MMU Harvard citations

When citing in the MMU Harvard style you must include the author(s) surname(s) and the year of publication. If you are directly quoting, you must also include the page number. There is further information about direct quotes in the direct quotes section of the guide.

If you do not use the author’s name in your writing, the author and year are placed in brackets at the end of the statement, for example:

Recording personal achievements can be used a reflective tool and can help an individual identify their own skills and expertise (Cottrell, 2015). 

If you are using the author’s name in your writing, you would add the year in brackets following the surname, for example: 

Cottrell (2015) suggests that recording personal achievements can be used as a reflective tool and can help an individual identify their own skills and expertise. 

It is essential to provide the page number(s) for direct quotes.

It can also be helpful to provide the page number(s) when you have paraphrased the text, as this can help the reader easily find the section of the source from which you are citing. 

Most disciplines at Manchester Met however, do not require you to use page numbers when paraphrasing from a source. If you are unsure, please check with your tutor or department. 

Surname or organisation’s name and the year of publication. 

Examples 

… (Cottrell, 2015) 

… (Association of Illustrators, 2011) 

or 

Cottrell (2015) … 

Association of Illustrators (2011) … 

Both authors’ surnames or organisation names and the year of publication. 

Example 

… (Scott and Franklin, 2006)  

or 

Scott and Franklin (1993) … 

Surname of the first author only followed by et al. and the year of publication. 

Example 

… (Burrows et al., 2009) 

or 

Burrows et al. (2009) … 

The corresponding reference should include all authors, unless the source has more than eight authors. For sources with more than eight authors, follow the instruction in this section: Sources with more than eight authors

If no author’s name is present, use the organisation name in place of the author.

Example

(Department for Education, 2017)

or

Department for Education (2017)…

If no year of publication is present, enter ‘no date’ in place of the year.

Example

(Jones, no date)

or

Jones (no date)…

If you are citing a number of sources that support your argument, you would cite these in chronological order, separated by a semi-colon, for example: 

(Beck, 2012; Shields, 2013; Inala, 2014) 

For different authors who have published in the same year, cite these in alphabetical order, for example: 

(Beck, 2014; Inala, 2014) 

For multiple citations that include sources by the same author, or group of authors, you do not need to repeat the author’s surname, for example: 

(Williams, 2005; 2016) 

To distinguish between different sources by the same author or authors, published in the same year, use a, b, c etc. after the year in both the citation and the reference. The letter you assign to the publication should be in order of its appearance in the main text of your work. Therefore, the first publication you cite should be assigned the letter ‘a’, the next citation will be ‘b’ etc., regardless of the month in which it was published. 

Example 

(Cottrell, 2012a) - for the first instance of a citation by Cottrell published in 2012 

(Cottrell, 2012b) - for the second instance of a citation by Cottrell published in 2012 

You should then also use the letter for the full details of the source in the reference list. 

Example 

Cottrell, S. (2012a) The exam skills handbook: achieving peak performance. 2nd ed., Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Cottrell, S. (2012b) Study skills connected: using technology to support your studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Sources with no year of publication that use (no date) in the citation and reference 

Enter a space between no date and the letter in both the citation and the reference. 

Example 

(Manchester Metropolitan University, no date a) 

(Manchester Metropolitan University, no date b) 

When citing different sources by authors with the same surname, include the initial/s of the authors to distinguish between them. 

Example 

(M. Mullins, 2016) 

(L. J. Mullins, 2011) 

If the abbreviation et al. in the citation leads to a confusion between two different groups of authors (with the same lead author) who have published in the same year, include as many authors in the citation as necessary in order to distinguish between the two groups of authors.

For example, if you have used the following two sources of information:

Stanley, N., Miller, P., Richardson Foster, H. and Thompson, G. (2010) ‘Children’s experiences of domestic violence: developing an integrated response from police and child protection services.’ Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(12) pp. 2372-2391.

Stanley, N., Penhale, B., Riordan, D., Barbour, R. and Holden, S. (2010) Children and families experiencing domestic violence: police and children’s social services’ responses. London: NSPCC.

You would cite these two sources as follows respectively:

(Stanley, Miller et al., 2010)

(Stanley, Penhale et al., 2010)

In addition, in your reference list the two sources would ordered as they appear above, i.e. alphabetically by the second author surname.

The above instruction should not be confused with how you present a citation for the same author/s who has published more than one piece of work in the same year.

If the forename is hyphenated, it is important that all forename initials are included in the reference list entry.

For the in-text citation, only the surname is required.

Example:

The author Rachael-Anne Knight would be referred to as Knight, R-A. in the reference list and the name in the in-text citation would be Knight.

Please note, in all cases, the name used in the reference list entry and in-text citation should match the name on the work being cited.

Hyphenated surnames

If the surname is hyphenated, include both names and the hyphen in the reference list entry and in-text citation.

Example:

Diego J. Rivera-Gutierrez would be referred to as Rivera-Gutierrez, D. J. in the reference list and the in-text citation would be Rivera-Gutierrez.

Two-part surnames with no hyphen

If the surname has two parts separated by a space and no hyphen, you generally include both names in the reference list entry and in-text citation. Many Spanish names follow this format.

Example:

Rena Torres Cacoullos would be referred to as Torres Cacoullos, R. in the reference list and the in-text citation would be Torres Cacoullos.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to tell whether an author has two surnames without a hyphen or two given (fore)names and one surname. In these instances, you should follow the name format shown in the bibliographic record for the work you are citing. You may search on the web to see how the author’s name is most commonly cited or how the actual author refers to themselves on their website.

Surnames including a particle / prefix

Generally, surnames with prefixes (e.g. de, de la, der, van, von, etc.) should be listed under the prefix, retaining the use of upper or lower case letters as included in the author name on the work being cited.

Example:

Guy de Maupassant would be listed as de Maupassant, G. in the reference list and de Maupassant in the in-text citation.

There are occasional exceptions to this rule, e.g. Ludwig van Beethoven tends to be listed as Beethoven, L. van in reference lists and Beethoven in all in-text citations. In such instances, you should follow the name format shown in the bibliographic record for the work you are citing or search on the web to see how the author’s name is most commonly cited.

Surnames including a suffix

If the surname includes a suffix (e.g., Jr., Sr., III), this would be placed after the initials in the reference list entry but is not included in the in-text citation.

Example:

Herbert M. Turner III would be listed as Turner, H. M., III. in the reference list and Turner in the in-text citation.