Citing a textbook in Harvard referencing style

Published February 8, 2021. Updated August 15, 2021.

To cite a textbook in Harvard style, it’s helpful to know basic information including the author name, publication year, book title, publisher name, publisher location, edition, and URL (if viewed online).

The templates and examples below are based on the 11th edition of the book Cite Them Right by Richard Pears and Graham Shields. This page is not affiliated with Cite Them Right but uses the text for standardisation purposes, as Harvard style can vary widely between institutions. On this page, you can learn how to cite the following:

Print textbook
Digital textbook

If you’re trying to cite a textbook, the Chegg Writing Harvard referencing generator could help.

General note: If the textbook has two or three authors, include all of the authors’ surnames in the in-text and full reference citations. If there are four or more authors, you should use the first listed author along with “et. al” in both in-text and full reference examples (unless noted otherwise by your institution).

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Citing a print textbook in Harvard referencing style

For citing a print textbook in Harvard style, the author’s surname and the publication year are used in both narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author Surname (Year)

Myers and DeWall (2016)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Year)

(Myers and DeWall, 2016)

Reference list entry template and example:

Surname, First initial. and Surname, First initial. (Publication Year) Title of the book. Publisher Location: Publisher Name.

Myers, D.G. and DeWall, C.N. (2016) Exploring psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Citing a digital textbook in Harvard referencing style

For citing a digital textbook in Harvard style, the author surname and publication year are used in narrative and parenthetical citations.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Author Surname (Year)

Ryan and Jones (2014)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Year)

(Ryan and Jones, 2014)

Reference list entry template and example:

Surname, First initial. and Surname, First initial. (Publication Year) Title of the book. Publisher Location: Publisher Name. Available at: URL (Accessed: Date).

Ryan, D. and Jones, C. (2014) Understanding digital marketing. London: Kogan Page. Available at: http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/865712123.pdf (Accessed: 17 January 2021).

For more style basics, read this Harvard referencing in-text citations guide and this article on formatting Harvard referencing style papers.