Best examples of examples of Harvard reference page example formats

Real examples of Harvard reference page entries

Let’s start with what you actually need: real, finished references. When people search for examples of examples of Harvard reference page example formats, they’re usually looking for something they can mirror directly. So below, you’ll see how different source types look on a final Harvard reference page.

I’ll use a simple, widely accepted Harvard style pattern (author–date, sentence case for titles, italics for books and journals). Your college or university might have small variations, so always double-check your local guide, but these are strong, practical models.

Book reference: example of a standard Harvard format

Imagine you used a popular psychology book in your paper. On your Harvard reference page, a book entry would look like this:

Pink, D. H. (2011) _Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us_. New York: Riverhead Books.

This is a classic example of how to handle a single-author book in Harvard style:

• Author surname, initials
• Year in parentheses
• Title in italics, sentence case
• Place of publication
• Publisher

If you need more examples of this example of format, swap out the details but keep the structure. For instance, a 2024 textbook might look like:

Cain, S. and Kahnweiler, J. (2024) _Quiet leadership in noisy workplaces_. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Both are examples of examples of Harvard reference page example entries that you can adapt for your own books.

Journal article: examples include print and online with DOI

Journal articles are where students often get stuck, especially now that most articles are online. Here’s an example of a print-style journal article reference:

Dweck, C. S. (2006) ‘Mindsets and motivation’, _Educational Psychologist_, 41(3), pp. 99–109.

For an online article with a DOI (very common in 2024–2025), your Harvard reference page might show something like this:

Duckworth, A. L. and Gross, J. J. (2014) ‘Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success’, _Current Directions in Psychological Science_, 23(5), pp. 319–325. doi:10.1177/0963721414541462.

These are some of the best examples to copy when you’re unsure. If no DOI is given but you accessed the article online, many Harvard guides now recommend a stable URL and access date. For example:

National Institute of Mental Health (2023) ‘Child and adolescent mental health’, _NIMH Research Review_, 12(2), pp. 45–60. Available at: https://www.nimh.nih.gov (Accessed: 10 October 2024).

This shows how examples include DOIs or URLs depending on what’s available.

Website: examples of Harvard reference page example for web content

Websites are everywhere in student papers, but they’re also easy to mess up. Here’s a clean Harvard-style reference for a web page from a government site:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024) ‘Heart disease facts’. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm (Accessed: 5 November 2024).

Notice what happens when no individual author is listed: the organization (CDC) becomes the author. This is a very common example of a corporate author in Harvard style.

Another web example from a university site might look like this:

Harvard University (2024) ‘Using sources: A guide to Harvard referencing’. Available at: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu (Accessed: 18 September 2024).

These are practical examples of examples of Harvard reference page example entries for websites that you can adjust for your own sources.

Online report or PDF: best examples from .gov and .org

Reports from organizations and government agencies show up a lot in research papers, especially in health, education, and policy topics. Here’s an example of a report in PDF form:

World Health Organization (2023) _Global report on hypertension_. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073367 (Accessed: 2 August 2024).

And a U.S. government report:

National Center for Education Statistics (2022) _U.S. high school graduation rates: 2010–2022_. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available at: https://nces.ed.gov (Accessed: 12 July 2024).

These best examples show that for reports, you usually have:

• Organization as author
• Year
• Title in italics
• Place of publication
• Publisher (often the same organization)
• URL and access date if used online

Again, these are strong examples of Harvard reference page example entries that work well in real assignments.

YouTube and streaming video: real examples for 2024–2025

Video has become a regular source type in student work. Harvard referencing has adapted, and you’ll see more teachers expecting properly formatted video references. Here’s an example of a YouTube video reference:

CrashCourse (2020) ‘The scientific method: Crash Course biology #1’ [YouTube video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a8pI65emDE (Accessed: 3 March 2025).

For a lecture recording uploaded by a university, your reference page might include something like:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT OpenCourseWare) (2023) ‘Introduction to machine learning, lecture 1’ [Video lecture]. Available at: https://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed: 8 April 2025).

These are real, modern examples of examples of Harvard reference page example entries that reflect how students actually use video sources today.

AI tools and chatbots: new examples of Harvard reference page example

From 2023 onward, many universities released guidelines on citing generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Styles vary, so always check your institution’s rules, but here’s a common Harvard-style example of how one might appear on a reference page:

OpenAI (2025) _ChatGPT_ (GPT-4.5) [Large language model]. Available at: https://chat.openai.com (Accessed: 1 May 2025).

If your instructor wants you to specify the prompt as well, that typically goes in the text or in an appendix, not on the reference page itself. But as a reference entry, this is one of the best examples of how to acknowledge an AI tool in Harvard format.

Some universities publish their own AI citation guidance. For instance, the University of California system and several UK universities provide updated referencing advice through their libraries. Checking those pages will give you more examples of institution-approved formats.

Social media: examples include X (Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn

Social media posts are increasingly used as data or as examples in communication and marketing research. Here is a typical Harvard-style example of a post from X (formerly Twitter):

National Institutes of Health (NIH) ?NIH? (2024) ‘Today we’re highlighting new research on sleep and mental health…’ [X post], 9 June. Available at: https://twitter.com/NIH/status/xxxxxxxxxx (Accessed: 15 June 2024).

For Instagram, you might see something like:

Mayo Clinic ?mayoclinic? (2024) ‘5 signs you should talk to your doctor about chest pain’ [Instagram post], 21 August. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/xxxxxxxxx (Accessed: 25 August 2024).

These are practical, real-world examples of Harvard reference page example entries for social media content, showing how to include handles, dates, post type, and URLs.

Putting it together: a mini Harvard reference page with mixed sources

To see how all this looks as a finished list, imagine you wrote a paper on motivation and health behaviors. Your reference page might include entries like these, arranged alphabetically by author or organization:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024) ‘Heart disease facts’. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm (Accessed: 5 November 2024).
Duckworth, A. L. and Gross, J. J. (2014) ‘Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success’, _Current Directions in Psychological Science_, 23(5), pp. 319–325. doi:10.1177/0963721414541462.
Dweck, C. S. (2006) ‘Mindsets and motivation’, _Educational Psychologist_, 41(3), pp. 99–109.
Mayo Clinic (2024) ‘Stress management: How to reduce, prevent, and cope with stress’. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
OpenAI (2025) _ChatGPT_ (GPT-4.5) [Large language model]. Available at: https://chat.openai.com (Accessed: 1 May 2025).
Pink, D. H. (2011) _Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us_. New York: Riverhead Books.

This mini list gives you several examples of examples of Harvard reference page example entries sitting together, the way they would appear at the end of a real paper.

Harvard reference page layout: examples of spacing, order, and style

Formatting isn’t just about what you write; it’s also about how it looks on the page. When people ask for the best examples of Harvard reference page example layouts, they’re usually worried about:

• Line spacing
• Indentation
• Alphabetical order
• Consistent punctuation

A typical Harvard reference page will:

• Start on a new page titled References (centered or left-aligned, depending on your guidelines)
• List entries alphabetically by the first author’s surname or organization name
• Use a hanging indent, where the second and following lines of each entry are indented
• Keep consistent punctuation, spacing, and capitalization across all entries

If you look at style guides from major universities, you’ll see examples include almost identical layout rules, even if they disagree on small details like whether to put a period after the DOI or how to handle capitalization of subtitles.

For consistent, up-to-date layout guidance, many students check:

• Harvard’s Writing Center: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu
• Purdue OWL (for general citation support): https://owl.purdue.edu
• University library guides (for example, many UK and Australian universities publish detailed Harvard guides)

Each of those sites gives you more examples of Harvard reference page example layouts, often with screenshots and sample pages.

2024–2025 trends: what’s changing in Harvard reference examples

If you learned Harvard referencing a few years ago, you might notice some changes in the latest examples of examples of Harvard reference page example formats:

• More DOIs and stable URLs: Journals increasingly require DOIs, and many Harvard guides now prefer DOIs over long, unstable URLs.
• Online-first and “ahead of print” articles: You’ll see more references where the article has a year and journal name but no volume or issue yet; some guides suggest including “advance online publication” or similar notes.
• AI and large language models: As mentioned earlier, new examples include AI tools as citable sources, with institutions publishing their own models for how to reference them.
• Open data and preprints: Platforms like arXiv, medRxiv, and institutional repositories appear more often, with Harvard-style references that look slightly different from traditional journal articles.

Keeping an eye on library guides from universities and organizations like the National Institutes of Health or Mayo Clinic can help you see how reference practices evolve. Their publications give you real, current examples of Harvard reference page example entries that reflect how research is shared today.

FAQ: common questions about Harvard reference page examples

Q1. Where can I see more real examples of Harvard reference page example entries?
You’ll find strong, real examples of Harvard references in university library guides. Search for “Harvard referencing guide” plus your university name. Many institutions, including Harvard, publish PDF or web-based examples that show exactly how a finished reference page should look.

Q2. Is there a single “correct” example of Harvard reference page format?
Not really. Harvard is a family of author–date styles, not one single fixed system. That’s why you’ll see slightly different examples of examples of Harvard reference page example formats between universities. The key is to pick the version your institution uses and stay consistent with it.

Q3. Do I need to include access dates in every Harvard reference page example for online sources?
Most Harvard guides recommend access dates for web pages and online reports that can change over time. For journal articles with DOIs, some modern examples include only the DOI and skip the access date. Again, follow your local guide.

Q4. Can I use citation generators as examples of Harvard reference page example formatting?
Citation generators can be helpful, but they often make small mistakes or use a different Harvard variant than your school. Use them as a starting point, then compare their output to official university examples of Harvard reference pages and fix any differences.

Q5. How many sources should appear on my Harvard reference page?
There’s no universal number. It depends on your assignment, discipline, and length of paper. A short 5-page essay might have 5–10 references, while a thesis could have hundreds. What matters is that every in-text citation has a matching, correctly formatted entry on the reference page, and that your entries follow consistent Harvard-style examples of Harvard reference page example rules.

If you keep a few of these best examples open while you write—books, journal articles, websites, reports, videos, AI tools—you’ll find that building your own Harvard reference page becomes much less intimidating. Copy the structure, swap in your details, and let these examples of examples of Harvard reference page example formats guide you to a clean, professional-looking reference list.