Template:Harvard citation documentation

The Harv family of templates are used for creating short-cites (or "short citations"), typically used within  tags, that link to the full citation (with the full bibliographic details) for a source. This enables a source to be cited multiple times, with each short-cite having an in-source specification (such as a page number) and any other details or comments pertinent to that specific instance.

The sfn—"shortened footnote"—templates create notes (footnotes) containing harv templates, removing the need to use  tags around Harv-style reference notation. This functionality can eliminate the need to replicate notes with "named-refs" (the "&lt;ref name= ...>" construct).

Note that the use (or even non-use) of these templates is an element of citation "style", and adding or removing them in articles with an established style should be consistent with that style. See WP:CITEVAR. Also note that inline use of these templates, i.e. use of harv without  tags around it,.

Default mode
In its default mode, generates an "author-date" style short-cite from the following parameters:



with
 * - &lt;last1>–&lt;last4> – positional parameters; names of one to four authors; &lt;last1> required
 * - &lt;year> – required; four-digit year; may have a lowercase disambiguation letter
 * - p – specific page referenced in the source
 * - pp – comma-separated list of individual pages and / or range(s) of pages referenced in the source
 * - loc – in-source location when p and pp are inappropriate; may be used to supplement p and pp; information such as a section or figure number.

follows the standard convention that a list of four author names is reduced to the name of the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others"). Where two or more short-cites have the same author(s) and year, but refer to different citations, a lowercase letter can be appended to &lt;year> to disambiguate them. (E.g.: ;  ).

To link to a full citation, the author(s) and year must match those used in the cite or citation template. The citation template and the Citation Style 1 cite xxx family of templates automatically generate the proper "author-date" anchor.

Alternate mode
While requires an initial string of text, there is no requirement that it be a "proper" name. This permits some useful alternatives in the following form:



Example: newspapers
When citing newspaper articles the name of the newspaper is often considered more important than the actual authors (which often are not identified), and it is also conventional bibliographic practice that newspaper articles are listed chronologically under the name of the newspaper. Also, for daily or weekly publications a more precise date is usually required. In such cases a valid short-cite might be:



This is generated with the following template:



The anchor for the link is given to the citation or the template  using a harvid template in a ref parameter. In this case that would look like:


 * ref

The harvid template should be given exactly the same identifying text and year as used in the template.

Example: multi-volume works
The Assessment Reviews of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consist of multiple reports with many independently authored (and therefore separately cited) chapters. In such cases, where "Smith et al. 2014" could refer to either chapter 11 ("Human Health") in the report of Working Group II in the fifth review, or to chapter 11 ("Agriculture") in the report of Working Group III in the fifth review, the "author-date" form is inadequate; an indexed form of short-cite, such as



is more meaningful, and handier to use and keep track of. This is generated with:



For both {citation} and {cite} templates the anchor is specified with:


 * ref

Other examples
Examples of other ways to use Harv templates can be seen at Global Warming.

Placing the template in the body of the article

 * or  or

Last names of editors can be used, if no authors are given, as author names are given precedence.

If more than four authors, truncate the list to the first four.

In the references section (or in an earlier footnote):
 * or , etc | ... other appropriate parameters ...

or
 * ... other appropriate parameters ...

Parameters
Up to four authors can be given as parameters. (If there are more than four authors, only the first four should be listed. See § Large numbers of authors, below.) The last required parameter is the year of publication.

(All these examples have links which operate. Click on highlighted text.)

The optional parameters p, pp and loc can be used to indicate the location in the source. All of the Harvard citation templates use the same parameters to indicate page numbers or other locations in the text. For single pages, use p; for multiple pages (such as ranges), use pp. Use of p for multiple pages or pp for single pages can cause cite errors.

The optional parameter ref is used to specify the reference value that links the short citation to the full citation. This parameter is usually not necessary, and it is more common to use sfnRef or harvid in the reference section. If you specify none, no hyperlink is created. Note that if one does not want the link, it is always possible to simply use plain text instead of the template. (Not available in sfn and similar templates.)

Aliases
The parameters page, pages, and Ref exist as aliases for p, pp, and ref, respectively.

Author–date citation templates
There are several templates used to create short citations; they differ in the use and placement of parentheses, in the separator before the page or location, and in whether a terminal full stop (period) is present:

Full citations can be created manually or by templates:


 * templates
 * citation

All of these templates have the same parameters and basic functionality. This page describes all of them except the parameters of sfnm and harvs; please see their documentation pages. Editors editing one of these templates are requested to make parallel changes to the other versions.

Harvard citation: harv
Template harv creates a parenthetical reference with a link to the full citation in the references section at the bottom of the article.

{{Markup
 * Article text.

Shortened footnote: sfn or harvnb
Template harvnb inside a span can be used to create a shortened footnote that is linked to the full citation at the bottom of the article. Template sfn (without the use of ) has the same effect, automatically adds a period (full stop) after the page number, and combines identical footnotes automatically.

{{markup| Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=25}} More article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=25}} Still more article text.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=26}}

In text attribution: harvtxt
Template harvtxt can be used to link an in-text attribution to the full citation at the bottom of the page. {{markup
 * According to {{harvtxt|Smith|2009|p=25}} ...

Bundled citation: harvnb or sfnm
Template harvnb can be used to bundle citations. sfnm also produces bundled citations.

{{markup| Article text ({{harvnb|Smith|2010|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010}}). | Article text ({{harvnb|Smith|2010|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Jones|2010}}). Article text. {{Fake heading|sub=3|Notes}} parameters link name. ({{tl|citeref}} is a wrapper for {{tl|harvid}} making it easier to consistently create such internal links in small superscript{{sup|[n]}} or plain-text label styles.)
 * Article text.

{{markup| The theory was developed by {{harvs|txt|first=F. J.|last=Murray|author1-link=F. J. Murray|first2=J.|last2=von Neumann|author2-link=John von Neumann|year=1936|year2=1937|year3=1943}}. | The theory was developed by {{harvs|txt|first=F. J.|last=Murray|author1-link=F. J. Murray|first2=J.|last2=von Neumann|author2-link=John von Neumann|year=1936|year2=1937|year3=1943}}. The theory was developed by F. J. Murray and J. von Neumann (Murray|von Neumann|1936}}|1936,Murray|von Neumann|1937}}|1937,Murray|von Neumann|1943}}|1943). | The theory was developed by F. J. Murray and J. von Neumann (Murray|von Neumann|1936}}|1936, Murray|von Neumann|1937}}|1937, Murray|von Neumann|1943}}|1943).

Using colon format: harvcol, harvcolnb, harvcoltxt
Templates harvcol, harvcolnb, and harvcoltxt use a colon to indicate the page number(s) or location.

Parentheses around the year: sfnp and harvp
Template sfnp puts parentheses around the year. Compare the two examples.

{{markup Article text.{{sfnp|Smith|2011}}

Additional comments or quotes: ps
The parameter ps can be used to add quotes or additional comments. Note that this effect can also be achieved using harvnb, if done as shown in the last example. The postscript is only effective the first time sfn is used for a particular author, year, and location.

{{markup Some information.{{sfn|Smith|2011|p=2|ps=: "A quote verifying the information."}}

No closing period: none
Using none in sfn removes the final period. Compare the two examples. Suppressing the default period (full stop) ensures consistency with Citation style 2, as produced by Citation, which does not use a trailing period (full stop) when rendering full citations. The postscript is only effective the first time sfn is used for a particular author, year, and location. ps will also suppress terminal punctuation. Follow-on editors who encounter 'empty' parameters can't know if a previous editor intended to leave that parameter blank. Using the keyword none is a positive indication of the previous editor's intent.

{{markup Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011|ps=none}}

Adding a URL for the page or location
If a specific link to the page or section is available, a URL can be added to the location or page number. {{markup
 * {{harv|Smith|2011|loc=chpt 3}}
 * {{harv|Smith|2011|loc=chpt 3}}
 * {{harv|Smith|2011|loc=&amp;sect;7}}
 * {{harv|Smith|2011|loc=§7}}
 * Article text.{{sfn|Smith|2011|p=3}}

Wikilink to citation does not work
If an article is using this template, and nothing happens when you click on the highlighted wikilink from a Harvard style citation to a full citation at the bottom of the page, there are several possible solutions. If:
 * 1) The correct citation does not appear at the bottom of the article. Solution: Find the source (it may be copied from an article on a similar subject), and check that it verifies the text. If the source can't be found, tag the citation with citation not found.
 * 2) The correct citation appears at the bottom of the article, and
 * 3) The Harvard citation uses a template (such as sfn or harv):
 * 4) The citation uses a template from the list at Citation Style 1:
 * 5) The name is spelled or capitalized differently here than in the citation. Solution: check the source for the correct spelling, and use the same spelling, spacing, and capitalization in both the short and full citations.
 * 6) The year is different here than the citation. Solution: check the source for the correct year, and use the same year in both the short and full citations.
 * 7) The template has a date field and no year field, but the format of the date field is unusual. Solution: Try to fix the date. If the link still does not work, add year to the citation template. (It's okay if it has both.)
 * 8) The citation does not have an author's, or an editor's, last name (authors take precedence over editors). Solution: check that args is set correctly (see below).
 * 9) The citation uses a Citation Style Vancouver template. Solution: check that harvid is set correctly (see below).
 * 10) The citation uses a template that does not support ref (See Citation templates and reference anchors). Solution: Consider modifying the template to support ref. Alternatively, an anchor can be created using.
 * 11) The full citation does not use a template:
 * 12) It has no wikicode to create an anchor. Solution: If  citation templates are used liberally throughout the article, then reformat the full citation with the appropriate  template (and set the ref appropriately, if necessary). Otherwise consult with local editors on the talk page about how to proceed. Either add  templates and harv templates, or remove all templates, depending on what local editors prefer. A few articles use wikicite to create an anchor as an alternative to standard templates.
 * 13) It uses a  span to create an anchor. Solution: remove the cite span (these are deprecated) and proceed following the  recommendation immediately above.
 * 14) It uses wikicite. Solution: Check that the text in args matches the text in wikicite.
 * 15) If the Harvard citation uses a handwritten wikilink, such as  :
 * 16) The citation uses a citation template which supports ref (See Citation templates and reference anchors). Solution: Check that ref is set to a matching id.
 * 17) Otherwise, check that the reference has   with a matching id.

Templates that have broken wikilinks using these templates are added to the category.

More than one work in a year
Where there is a need to cite more than one work by the same author published in the same year, the standard way to disambiguate such works is to add a letter suffix after the year element of the template (e.g.  and ). Make sure to add the disambiguation letter to the matching full citation, (e.g. ).

Templates that use Module:Citation/CS1
When is used with  or  templates, a year-suffix letter may be added to date for all accepted date formats except year-initial numeric (YYYY-MM-DD). It is not necessary to include both year and date. If both are included, year is used for the  anchor to be compliant with legacy citations.
 * 2013a: simple year only dates
 * Jan 2013b or Winter 2013b: month or season and year dates
 * 9 November 2013b or November 9, 2013b: full dates
 * June–July 2013c or Winter–Spring 2013c: month or season ranges and year dates
 * c. 2013d: circa year dates
 * –f or Summer –f: year ranges
 * n.d.e: no date (n.d.)
 * 2013x-11-09 : not supported, the template must use 2013x

{{markup More text.{{sfn|Smith|1993b|p=32}}
 * Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1993a|p=25}}

More than one author with the same last name
The above solution to add a letter suffix after the year element also works for multiple authors with the same last name. For example, both Richard Bushman and Claudia Lauper Bushman published books in 2006. To differentiate between the two books, the first one can be given the year "2006a" and the second one "2006b".

Large numbers of authors
Only the first four authors are required by the template. Listing more is not supported. It is also possible to use the harvid in the citation template, which allows a more concise citation in the article text.

{{markup
 * Article text.

No author name in citation template
Some sources do not have a single author with a last name, such as a magazine article or a report from a government institution. There is no consensus (in Wikipedia or among citation styles) about how to format author–date citations for works that do not have a specific author. Several choices are: An article should adopt one of these styles consistently. Using harvid in the citation template can handle these cases.
 * 1) For a newspaper or periodical, you may use the name of the paper and the date.
 * 2) For a publication by an institution, use either:
 * 3) The initials of the institution
 * 4) The name of the institution
 * 5) Alternatively, some style guides recommend using the title of the article.
 * 6) Other style guides recommend using "Anonymous" or "Anon."

{{markup
 * Article text.{{sfn |BGI|1996|p=429}}

Citation has date and no year
Either the year or date of a citation template can be matched—the template logic can extract the year from a full date. If the date parameter is not a full date, then the extraction will fail. If the link does not seem to work, it also possible to set both date and year parameters. The template will display the date and use the year for the anchor. These two examples show a year being successfully extracted from full date.

{{markup
 * Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1997|p=101}}

Citation template does not support harv
The family of templates use parameter harvid to create an anchor for the Harvard citation templates. This must be set to a concatenation of the parameters passed to the Harvard citation template.

{{markup
 * Article text.{{sfn|Smith|1999|p=101}}

Citation format does not support anchors: wikicite
In a few very rare cases, it may be impossible for the citation templates to create an anchor. Either (1) the citation is formatted with a template that does not support the ref parameter or (2) the source can't be described using our citation templates at all. In these cases, it is possible to use wikicite to make the anchor. (As of November 2010, there are only approximately 100 articles that require this technique.) It is also possible that (3) local editors would prefer not to use citation templates. In this case, it is important to discuss what the local editors would like to do about the bad links. It is always possible to simply remove harv or sfn, leaving plain text without links.

{{markup
 * Article text.{{sfn |Big Government Agency|1999}}

Citation has multiple authors and no date
The templates assume that the last unnamed parameter is the year. Where there are multiple authors and no year, the template will form a correct link but will display the last author as if it were a year. To force the displayed text to show all authors as names, the following workaround may be used: {{markup
 * Article text.

Link works but displays a no target error
When a short-cite template links to a full citation that is rendered by a template that wraps a CS1 template, like (which wraps ), a  error may be displayed even when the short-cite template is valid and the link works. That is a "false positive" error. The error message can be suppresed by adding yes to the template.

Recommended style
The recommended Harvard referencing style potentially uses all four templates. Each automatically generates a hypertext link based on the name(s) and date. Here is an example {{markup
 * Some works on gravitation are so massive they warp spacetime themselves {{Harv|Misner|Thorne|Wheeler|1973}}; yet {{Harvtxt|Einstein|1915}} presented essential equations with notable brevity. The essential ingredients are the curvature tensor and the stress–energy tensor ({{Harvnb|Einstein|1915|p = 844}}; {{Harvnb|Misner|Thorne|Wheeler|1973|p = 41}}).

Implementation notes
These templates use two elements: a wikilink in the body of the article, and an anchor in the reference section of the article. Clicking on the wikilink repositions the page at the anchor.

Citation template anchor
The most common citation templates are or. By default, Module:Citation/CS1 and Citation/core create an anchor followed by the concatenation of the following parameters: CS1 templates and Citation set harv as the default.
 * last or last1 or surname or surname1 or author or author1 or authors,
 * last2 or surname2 or author2,
 * last3 or surname3 or author3,
 * last4 or surname4 or author4,
 * editor-last or editor-surname or editor1-last or editor1-surname or editor or editors,
 * editor2-last or editor2-surname,
 * editor3-last or editor3-surname,
 * editor4-last or editor4-surname,
 * year.

This covers the most common templates. Information about all of the templates is available at Citation templates and reference anchors.

Use of the date parameter in place of the year parameter in citation templates is preferred when full dates are known.

Harvard citation wikilink
The Harvard citation templates create a wikilink to the anchor. For example produces the link #CITEREFSmith2006 and  produces the anchor CITEREFSmith2006.

Using CITEREF directly
A few articles create a custom ID using CITEREF, either in place of the Harvard citation template (e.g. ) or as a value for ref in the citation template.

Examples: Where cite_name is a name such as the publisher.

To avoid the sometimes difficult to remember syntax for links to CITEREF anchors, citeref can be used to create internal wikilinks with either small superscript-style labels (like this[n]) or plain free-text labels to such anchors. It can be used inside of other citations.

sfn's ref name
Template sfn creates a named footnote, so that identical footnotes are combined automatically. The footnote name begins with FOOTNOTE followed by a concatenation of the arguments to sfn. E.g.: this template call should have exactly the same functionality as Smith which, in turn, has the same functionality as Smith (2006), p. 26.

The ref name becomes more complicated when the page (p) parameter includes a URL, e.g., which, once defined, can be called by. The "p=" and the characters |,:,.,/,?,=; are therefore stripped out of the URL.

The call to harvnb has been subst'ed for quicker load times.