Skip to Main Content

Harvard (Holmesglen) Referencing Guide - Previous Edition

In-text citations overview

In-text citations appear in the body of your assignment. 

You must include an in-text citation when using text (quote or paraphrasing) or visual content (image, chart or table) that has been taken from another source.

The citation should include:      

  • Author's surname* 

  • Year of publication

  • Page number** 

*If there is no author or organisation name, please refer to more citation formats. 
**When quoting, page numbers must be included where available. When paraphrasing, you do not need to include the page number; however it is encouraged, as it assists others in finding the information that is referenced.

Citations can be positioned in the text as follows:

  • At the start of the sentence
    e.g. Bond (2015) states...
     
  • At the end of the sentence
    e.g. The results in the study were not conclusive (Bond 2015). 

 

Avoid undercitation and overcitation:

  • Undercitation: Ensure all sources of information or works referred to are given credit using an in-text citation. 

  • Overcitation: Do not repeat the same citation for every subsequent sentence where the source and topic are unchanged.
    e.g. ... was concluded by the study (Hamburg and Schulz 2022). The results centred around the link between the participants and their experiences and outlined justification for the program's continuation. In addition, the positive relationships built between groups A and B were noted and are to be further investigated in the coming months. 

 

exclamation mark in blue circle In-text citations are normally included in the word count unless otherwise specified in your assessment submission guidelines.

Speak to your teacher regarding assessment submission requirements.

Example in-text citations

Citation elements

Paraphrase

Example screenshot of an in-text citation for a paraphrase

Quote

Example screenshot of an in-text citation for a quote

Citation formats

Author
First citation
2nd citation onwards                       
Notes
1 author

(Bond 2015)

OR

Bond (2015)

See: first citation. 
2 authors

(Tsukino & Shields 2014)

OR

Tsukino and Shields (2014)

See: first citation. 
3 authors

(Potter, Weasley & Granger 2015)

OR

Potter, Weasley and Granger (2015)

See: first citation. 

 
4 or more authors

(Wayne et al. 2013)

OR

Wayne et al. (2013)

See: first citation. 

List first author only, followed by: et al. 
Organisation/Corporate
author (no abbreviated
name)

(Austin Health 2016)

OR

Austin Health (2016)

See: first citation. 

Includes: 

  • Organisations
  • Associations
  • Government agencies 
  • Universities 
  • Educational institutes 
  • Businesses
Organisation/Corporate
author (widely known by abbreviation)

(Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2014)

OR

Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] (2014)

(ABS 2017)

OR

ABS (2017)

First citation:

  • Use full name with
    abbreviation in [square brackets].

2nd citation onwards:

  • Use abbreviated form without square brackets.
As cited in (secondary source)

(Ford, cited in Cherrington 2018)

OR

Ford (cited in Cherrington 2018)		 See: first citation.  Used to cite a reference mentioned in another source.
Hyphenated names
  • Authors/Editors with a hyphenated first name should have a hyphen added in between their initials with no space.
    e.g. Fernández-Castillo, R-J
Editor
  • If the author is an editor, such as the compiler of collected works, list the editor(s) in-text.
    E.g. Saligari (2017) or (Saligari 2017).
  • However, if it is an author in an edited work, cite the author as usual. 
No author

  • Use the title in place of the author. 

  • Title is italicised both in-text and in the reference list.

  • If the title is long, shorten the title to the first few words.

​E.g. The full title Organizing from the inside out: The foolproof system for organizing your home, your office and your life could be shortened to Organizing from the inside out
No date
  • Use n.d. in place of date.
    E.g. (Hair and Beauty Australia n.d.) or Hair and Beauty Australia (n.d.).
  • If, however, a rough estimate of the publication date is gathered (particularly for historical references), use the abbreviation 'c.' (short for circa, which means about) before the date. 

E.g. (Al Mahdi c. 1943) or Al Mahdi (c. 1943) 
No page numbers (quotes)
  • Quotes for webpages do not require a page number.
  • When quoting a source (e.g. ebook) with no page numbers available, you can provide a heading/section name or paragraph number instead. e.g. (Hobson 2021, para. 3).
Multiple authors with the same surname
  • Use their initials to differentiate the authors.
    E.g. JH Bond (2015) or (Bond, JH 2015), and JA Bond (2015) or (Bond, JA 2015)
Multiple citations in one reference 
  • For multiple citations in one reference, list in alphabetical order and separate with a semicolon.
    E.g. (Bond 2015; Tsukino & Shields 2014)
Multiple works by the same author with the same date
  • List them in the order they appear in the reference list. Differentiate by adding a-z in alphabetical order after the year. 
    E.g. (Bond 2015a) and (Bond 2015b). Where Bond 2015a will be the first Bond with the year 2015 listed in the reference list

Quotes/Paraphrasing

Quotes are text that is repeated or copied from text written by another person, with the exact same wording, punctuation and spelling.

  • 'Single quote marks' must be used.
  • The author, year and page number (if provided) must be cited.

The page number can be placed in the citation after the year is mentioned, as in the image below.

Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to express someone else's idea, or to summarise their research.

When paraphrasing, you do not need to include the page number; however it is encouraged, as it assists others to find the information that is referenced.

Example screenshot of document showing in-text citations throughout paragraph

 

Brief or longer quotes

Brief quotes are less than 30 words. Refer to quotes above for format.

Longer quotes are 30 words or more. Format as a block quote, as explained below:

  • The quote begins on a new line.
  • No single quote marks.
  • Indent on the left.
  • Use a smaller font size (e.g. from using font size 12 for your introduction to the quote to using font size 10 for the quote).
  • Citation (Author, date and page number) is in the original font size.
  • Full stop at the end, after the citation.

 

Example of a longer quote:

The study by Preston and Logan (2014, p. 78) showed that

this is the quote here. It started in lowercase because it is continuing on from the sentence above. The quote goes for at least 40 words. The paragraph can continue after this block quote; just continue with the text aligned on the left margin, in line with the sentence that introduced this quote. This quote then stands out, indented on its own. 

Further information on in-text citations