Use the No.1 Harvard Format Citation Generator for Book Sources
Citing and referencing are two VERY important parts of writing any academic paper. On the one hand, by quoting previous works, you prove that you have done extensive research and now have reasons to make certain conclusions. On the other hand, you protect yourself from plagiarism accusations – what has been referenced cannot be considered stolen.
In short, citation and referencing are crucial and take LOTS of time. You need to write down all of the sources you have used, gather information about them (author, date, and place of publishing, etc.) and then establish connections between quotes and their respective sources.
Students often tend to underestimate the time and effort necessary to put all of the citations and references in order. That’s why our universal tool has been created! With our help, citing your sources will be a breeze.
Using this tool, you can cite all kinds of sources in all kinds of styles. Here, however, we’d like to tell you how to use our Harvard format citation generator for book sources (which is probably the most frequently used one).
A Harvard in-text citation for book sources
Let us start from the very beginning. The Harvard referencing system has a very feeble connection with the educational institution and is often also called parenthetical – i.e. one in which the author’s name and the date of publishing are given in parenthesis after or in the middle of a quote.
University students mostly use the Harvard style. Used for the first time in 1896 by Charles Sedgwick Minot in his paper for Harvard Medical School, members of the faculty then used it. And thus it was named accordingly.
Among the key advantages of Harvard referencing are:
- A possibility for a reader to remember the unknown source if it’s used more than once
- A chance to identify straight away how many sources have been used (approximately)
- The ability to identify outdated sources
The key disadvantage of this system is that parenthetical citations take up space within the body of writing.
As any other citation style suggests, Harvard includes two components:
- In-text citations (identifying the source)
- References in the reference list (titled “References,” “Works Cited” or “End-Text Citations”)
In-text citations will differ depending on how many authors you need to cite. In the case of only one author, the writer should include the author’s name and the publication date. Every additional name will be added before the date.
One author: (Smith, 2005)
Two authors: (Florish & Blotts, 2005)
Three authors: (Jekins, Smith & Searcy, 2005)
Four and more authors: (Jekins et al., 2005)
The name to use will depend on who wrote the specific part you are citing. So if different writers wrote different chapters, you should give the name of the writer who wrote the specific chapter you used.
What if you want to cite from sources that were written by the same author in the same year? You just need to distinguish between them in the following way:
(Smith, 2005a; Smith, 2005b)
There are also some rules to follow when giving a direct quotation: single quotation marks should be used, and the page number should be given.
A Harvard style citation for a book reference
Once the Harvard in-text citation for book sources has been created, it’s time to proceed to preparing references that contain more detailed information.
Such information includes the author’s or editor’s name, the date of publication and the title of the book, the place of publication and publisher, and pages from which you cited. A general Harvard style citation for a book has the following format:
Author / Editor ( (ed.) after the name) (Year of publication) Title (italicized). Place of publication, Publisher
In the case of an online book, the phrase “Available from” and the URL are added in the end.
When it comes to positioning your references in the list, it should be done in the alphabetical order by the author’s name. Make sure you haven’t left out any sources, or you might be accused of plagiarism.
When you have used more than one book by the same author, place them according to the date of publishing, starting with the most recent.
Our citation generator will save you the trouble!
As you can see, it is easy to leave out a semicolon, forget to italicize the title of your book and do other formatting required for your references. That’s why we will gladly spare you the trouble! Our free Harvard book citation generator will do all of the work for you – you only need to give it a try!
To use the generator:
- Choose the style to be used for your citations (We currently offer 10 styles which cover all of the major ones used around the world)
- Choose the source you would like to cite – website, book, journal, e-book or newspaper
- Enter the required information – author’s name, publisher’s name, date of publishing, place of publishing. In the case there is additional information to be included, click on “More Fields” to open other fields.
- Click “”
- Enter your email and have your citation generated.
Please note that to use our generator effectively, you need to carefully write down all of the sources you have used in your work. Otherwise, you might miss something in your references and end up using someone else’s work without giving credit (which is pretty much the worst you can do when it comes to academic papers).
In all other respects, using this generator is simple, fast and free. It can save you TONS of time and help avoid mistakes. Even the most brilliant papers can be misjudged if their formatting is not in order and our generator is just the tool to make sure everything is okay.
Whatever the style or the source – this tool will help you deal with your citations and references fast, easily and effectively. And best of all – it’s free! Get citing!