UWE Bristol Harvard
How to reference different types of work with the UWE Bristol Harvard standard, the University's main referencing standard.
What is UWE Bristol Harvard?
As there is no one way of referencing in the Harvard style (also known as the Author-Date system), Library Services developed UWE Bristol Harvard to provide more consistency in marking practices and in the support and guidance that can be provided.
Remember, you must put your italics, capitalisation and punctuation in the right place.

A to Z
Our A to Z guide to referencing different types of work using UWE Bristol Harvard.

Guidance
UWE Bristol Harvard referencing guidance.

Reference builder
A useful tool that allows you to generate references for books and journal articles in the UWE Bristol Harvard style.

How to reference and avoid plagiarism online workbook
Use our interactive self-study online workbook to learn more about the basics of referencing at UWE Bristol.

Introduction to referencing
Discover the what, why, when, where and how of referencing at UWE Bristol. Includes common terms and what to include in your assignment word count.

How to cite a work
How to acknowledge the books, journal articles and other sources of information that you use when preparing and completing your university work.

Formatting your work
Advice on how to format your essays, reports, projects and dissertations.

Quick guide to UWE Bristol Harvard (PDF)
A quick guide to the most commonly cited media formats.
Guidance
Missing details (no author, no date, no place of publication, etc)
Refer to (cite) a work in your text
Quote or paraphrase (reword) an author's work
Referencing confidential material
Generative AI (artificial intelligence)
Referencing something not listed in the A-Z below
Refer to a work you haven't read that has been referred to in another work that you have read (secondary referencing)
How it works
Our A to Z guide to referencing items using UWE Bristol Harvard.
Acts of Parliament and Parliamentary Bills
Audio books
Apps
Art, works of
Blogs
Book chapters
Books
Censuses
Cochrane reviews
Computer games
Conference papers and proceedings
Datasets
Diagrams, tables, and graphs
EU Law
Exhibition catalogues
Films and videos
House of Commons/Lords papers and debates
Images and illustrations
Interviews
Journal articles
Law reports (cases)
Leaflets
Lectures and lecturers' notes
Legal practice notes
Live performances (concerts, dance, plays)
Lyrics from a song
Maps
Mathematical equations
Message/bulletin boards and discussion
Microformats
Military records
Minutes of meetings
Music and sound recordings
Newspapers
Official publications (including: Government, health and national and international organisations)
Parish registers
Patents
PDFs
Personal communications, including generative AI, emails and letters
Photographs
Planning documents
Podcasts (including phonecasts, videocasts, screencasts)
Posters and displays
Public communications (eg lectures, presentations, webinars, announcements)
Radio programmes
Reports (eg annual, company, financial, market, technical)
RSS feeds
Sacred texts
Software
Standards
Statutory instruments
Television programmes
Theses, dissertations, student projects
Web pages
Working papers
Referencing tools
Referencing tools to help you format references correctly and incorporate them into assignments, includes UWE Bristol Harvard reference builder, Mendeley and Zotero.
Referencing toolsAsk a librarian
Library staff are happy to advise on referencing, however, they are unable to proofread academic work.
Ask a librarian with 24/7 live chat. You can also contact the Library by email or phone.
Contact us
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Social media
Note: When counting the number of words in a post, each hashtag is considered a single word. For direct messaging, WhatsApp or similar, please see Personal communications.
Facebook page
How to format your reference
Author surname, initials. / Organisation (Year) Title of page [Facebook]. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: Park, Y. (2014) Yeonmi Park [Facebook]. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/officialyeonmipark/ [Accessed 13 January 2023].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: Park (2014) refers to...
Facebook post
How to format your reference
Author surname, initials. / Organisation (Year) First 20 words of post [...] [Facebook]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: Adiche, C. N. (2022) God bless the women of Iran. Your courage is an inspiration. And thank you to the wonderful organisation that is [...] [Facebook]. 18 November. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/chimamandaadichie [Accessed 23 November 2023].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: On Facebook, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said "God bless the women of Iran" (Adichie, 2022).
Instagram profile
How to format your reference
Author surname, initials. / Organisation (Year) Username [Instagram]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: Brown, M. (2023) officialmelb [Instagram]. Available from: https://instagram.com/officialmelb?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= [Accessed on 10 January 2023].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: The 'officialmelb' Instagram account (Brown, 2023) profile states...
Instagram post
How to format your reference
Author surname, initials. / Organisation / Username (Year) First 20 words of caption [...] [Instagram]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: Rees, M.J. (2023) #Bristol’s Central Library to stay put. A joint statement from me; Councillor Ellie King, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public […] [Instagram]. 10 January. Available from: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnO9yFfoSZN/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= [Accessed on 10 January 2023].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: Rees (2023) refers to the official Bristol Council statement on the matter.
TikTok
How to format your reference
TikTok Username / Creator (Year) First 20 words of caption #Includinghashtags [...] [TikTok]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: @uwebristol (2023) Feeling stressed about uni deadlines? Here are a few tips to relieve stress #MyUWEBristol #StressAwarenessDay #examstress [...] [TikTok]. 11 February. Available from: https://www.tiktok.com/@uwebristol/video/7296829658476154145 [Accessed 13 February 2024].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: UWE Bristol mentions a few ways of reducing stress while studying on their TikTok (@uwebristol, 2023)
X (formerly Twitter)
How to format your reference
Under 20 words:
Author surname, initials. / Organisation / Username (Year) Full text of tweet [X]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: DC Public Library (2023) Libraries are cool and free [X]. 26 January. Available from: https://twitter.com/dcpl/status/1618731073906814976 [Accessed 23 November 2023].
Over 20 words:
Author surname, initials. / Organisation / Username (Year) First 20 words of post […] [X]. DD Month posted. Available from: URL [Accessed DD Month YYYY].
Example: Ocasio-Cortez, A. (2019) Abortion bans aren’t just about controlling women’s bodies. They’re about controlling women’s sexuality. Owning women. From limiting birth control to […] [X]. 16 May. Available from: https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1128890390982123522 [Accessed 23 November 2023].
Example of referring to (citing) a work within your text
Example: Ocasio-Cortez (2019) believes banning abortion is...
Citing
Get further advice on citing.