- 3-minute read
- 13th September 2016
Harvard Referencing – How to Cite an Edited Book
It’s often said that nothing in life is certain beyond death and taxes. If you’re a student or an academic, however, we can add referencing to that list, as there’s no way you can write a decent essay without clearly and consistently citing sources throughout.
And though referencing can seem confusing, it’s simple enough when you know how. That’s why we’ve prepared this quick guide to citing an edited book using Harvard referencing.
In-Text Citations for an Edited Book
Harvard referencing is another term for parenthetical referencing, in which sources are cited by giving the author name and date of publication in parentheses. If you are quoting a source directly, this should be accompanied by relevant page numbers:
Cookery is more of ‘a craft’ than an art form (Telfer, 2008, p. 17).
If you have named the author in the main text, don’t repeat this information in the citation. Instead, when this occurs, give a citation with the year and page numbers immediately afterwards:
Telfer (2008, p. 17) asks us to consider whether ‘cookery is really a craft’.
Remember that it is almost always the author of the chapter or essay within an edited book that you should cite. Only include the editor’s name if you’re referencing the edited volume as a whole.
Listing an Edited Book in a Reference List
Every source cited in your text should also appear in a reference list at the end of your document, with full publication information specified. When citing a chapter from an edited book, the format to use here is:
Chapter Author Surname and Initial(s). (Year of Publication) ‘Title of Chapter’, in Editor Surname and Initial(s), (ed[s]) Title of Book, Place of Publication, Publisher, page range.
Find this useful?
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
For the essay cited in the examples above, this would appear as follows:
Telfer, E. (2008) ‘Food as Art’, in Neill, A. and Ridley, A. (eds.) Arguing about Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates, 3rd ed, New York, Routledge, pp. 11–29.
Finally, if citing an edited volume as a whole, use the names of the editor(s) in place of the author name:
Editor name(s), Initial(s) (ed[s]) (Year). Title, Place of Publication, Publisher.
Thus, the Neil and Ridley text listed above would appear by itself in a reference list as:
Neill, A. and Ridley, A. (eds) (2008) Arguing about Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates, 3rd ed, New York, Routledge.
A Cautionary Note
Although people (frequently refer to the ‘Harvard referencing system’, there is actually no systematic form of citation to which this corresponds. As such, it’s essential to check your style guide to make sure you’re using the correct conventions for your university.
Comments (37)
1st June 2018 at 09:38
What about listing several authors who''ve contributed to an edited book? Do I give the full details of theat book for each one, or just the first one? And do I also, separately, give a freference the book under the editor's name?
1st June 2018 at 14:37
Hi! Most versions of Harvard will require you to give the full book details for each chapter you cite from an edited book. Each entry would begin with the author of the chapter, not the editor, and you do not need to list the overall volume separately. However, different versions of Harvard referencing can vary a little, so it may be worth checking your style guide or asking a supervisor/tutor if you have one. (As a side note, the system you describe - i.e. using one entry for the edited volume and referring to this in the entries for each chapter you cite from the volume - is part of MLA referencing. Hope that helps a bit!)
9th May 2019 at 01:12
How would you cite an edited book with two editors?
9th May 2019 at 08:11
Hi, Bell. The example in the post is a book with two editors (Neill, A. and Ridley, A.), so you'd just need to follow that example. Keep in mind, though, that the rules of Harvard referencing can vary, so make sure to check your style guide if you have one.
15th May 2019 at 15:11
How would you reference an edited version of a classic, such as Shakespeare or the Bronte sisters?
15th May 2019 at 16:09
Hi, Sarah May. There are no special rules for 'classics' in most versions of Harvard referencing, but you can include an editor's name if you are citing an edited version of a book with a single author or authors (as compared to an anthology with several contributing writers, such as discussed in this post). Some versions of Harvard also recommend including both the original year of publication and the year of publication for the modern edition. In the OU version of Harvard referencing, for example, you would name the editor after the title and include the modern year of publication after the other publication details: Hume, D. (1839) A Treatise of Human Nature, Selby-Bigge, L. and Nidditch, P. (eds), Oxford, Clarendon Press (this edition 1978). In the above, the editors are 'Selby-Bigge, L. and Nidditch, P.', and we have the modern publication date in brackets at the end. This gives the reader more than enough information to find the cited source if required. However, keep in mind that Harvard referencing can vary. Thus, if you're writing an essay for university, you will need to check your style guide to confirm how they prefer to reference an edited edition of a book with a single author.
3rd August 2019 at 12:52
Hi I think there may be a minor error above. Above the logo, there is a colon between Place of Publication and Publisher, whereas in the examples below it is a comma. I believe the colon may be wrong. Best wishes Phil (West)
5th August 2019 at 09:42
Thanks, Phil! A colon missed when updating to a different version of Harvard referencing, I think. Corrected now.
30th August 2019 at 09:30
Hi How would you cite a chapter in book of collected works by one author if the book itself is published some years after the original chapter/paper was written? E.g. is this correct please? Winnicott, D. W. (1965). ‘The theory of the parent-infant relationship’ (1960), in Winnicott, D. W. The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. London: Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis
30th August 2019 at 09:46
Hi, Bink. Harvard referencing can vary, so if your university has a style guide you may want to check it, but most versions of the system would only cite the year of publication for the container volume, not the original date of publication for the essays within. In the OU version of Harvard that we use for our examples, for instance, and assuming that Winnicott also edited the 1965 anthology, the correct format would be: Winnicott, D. W. (1965) ‘The theory of the parent-infant relationship’, in Winnicott, D. W. (ed.) The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development, London, Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, pp. [chapter page range here].
30th August 2019 at 10:09
That's great, thanks so much!
24th October 2019 at 09:09
is the date the date the chapter (essay in this case) was written or the date that the reader (book) was published?
25th October 2019 at 08:10
Hi there. Harvard referencing can vary between versions, so you may want to check your style guide, but it would usually be the date of publication for the edited volume as a whole, not the single chapter/essay.
6th December 2019 at 18:29
Hi, I would like to quote a famous musician at the start of my essay/report as well as name them. I have found this quote in an edited book by different authors. How would I place the names within an in text citation? Would I just use the authors names or would I also name the musician? To make things easier, the musician is Mick Jones and the authors are Dumbreck & McPherson. Thanks in advance James
8th December 2019 at 12:06
Hi, James. It's hard to say without knowing a) which version of Harvard referencing you're using or b) how the quote is used in the text you mention. If it is from an interview in the book, you would probably cite it as such (check your style guide for advice on referencing interviews). If the authors are quoting it from another source, you would want to find the original source or, if it is unavailable, use a secondary reference. Also, are Dumbreck & McPherson the authors of the section where it appears/the interviewers? Or are they the editors? That may also make a difference to how you cite/reference the quote. Since it seems you're using it as an epigraph rather than to support an argument, though, the exact citation might not be too important. It might be enough to include the quote and a citation that says something like: (Mick Jones, quoted in Dumbreck & McPherson, [YEAR], [page number]). However, I do suggest you check your style guide for advice on citing interviews and secondary citations first.
8th December 2019 at 12:58
Hi there, Yeah I have a University style guide and it doesn't seem to cover this type of reference? I think It's because I want to use it as a quote from an interview where the authors are also quoting it from the original interview? It's confusing! I think I will take your advise on the above and quote it as you mentioned. Thank you!
8th December 2019 at 13:13
No worries, James. If it is a quote from another interview and you can't access the original version cited in the Dumbreck & McPherson text, then it does sound like you may want a secondary reference using conventional Harvard rules. But if your style guide doesn't mention secondary references, you should be fine to adapt the standard citation style as long as you clearly indicate where you found the quote.
5th March 2020 at 22:02
Hi there. How do you do an in-text reference for the Constitution of a country from a book? The book only states the editors as "Juta's Statutes Editors". May I write it as "Juta's Statutes (Eds). 2016. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. (14th edition). Cape Town: Juta Law"? I cannot find any information regarding this in my referencing guide. I appreciate your assistance. Kind regards
Carol
6th March 2020 at 09:53
Hi, Carol. Does your referencing guide have any information on citing a book without an author? Typically, you would omit the author's name and begin the reference with the title (and use the title or a shortened version of it in in-text citations, but this may depend on the version of Harvard referencing you're using). Alternatively, you might want to check if it has a section on citing legal sources (e.g. statutes).
10th May 2020 at 17:34
Hello. how do you reference a book for a bibliography that has 4 editors and no authors? thank you
11th May 2020 at 11:17
Hi, Kate. In most versions of Harvard referencing, if citing an edited book as a whole, you would cite it as a normal book but with the editors in place of the authors plus some indication of this (e.g. adding 'eds' in brackets after the last listed editor's name). However, as mentioned in this post, different versions of Harvard referencing have different rules, so you may want to check your style guide if you have one.
6th October 2020 at 17:49
How do l reference an edited book with three authors
8th October 2020 at 09:21
Hi, Julie. This will depend on the version of Harvard referencing you're using, so make sure to check your university's style guide, but many versions use the first named author's surname plus 'et al.', then give all author's names in the reference list. However, it also depends what you're citing (e.g. three authors of a chapter from an edited book with chapters by other authors, or an edited book with three authors as a whole). If you'd like more help with your references, don't forget we have proofreaders available: https://proofed.co.uk/free-proofreading-and-editing-sample/
29th October 2020 at 13:20
I am referencing an edited book which was published in 2014. The chapter I am referencing was written in 1983 and the author of this chapter died in 1997. Should I still use the format: Schon, D. (2014) 'Reflection in Action', in Pollard, A. and Pollard, DA. (eds.) 2014, Readings for Reflective Teaching in Schools. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 70-72. and not mention the year it was actually written?
Thanks
29th October 2020 at 13:34
Hi, Stef. Different versions of Harvard referencing will suggest different things, so it's important to check your institution's style guide if they have one (most universities, for example, will have a style guide or a section of their website where they set out the required referencing style). And some versions of Harvard may ask you to include an original publication date for republished works somewhere in the reference. However, in the version we use on our blogs, you wouldn't need to include the original date of publication, just the one for the version you've read. And there's no need to repeat the year of publication later in the reference as you have in your example (just after the author's name). Following our system, then, the reference would be: Schon, D. (2014) ‘Reflection in Action’, in Pollard, A. and Pollard, DA. (eds.) Readings for Reflective Teaching in Schools, London, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 70–72. You can mention the date the chapter was written in your work if it is relevant (e.g. if you're discussing the history of a theory and need to place it within a timeline). But remember that the purpose of referencing is to show the reader which sources you've used, so it's the date of publication for the exact version you've read – and its container volume – that is relevant in citations and the reference list.
1st November 2020 at 18:34
Hi,
I'm using 3 different chapters from a book. It's not an edited book but all chapters are from 1 book, the same book. I wanted to ask whether I need to individually reference all the chapters even though they're from the same book (not an edited book)? If I do should my intext citations be different for each chapter? Thank you!
2nd November 2020 at 08:47
Hi there. If all the entire book is written by a single author, you'll just need to cite the overall book, not the chapters. If the chapters each have different authors it is an edited book (even if no editors are named), so you'll need to cite the chapter authors and list them separately.
25th November 2020 at 17:02
Hi how would you reference the chapter of a book that is online? Thanks
26th November 2020 at 14:51
Hi, Nicole. You will typically need to add details of where and when you accessed the ebook to the basic reference format here. The exact details of how to do this will depend on the version of Harvard referencing you are using, so remember to check your style guide if you have one, but you can find information on how to cite an ebook in Harvard style here: https://proofed.co.uk/writing-tips/harvard-referencing-e-books/ An online version of the example from this post, for instance, might look like this: Telfer, E. (2008) ‘Food as Art’, in Neill, A. and Ridley, A. (eds.) Arguing about Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates, 3rd ed [Online], New York, Routledge, pp. 11–29. Available at http://www.onlinebookdepository.com/aesthetics/arguing-about-art.html [Accessed 26 November 2020].
2nd December 2020 at 16:48
Hi Everyone. I really need your help. How shoud I cite in text the chapter of an author within another authors's book. For istance, and entire chapter is written by Smith within Campbell's book.
Many thanks
Stefania
3rd December 2020 at 09:50
Hi, Stefania. Harvard referencing can vary depending on the version you are using, so it is worth checking your university style guide if you have one, but you would usually cite the chapter author if you're referencing part of a book (i.e. in your example case, you would cite Smith in the main text of your essay, then give details of the chapter and container volume in the reference list). We explain one way of doing that in this post, so just use the format here if you don't have another style guide.
31st August 2021 at 23:45
How would you cite a chapter of a book with multiple editors. The book has various chapters each with different authors. Thanks
1st September 2021 at 10:09
Hi, Ghazala. We explain how to do this in the post (we even include an example of a chapter from a book with two editors), so you should be able to apply the formats described here to the book and chapter you're citing (and if you have a more specific question about your particular source, let us know and we'll try to answer). However, keep in mind that Harvard referencing can vary from place to place, so, if you have one, you should also check your university or employer's style guide for advice.
14th October 2021 at 20:20
Hi, I have a good one here! The book is by L.S. Vygotsky "Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes", edited by Michael Cole, Vera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner and Ellen Souberman. The twist is that Mr Vygotsky died in 1934 and the work will have been incomplete, so the editors will have made sense of / completed it. I have also emailed the course tutor but thought I'd see what you thought of it.
15th October 2021 at 10:19
Hi, Debbie. As a rule of thumb, works that have a single author are typically referenced as monographs (even if they were finished or compiled by an editor or team of editors). And in the version of Harvard we use on this blog, you would put the editors' names in brackets after the title. For example: Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Remember, though, that Harvard referencing can vary between versions quite a bit in terms of reference formats, so it will be important to check your university's style guide.
23rd February 2022 at 15:14
Hi,
I am referencing a website accept what I am referencing has not been edited by the new editor now employed as such. Can I say still reference this editor?
23rd February 2022 at 15:24
Hi, Thomas. You wouldn't usually need to cite an editor for a website at all (the guidelines here are about citing chapters of edited books). For guidelines on citing a website in Harvard style, please see here: https://proofed.co.uk/writing-tips/harvard-cite-websites/
