Leeds Harvard
University of Leeds Harvard guidance, including its September 2024 online-article update. This is one institutional Harvard variant. References are alphabetized; book references need publication place. Online books, articles and webpages include an access date. In-text citations use author and year.
How to use
Paste information for one source, a batch, or an existing citation. BibTeX and RIS are detected automatically. For plain text, separate sources with a blank line. Choose Generate citation, check the output, and use Edit sources to correct extracted information. You can also start with Enter details and select Book, Journal article or Webpage.
Enter personal names as Family, Given and separate authors with semicolons. Put organization names in braces. The selected style determines name order and initials. Enter title capitalization as required: MLA uses title case; scientific and Leeds Harvard titles usually use sentence case. No title translation or automatic journal abbreviation is performed.
The main form keeps authors, title, year and publisher or journal visible. More details contains edition, publication place, volume, issue, pages, access date and links. For MLA and Harvard, Cited page / section is the passage you used, separate from the article’s full page range. Prefix an article identifier with Article. CSE and Vancouver here generate source-number markers, not page-specific markers.
One source or a long list
The example input is one source and produces one citation in each selected form. Editing an example clears only that field. An empty field may show a muted hint again; the hint is not submitted as source data. Clear removes the entries and result while retaining your input method and source type.
Up to 30 sources share one editor. Use the arrows to review each source. Long results scroll within each output block; its copy button includes every entry, including entries outside the visible area.
What can be converted?
Supported input includes literal BibTeX records, ordinary RIS records, labeled source details, explicit author–date patterns and a limited single-author MLA pattern. Google Scholar’s Cite menu can export BibTeX; citation managers can export BibTeX or RIS. Copy that export here. This page does not connect to those services or search for a source from a DOI.
Plain text is not a universal interchange format. Missing punctuation, multiple editions, abbreviated names and unusual source types can make extraction ambiguous. Original text remains available in More details. Check authors, source type, title, publisher or journal, date, volume and pages before copying. Unknown source types need your selection. Chapters, edited volumes, dissertations, legal materials, translations and advance-online articles require another workflow.
Copying into a document
The reference list appears first, followed by in-text citations. All supported forms are shown together, each with its own copy buttons. Numbered references can be copied with or without their leading numbers. Each result has its own copy buttons below it. Plain text does not retain italics or superscript; apply these in your document.
MLA and Leeds Harvard lists are alphabetized; CSE citation–sequence and Vancouver keep input order and start numbering at 1. Reuse the same source number in your document. The tool does not read your manuscript or assign footnotes. For repeated authors and years Harvard adds letter suffixes; MLA adds a title to distinguish multiple works by the same author. Check ambiguous names and institutional exceptions in your document.
Does the tool verify a source?
No. It formats the information you provide. It validates required fields and basic dates, numbers, DOI and URL syntax, but does not confirm that a book, author, article or link exists. All processing takes place in your browser.
Which version should I use?
Follow your instructor or publisher’s requested edition and citation system. The supported edition is shown above the input. Journal-specific exceptions and ambiguous author–date collisions may need manual editing. This page does not claim to implement every exception in the full style manual.
Examples: the same information, different forms
The following synthetic examples show a book and a journal article. The publication and people are illustrative, not sources to cite in your research.
Book
Authors: Doe, Jane · Year: 2024 · Title: A Guide to Small Gardens · Publisher / journal / website: Example Press · Cited page / section: 12 · Publication place: Boston, MA, USA
Doe, J. 2024. A Guide to Small Gardens. Boston, MA, USA: Example Press.
In-text citation: (Doe, 2024, p.12)
Journal article
Authors: Doe, Jane; Lee, Alex · Year: 2025 · Title: Growing plants in small spaces · Publisher / journal / website: Example Journal · Cited page / section: 105 · Volume: 8 · Issue: 2 · Pages / article number: 101–118
Doe, J. and Lee, A. 2025. Growing plants in small spaces. Example Journal. 8(2), pp.101-118.
In-text citation: (Doe and Lee, 2025, p.105)