Harvard Referencing - Electronic Sources

A Weblog (blog):

In-text citations

Include author name and year of posting:

(Bartlett 2006)

(Bahnisch 2007)

References

Include information in the following order:

• the name (or alias) of the author
• year of post
• the title of the posting (if applicable) between single quotation marks
• the title of the site (in italics)
• format
• the date of posting (day month)
• accessed day month year (the date you viewed the site)
• the URL of the blog post (between pointed brackets).

Bartlett, A 2007, The Bartlett diaries, weblog, accessed 22 May 2007, <http://andrewbartlett.com/blog/>.

A blog post

If you are citing a group blog, cite the author of the post:

Bahnisch, M 2007, ‘The commentariat vs. the people?’, Larvatus Prodeo, weblog post, 11 May, accessed 22 May 2007, <http://larvatusprodeo.net/2007/05/11/the-commentariat-vs-the-people>.

Emails:

In-text citations

Include the abbreviation 'pers. comm.' in your in-text reference:

(J Smith 2006, pers. comm. 23 July)

Note that the initial precedes the surname.

If the form of communication is relevant, mention it in the text:

Email confirmation was received (J Smith 2006, pers. comm. 23 July).

References

References to emails are treated as a form of personal communication and are not usually included in reference lists as they cannot be traced by the reader. However, if your tutor or lecturer requests an entry in the list of references, cite emails as below:

Smith, J 2006, email 23 July, <j.smith@mailbox.com.au>.

Electronic mail lists, usenet groups and forum boards:

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

(Wiggers 2006) 

References

Include information in the following order:

• author
• author's details (eg. email address)
• date of posting
• title of posting (from the 'subject' line in the message)
• format (listserver)
• name of list owner
• accessed day month year (the date of viewing)
• URL or Internet address (between pointed brackets).

Wiggers, D <darryl@nestcom.net> 2006 ‘Media and imperialism’, list server, 4 June, H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine, accessed 12 September 2006, <http://www.h-net.org/~film/ >

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

(The Learning Centre UNSW 2015)

(Obama 2015)

The author name can also be included in the running text:

A 2015 post on Obama's Facebook page stated that ...

References

Include information in the following order:

• author name and initial
• year
• place the first few words of the post (up to about 15 words) in 'single quotes', using [...] if necessary to indicate that some words have been left out.
• format (Facebook post)
• date of post (day, month)
• accessed day month year
• the URL (between pointed brackets)

The Learning Centre UNSW 2015, 'November is AcWriMo (Academic Writing Month) at UNSW! [...]', Facebook post, 8 October, accessed 27 February 2016, <https://www.facebook.com/TLC.UNSW/>.

Obama, B 2015, 'It’s not about politics. It’s about whether we as a nation live up to our founding ideal of liberty and justice for all [...]', Facebook post, 1 November, accessed 11 April 2016, <https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/>.

In-text citations

If there is no author, list the name of the newspaper, the date, year and page number:

(The Independent 2013, p. 36)

If there is an author, cite as you would for a journal article:

(Donaghy 1994, p. 3)

Articles can also be mentioned in the running text:

University rankings were examined in a Sydney Morning Herald report by Williamson (1998, p. 21), where it was evident that ...

List of References

Include information in the following order:

• author
• year of publication
• article title (between single quotation marks)
• publication title (in italics with maximum capitalisation)
• date of article (day, month)
• page number

Williamson, S 1998, ‘UNSW gains top ranking from quality team’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 February, p.21. 

Donaghy, B 1994, ‘National meeting set to review tertiary admissions’, Campus News,  3-9 March, p. 3.

An unattributed newspaper article:

If there is no named author, list the article title first:

• Article title, between single quotation marks,
• Publication title (in italics with maximum capitalisation)
• Date published (date, month, year)
• Page number (if available)

‘Baby tapir wins hearts at zoo’, The Independent, 9 August 2013, p. 36

In-text citations

Cite the author (the person responsible for the release) and date:

Prime Minister Howard (2007) announced plans for further welfare reform...

References

Include information in the following order:

• author name or authoring organisation name
• date
• title of release (in italics)
• format
• accessed day month year
• URL (between pointed brackets) 

Office of the Prime Minister 2007, Welfare Payments Reform, media release, accessed 25 July 2007, <http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Release/2007/Media_Release24432.cfm>.

A news article from an electronic database:

In-text citations

If the article has a named author:

(Pianin 2001)

References

Include information in the following order:

• author (if available)
• year of publication
• article title (between single quotation marks)
• newspaper title (in italics)
• date of article (day, month, page number—if given—and any additional information available)
• accessed day month year (the date you accessed the items)
• from name of database
• item number (if given).

Pianin, E 2001, 'As coal's fortunes climb, mountains tremble in W.Va; energy policy is transforming lives', The Washington Post,  25 February, p. A03, accessed March 2001 from Electric Library Australasia.

A news article without a named author:

In-text citations

No named author:

(New York Daily Times 1830) 

The article can also be discussed in the body of the paragraph:

An account of the popularity of the baby tapir in The Independent (2013) stated that ...

References

If there is no named author, list the article title first.

'Amending the Constitution', New York Daily Times, 16 October 1851, p. 2, accessed 15 July 2007 from ProQuest Historical Newspapers database.

'Baby tapir wins hearts at zoo', The Independent, 9 August 2013, Accessed 25 January 2014, <http://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/baby-tapir-wins-hearts-at-zoo-30495570.html>.

An online news article:

In-text citations

Cite the author name and year:

(Coorey 2007)

References

Coorey, P 2007, ‘Costello hints at green safety net’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May, accessed 14 May 2012, <http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/costello-hints-at-green-safety-net/2007/05/09/1178390393875.html>.

While a URL for the article should be included, if it is very long (more than two lines) or unfixed (from a search engine), only include the publication URL:

Holmes, L 2017, 'The woman making a living out of pretending to be Kylie Minogue', The Daily Telegraph, 23 April, accessed 22 May 2017, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au>.

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

(Gillard 2016)

References

Use the author's real name. Only use the Twitter handle as the author if the author's real name in unknown.

Enclose the tweet itself in 'single quotes'. Type the words Twitter post, and the day and month of the post, after the text of the tweet.

Include information in the following order:

• the name (or alias) of the author
• year of post
• the tweet itself, between single quotation marks
• format (twitter post)
• the date of posting (day month)
• accessed day month year (the date you viewed the site)
• the URL of the tweet (between pointed brackets).

Gillard, J 2016, 'No girl's opportunities should be defined by her gender. All children deserve the same access to health, education & the future', Twitter post, 7 March, accessed 15 April 2016,<https://twitter.com/JuliaGillard/status/706921359314526208>.

In-text citations

Cite the name of the author/ organisation responsible for the site and the date created or last revised (use the most recent date):

(Department of Social Services 2020)

or:

According to the Department of Social Services (2020) ...

List of References

Include information in the following order:

• author (the person or organisation responsible for the site
• year (date created or revised)
• site name (in italics)
• name of sponsor of site (if available) 
• accessed day month year (the date you viewed the site)
• URL or Internet address (between pointed brackets). If possible, ensure that the URL is included without a line-break.

Department of Social Services 2020, Department of social services website, Australian government, accessed 20 February 2020, <https://www.dss.gov.au/>.

No author:

In-text citations

If the author's name is unknown, cite the website/page title and date:

(Land for sale on moon 2007) 

List of References

Land for sale on moon  2007, accessed 19 June 2007, <http://www.moonlandrealestate.com>.

No date:

In-text citations

If there is not date on the page, use the abbreviation n.d. (no date):

(ArtsNSW n.d.)

(Kim n.d)

List if References

ArtsNSW n.d., New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, NSW Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation, accessed 19 June 2007, <http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/awards/
LiteraryAwards/litawards.htm>.

Kim, M n.d., Chinese New Year pictures and propaganda posters, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, accessed 12 April 2016, <https://collection.maas.museum/set/6274>.

In-text citations

Information should include author/authoring body name(s) and the date created or last revised:

(Li 2004) or:

(World Health Organisation 2013) 

List of References

Include information in the following order:

• author (the person or organisation responsible for the site)
• year (date created or last updated)
• page title (in italics)
• name of sponsor of site (if available)
• accessed day month year (the day you viewed the site)
• URL or Internet address (pointed brackets). 

One author:

Li, L 2014, Chinese scroll painting H533, Australian Museum, accessed 20 February 2016, <https://australianmuseum.net.au/chinese-scroll-painting-h533>.

Organisation as author:

World Health Organisation 2013, Financial crisis and global health, The United Nations, accessed 1 August 2013, <http://www.who.int/topics/financial_crisis/en/>.

In-text citations

As wikis usually feature user-generated content, there is usually no named author. Cite the title of the wiki and the date of last revision:

(An Essay Evolves 2007)

References

Include information in the following order:

• article name (between single quotation marks)
• title of wiki (in italics)
• format
• date of last revision
• accessed day month year (the date you viewed the site)
• the URL of wiki article page (between pointed brackets).

'Freud and science', An essay evolves, wiki article, March 8 2007, accessed 20 May 2007, <http://evolvingessay.pbwiki.com/Freud+and+Science>.