citations place all details (surname and year) in brackets.
• Narrative citations insert the author’s surname into the text, but the year is placed in brackets.

Both are doing the same job, but the choice depends on text flow. For example, narrative citations are okay when referring to the work of the author directly, but parenthetical citations are preferable for backing up statements without indicating the author.

One Author

If the source has a single author, both the surname of the author and the publication year are given. This is the most fundamental Harvard in-text citation.

Parenthetical

Example	(Adichie, 2013)
Structure	(Author Surname, Year)

Narrative

Example	Adichie (2013)
Structure	Author Surname (Year)

Two Authors

If a piece of work has two authors, both surnames appear, but joined with the conjunction and.

Parenthetical

Example	(Diamond and Friedman, 2018)
Structure	(Author 1 Surname and Author 2 Surname, Year)

Narrative

Example	Diamond and Friedman (2018)
Structure	Author 1 Surname and Author 2 Surname (Year)

Three Authors

Where there are three authors, all three surnames appear on the reference, preceded by an and between the second last and last authors.

Parenthetical

Example	(Nguyen, Patel and Gomez, 2020)
Structure	(Author 1 Surname, Author 2 Surname and Author 3 Surname, Year)

Narrative

Example	Nguyen, Patel and Gomez (2020)
Structure	Author 1 Surname, Author 2 Surname and Author 3 Surname (Year)

Four or More Authors

For works with four or more authors, the first author’s surname only is provided, followed by et al. (a Latin abbreviation for and others).

Parenthetical

Example	(Hernandez et al., 2021)
Structure	(Author 1 et al., Year)

Narrative

Example	Hernandez et al. (2021)
Structure	Author 1 et al. (Year)

Corporate Author or Group Author

Where the work is brought out by an organization, institution, or government department, then a group name substitutes for an individual author.

Parenthetical

Example	(United Nations, 2025)
Structure	(Group Author, Year)

Narrative

Example	United Nations (2025)
Structure	Group Author (Year)

No Authors

If no individual or organization is specified as the author, the title of the work is given in italics for reference list entries. But in in-text citations, it’s usually abbreviated and in plain text (not italics), and preceded by the year.

Parenthetical

Example	(Anonymous Political Memoir, 2019)
Structure	(Title of Source, Year)

Narrative

Example	Anonymous Political Memoir (2019)
Structure	Title of Source (Year)

E-Book on Reader Devices

Where an e-book is not employing standard page numbers, the reference can be preceded by a chapter number, location marker, or percentage, depending on the reading device.

Parenthetical

Example	(Holt, 2025, 34%)
Structure	(Author Surname, Year, Percentage%)

Narrative

Example	Holt (2025, 67%)
Structure	Author Surname (Year, Percentage%)

Be Consistent with Punctuations – Punctuation between authors’ names and year of publication should be employed to ensure clarity and consistency. Apply Lowercase Letters for Multiple Publications within the Same Year – Apply letters such as a, b, or c after the publication year when citing more than one piece from the same author published within the same year. Match In-Text Citations with the Reference List – In-text citations must be identical to a full entry in the reference list to maintain precision and traceability. Use the Correct Sequence for Multiple Sources – If multiple sources are provided simultaneously, type them in order of publication, starting with the earliest date. Use the Same Level of Spelling Precision with Author Names – Make sure author surname spellings are identical in in-text citations and the list of references to avoid inconsistencies.