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Harvard Referencing (AGSM)

Guide to the Harvard Referencing Style, as used by Australian Government bodies

Is it a book?

Are you sure you should be citing the whole book, and not a chapter in the book? Check the page on Books and book chapters.

The format of a citation varies with the number of authors of the work, ensure you check the formatting is correct for the number of authors of the resources you are citing.

Standard book pattern

Format

Author A (Year) Title of book: subtitle of book, Xth edn (if not the first), volume (if part of a set), (Translator T trans), Name of Publisher, DOI. or URL (if available)

Examples

Busher J and Jerome L (2020) The prevent duty in education, Springer Nature, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45559-0.

McIlwraith CW, Nixon AJ and Wright IM (2015) Diagnostic and surgical arthroscopy in the horse, 4th edn, Mosby, doi:10.1016/B978-07234-3693-5.01001-8.

Cooper GM (2000) The cell: a molecular approach, 2nd edn, Sinauer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9839/

Lane W (2015) The horses, Transit Lounge Publishing.

Kafka F (2005) Metamorphosis, (Wyllie D trans), Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5200

Note: 

  • Only include an edition number if it is not the first edition. 
  • If the work is part of a set of volumes, include the volume number after the edition information e.g. vol 1 or vols 1,3. If consulting all volumes include the number of volumes e.g. 4 vols
  • If the work is a translation include the name of the translator in brackets followed by the word trans
  • Include a DOI if available. If you include a DOI, you don't need to include the publisher location.
  • For online books without a DOI include the URL at the end of the reference after the full stop.
  • Include a Place of publication only if it is relevant to the reader. For example:
    • For style manuals it may be important to know if the source is published in the US or the UK for spelling purposes.
    • For a book about "Aboriginal English" or colonialism the location of the publisher may indicate bias or viewpoints.
  • If including a place of publication: 
    • include the name of the city after the publisher. For example: 
      APA (American Psychological Association) (2020) Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edn, APA, Washington DC.
    • if the city is not well known also include the country. For example:
      Papertalk-Green C and Kinsella J (2018) False claims of colonial thieves, Magabala Books, Broome, Australia.       

For EndNote users:

EndNote Reference Type Book or Electronic Book
Field notes
  • If using a specific volume enter the volume number in the Volume field
  • If using all volumes in a set enter the number of volumes in the Number of Volumes field

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Creative Commons Licence
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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