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harvard-referencing

Harvard author-date referencing (Cite Them Right baseline): reference lists, in-text citations, Accessed dates, chapters, web sources. Use for papers requiring Harvard style.

karlsune@vhsgreed

Install

openclaw skills install @vhsgreed/harvard-referencing

Harvard Referencing

Build Harvard-style (author-date) references and in-text citations. Harvard has no single official standard; this skill follows the Cite Them Right baseline, the most widely used convention set, and flags where institutional variants diverge.

Steps

  1. Read references/harvard-quickref.md, then match the source type:

    • Book: Author, A.A. (Year) Title of book. Edition (edn). Place of publication: Publisher.
    • Journal: Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of article', Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. page-page. doi: xxx or Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
    • Chapter: Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of chapter', in Editor, F. (ed.) Book title. Place: Publisher, pp. xx-xx.
    • Web page: Author, A.A. (Year) Title of page. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).

  2. In-text: (Author, Year, p. 12) parenthetical or Author (Year, p. 12) narrative. Page numbers are expected for quotes and recommended for paraphrases. Three or more authors: et al. (Cite Them Right convention; some institutions list all authors).

  3. Apply the signature Harvard marks that generic tools miss:

    • Article and chapter titles in single quotation marks; book and journal titles in italics
    • Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year) is required for online sources; the Accessed date is not optional
    • Edition abbreviated (3rd edn); editors as (ed.) / (eds.)
    • p. single page, pp. ranges, ranges with hyphen

  4. Handle the variant problem honestly: institutions diverge on place of publication (modern variants often drop it), et al. thresholds, quotation marks, and punctuation. Identify the required variant (module handbook, Cite Them Right, institutional guide) before writing, then stay consistent throughout.

  5. Verify: every in-text citation has a list entry and vice versa; alphabetical by lead author; same author + year gets (2024a), (2024b); no fabricated references.

Pitfalls

  • Mixing two Harvard variants in one document is the most common failure; lock the variant first.
  • The Accessed date is mandatory for web sources in most Harvard variants, unlike APA.
  • Some variants want doi: xxx/yyy, others Available at: https://doi.org/...; check the local guide.
  • Corporate authors: spell out, with acronym in brackets on first use if useful.

Provenance

Clean-room summary of Harvard author-date conventions per the Cite Them Right baseline for agent use, authored 2026-09-03. Pairs with apa-7-referencing and oxford-referencing in the same referencing family.