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Harvard UON Referencing Style:  Books & ebooks

UON Library guide to the Australian Harvard Style based on the online Style Manual: the standard for Australian Government writing and editing 2020.

Books & eBooks - General Rules

 

 The following information is for reference list entries. See also:

Author Names

  • Appear first in the reference. Use the author's surname followed by initials, eg Smith DL. 
  • Include all author names in the reference list entry.  
  • For an edited book, place the editor names in the author position followed by ed (for editor) or eds (for editors). 
  • If the book does not have an author, editor, or translator, move the title to the author position; use a short title (first few words) in text citation.

Book Titles

  • Capitalise only the first word of book titles
  • Put book titles in italics. 

Edition

  • The edition other than the first is cited and placed after the title. The standard first edition is not cited. 
  • Terms of edition are abbreviated, eg 2nd edn (Second Edition), or rev edn (Revised Edition).
  • Remove any superscript from editions when typing - all letters should be on the same line (e.g. 2nd ed.).

Place of Publication

  • Only include the place of publication if it’s relevant to the user, eg for a local publisher. 
  • Place of publication is the city where the publisher’s main editorial offices are located.

Publisher

  • Use the full name of the publisher.
  • Omit an initial "The" from a publisher and the words such as "Inc.", "Ltd.", "Co.", or "& Co."

Year of Publication

  • For books, only the year, not the month or day, is included in the publication date.
  • When an entire multivolume, multiyear work is cited, the range of dates is given, e.g. 1952-63.
  • When the book's publication date is unknown, use n.d. for the year.
  • Use 'in press' for books accepted for publishing but not yet published. 

eBooks & DOIs

  • For books consulted online, include the DOI if available.
  • If you include a DOI, you don’t need to include a publishing location.
  • For an Open Access ebook, hyperlink the book title using the URL.

 

Books with 1, 2, 3 and more authors

 

The following is the general format of a reference to a book with 1,2, 3 or more authors. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

(Author's Last Name Year of Publication) or  Author Surname (Year of Publication)

  • One author: ... (Bonds 2014)     or     Bonds (2014) ...

... (Janke 2021)     or    Janke (2021) ...

  • Two authors:  ... (Grazer and Fishman 2015)     or     Grazer and Fishman (2015)  ...
  • Three and more authors:  .... (Garner et al. 2015)     or     Garner et al. (2015)  ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Name, First Initials (Year) Book title: subtitle, Edition, Publisher, Place of Publication or DOI.

Bonds ME (2014) Absolute music: the history of an idea, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199343638.001.0001.

Garner R, Ferdinand P and Lawson S (2015) Introduction to politics, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Grazer B and Fishman C (2015) A Curious mind: the secret to a bigger life, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Janke T (2021) True tracks: respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney.

Books with corporate authors

 

'Corporate authors' are groups, societies or organisations who have written publications. This includes universities, research groups, museums, government departments, professional associations, and so on. Use the shortened form of a corporate author in the in-text citations eg (WTO 2020). In the reference list, use the shortened form followed by the full name in parentheses.. 

The following is the general format of a reference to a book by a corporate author.

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Short Name of Corporate Author Year of Publication)

  ... (APA 2020)

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Short Name (Full Name of Corporate Author) (Year) Book title: subtitle, Edition, Publisher, Place of Publication or DOI.

APA (American Psychological Association) (2020) Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edn, APA, Washington DC.

 

Edited books

 

  • Edited books usually contain chapters written by different authors. In most cases, you would actually want to reference the individual chapters you use from the edited book, not the edited book itself. See the Book chapters page for more information.
  • An edited work of one author is normally cited under the name of the author. See the edited work of one author at the bottom of this page. 
  • The editor is listed in place of an author, followed by the abbreviation ed for editor or eds for editors. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Editor's Last Name Year of Publication) 

... (Healey 2009) or Healey (2009)...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Editor's Last Name Initials (ed/s)  (Year) Book title: subtitle, Edition, Publisher, Place of Publication or DOI.

Healey J (ed) (2009) Stolen generations: the way forward, Spinney Press, Thirroul.

Carruthers P, Laurence S, Stich S and Templeton G (eds) (2005) The innate mind: structure and contents, Oxford University Press, New York.

 

 

Edited work of one author

The edited work of one author is normally listed with the author’s name appearing first and the name(s) of the editor(s) appearing after the title, followed by ed or eds in parentheses in reference list. For example: -

(Bonnefoy 1995)  

(Shakespeare 1600/1967)

Bonnefoy Y (1995) New and selected poems (Naughton E and  Rudolf A eds), University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 

Shakespeare W (1600/1967) The merchant of Venice (Moelwyn W ed), Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth.

Books with no author listed

 

Some books may not have an author or editor listed. If the author or editor is unknown, the in-text citation and the reference list entry should normally begin with the title. An initial article is ignored in alphabetizing. The in-text citations may refer to a short form of the title but must include the first word (other than an initial article).

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with no author or editor. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Shortened book title Year of Publication) 

... (Anzac memorial 1916) 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Book title: subtitle (Year),  Edition,  Publisher, Place of Publication or DOI.

Anzac memorial: published for the benefit of the Returned Soldiers Association of New South Wales (1916), Returned Soldiers Association, Sydney.​

Books with no listed publication date

 

When the publication date of a book cannot be ascertained, the abbreviation n.d. takes the place of the year in the reference.

The following is the general format of a reference to a book without a publication date.  

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Author's Last Name n.d.)

... (Kirby-Smith n.d.) 

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Name Initials (n.d.) Book title: subtitle, Edition, Publisher, Place of Publication or DOI.

Kirby-Smith V (n.d.) The development of Australian theatre and drama, 1788-1964,  University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.

 

Translated texts

Translated texts are republished works that have been translated from another original language. They can include ancient texts and modern works. For translated works, use the original author’s name in the in-text citation. If the original author is unknow, cite under the translator.

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

(Author Surname Year of Publication)

(Backman and Hall  2015)

(Translator's Surname Year of Publication) 

 (Silverstein 1974) 

 

Reference list entry: example

Backman F and Hall F (2015) A man called Ove: a novel (Koch H and Zimmer K trans), Washington Square Press, New York. 

Silverstein T (trans) (1974) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Subjects: Referencing