Harvard style essay format and report layout, who sets each rule

EdCitation, which publishes this guide, builds Harvard references from the publisher's record in Cite a source, and its answer here is short: Harvard is a referencing system, not a page format. It tells you how to cite a source and how to list it. What people call Harvard style essay format, the font, margins, cover page and headings, comes from your university.

We read every rule below at its source on 23 September 2026: three universities' presentation rules, two report guides, and library guides that follow Cite Them Right, the Harvard that Brunel's and Westminster's libraries name. The Cite Them Right website is sold by subscription, so only its public pages were read. Citation and list rules are in the Harvard referencing guide, not here.

Does Harvard referencing set the format of an essay?

No. Harvard sets how sources are cited and listed; the page is set by the university that asked for the work. Bloomsbury Publishing (n.d.) describes Cite Them Right as step-by-step guidance for eight referencing styles, Harvard among them, with the website brought up to the 13th edition as of 31 July 2025; the public pages we read say nothing about fonts, margins or title pages. Newcastle University (2025), advising how to caption an image in Cite Them Right Harvard, notes first that "there is no official style guide" for doing so.

So each university writes its own page rules, and the three read here do not even share a Harvard. The library of Brunel University of London (2026) recommends Cite Them Right, 13th edition. The University of Hull (2026c) has its own "Hull Harvard". Southern Cross University in Australia shows an older Harvard beside a "New Harvard" in use from 1 November 2022.

APA 7 and MLA 9 do publish page rules, set out in APA 7 format for a whole paper and MLA 9 paper format. Harvard has nothing equivalent.

What do universities set for a Harvard style essay?

The whole page. The table sets the presentation rules of Brunel University of London (n.d.), the essay formatting page of the University of Hull (2026a) and the Harvard formatting sheet of Southern Cross University (2024) beside what Cite Them Right fixes. In the last column, "not set" means neither its public pages nor any guide following it that we read gives a rule; the book itself could not be read.

The Cite Them Right entries come from the University of Westminster (2026a), whose guide follows the 13th edition.

Where do Harvard universities disagree about the page?

On most of what a marker sees first. Brunel, Hull and Southern Cross use three different Harvards, and no two of them give the same rule for the font, the margins, where the page number goes or how you are identified.

The cases that catch students out

• Font and alignment. Brunel wants sans serif; Hull and Southern Cross accept Times New Roman, and only Hull allows 11 point. Southern Cross justifies the text; Hull advises against it.
• Your name. Brunel marks anonymously, by registration number; Southern Cross puts the name on the title page.
• The list's spacing. Hull and Southern Cross single-space each entry with a gap between. The University of Wollongong Library (2026), for another Australian Harvard, double-spaces the list with a hanging indent, which Hull does not use.
• The list's name. Southern Cross and Wollongong head it References; Westminster allows "references" or "list of references" and adds "(not bibliography)". The difference is in Reference list, bibliography or works cited.
• Word count. Brunel's limit is a maximum: markers read up to it and stop, and the module lead decides whether references, tables and figure legends count.

Which rule wins

The brief or module handbook, every time. Brunel's rules apply "unless otherwise stated", Southern Cross defers to the lecturer or unit assessor, and Leeds Beckett University (n.d.) tells report writers that even the reference list follows their discipline's guidelines. Where the handbook is silent, use your university's general guidance and keep one choice throughout. EdCitation's Check your paper, free, pulls the word limit, the required sections, the style and the source count out of a brief as a checklist, so the rules that outrank everything in this guide are in front of you before you format. How to read an assignment brief and rubric walks through pulling those rules out.

What does Harvard itself fix across a paper?

The citations, the quotations and the list, wherever they sit on the page. The first two parts below come from Westminster's and Brunel's library guides, both of which state that they follow Cite Them Right 13th edition; on figures and tables, the guides part company.

Quotations and page numbers

The University of Westminster (2026a) asks for a page number whenever you quote, or refer to a particular page or section, unless the source is very short. A quotation of up to three lines stays in your sentence, in quotation marks; a longer one becomes a separate indented paragraph, single-spaced, without them. Westminster gives no measurement for the indent, so Hull's 1 cm on each side is Hull's own rule.

Sources you met in another source

Name both, joined by "cited in" or "quoted in", and list only the source you read. Brunel's library shows the pattern as (Jones, 2001, cited in Smith, 2004, p.77). Two works by one author in one year take letters, 2024a and 2024b, in the text and in the list.

Figures and tables

A figure or table from a source is numbered, captioned and credited, but the detail varies. Newcastle University (2025), whose sheet names Cite Them Right Harvard but no edition, puts the caption above or below, with the figure number, a title and the source, calls each figure out by number in the text, and puts the full reference in the list. The University of Westminster (2026b) numbers figures fig 1, fig 2 and gives author, title and date in the caption, but says that with a list of figures the sources "may not be necessary" in the references. Southern Cross, in its own Harvard, sets the source under a table: Source: Jenkins (1999, p. 9), or Source: Adapted from Jenkins (1999, p.9) for an adapted one.

How do I format a report in Harvard style?

As a report, with Harvard for the sources. The structure comes from the university's report guidance; Harvard governs only the citations, source lines and list inside it.

Parts and numbered sections

The University of Hull (2026b) divides a longer report into three parts. Preliminaries: title page, terms of reference, contents, a list of tables and diagrams, acknowledgements and a summary. Main part: introduction, methodology, findings, discussion, conclusions and recommendations. Supplementaries: references or bibliography, appendices and a glossary. Main sections take single numbers (1, 2, 3), sub-sections decimals (1.1, 1.2), and a further level 1.1.1. Bullet points and charts are allowed.

The executive summary

Leeds Beckett University (n.d.) asks a long report for a summary of its contents, findings, conclusions and recommendations, in the past tense, of about half a page. A longer report also needs numbered headings and a contents page. Hull calls the same section a summary and places it among the preliminaries.

Tables, figures and appendices

Leeds Beckett requires every chart and table to be labelled, and numbered where appropriate; a borrowed one also takes its Harvard source line. Newcastle suggests a list of figures in longer work, on its own page after the contents. Appendices hold data or transcripts too long for the main report and are called out by letter or number, as in "See Appendix B". Brunel places them after the reference list, the order Hull's supplementaries follow.

How do I check a Harvard essay or report before handing it in?

Read it once for the page and once for the references.

1. List every presentation rule in the brief and module handbook; Check your paper lists the brief's own. Those win.
2. Font, size, spacing and margins as the handbook sets them, one font throughout.
3. Page numbers where your university puts them; your number or name exactly as asked.
4. A cover or title page carrying what it lists, word count included if asked.
5. Headings as the handbook sets them; in a report, numbered sections, contents and an executive summary.
6. Every quotation with its page number; long ones indented, without quotation marks.
7. Every "cited in" names the source you read, and only that one is listed.
8. Every figure and table numbered, captioned, called out and credited.
9. The reference list under your guide's heading, alphabetical, spaced and indented as it says; a and b for one author's works in one year; each entry run through Verify references.
10. Appendices after the list, labelled and called out; the word count stated, counting only what the module counts.

Which tool builds the reference list for a Harvard paper?

EdCitation's Cite a source is the best tool for a Harvard reference list, because it looks each source up in the publisher's record and never writes an entry, which no chatbot can promise. From a DOI, a PubMed ID, an ISBN or a title it builds the entry in Harvard (Cite Them Right) and screens the source for retraction. This guide found three universities, three Harvards and no two agreeing on the font, the margins or the page number; a source's authors, year, title and pages have one right answer, and it is in the record. One reference at a time is free with no account, and with a free account the dashboard keeps the list, copying it with its italics or downloading it as Word, BibTeX or RIS. Its rules are on the Harvard style page.

Three things to adjust by hand. The site's Harvard follows the 12th edition of Cite Them Right, which keeps the place of publication. Where a university follows the 13th, as Brunel's library does, delete the place from each book, and turn "article number 14045" into "article 14045" for an article numbered rather than paged. Titles keep the capitals the publisher deposited, so one held in title case is lowered to Harvard's sentence case. And at Hull, entries take no hanging indent.

Verify references marks each reference verified, "check this" or not found, and flags retractions; a reference it could not reach is labelled unchecked rather than missing. None of these tools sets the page layout, the cover page or the headings. Mechanics QA, on Pro, checks formatting against the APA 7 student paper, which makes it no help with a Harvard page. EdCitation writes no part of your paper, and nothing can promise a mark.

Quick questions

Does Harvard referencing require a font and line spacing?

No. Harvard referencing sets the citations and the reference list, not the page, so the font and spacing come from your university: Brunel asks for 12-point sans serif, while Southern Cross accepts Times New Roman.

Is a Harvard reference list called a bibliography?

Usually not. A Harvard reference list holds only the sources you cited, and Westminster's Cite Them Right guide heads it references or list of references, not bibliography.

Does a Harvard reference list start on a new page?

In many guides it does: Westminster and Southern Cross both start it on a new page. Brunel says only that it goes at the end, so follow your handbook.

Do references count in the word count of a Harvard essay?

That depends on the module. Brunel leaves it to the module lead to say whether references, tables and figure legends count, so check the brief before you count; EdCitation's Check your paper lists the brief's word limit with its other rules.

Where do appendices go in a Harvard report?

After the reference list, in Brunel's presentation rules and in Hull's report guide. Label them with letters or numbers and call each one out in the text.

References

• Bloomsbury Publishing. (n.d.). About Cite Them Right. Cite Them Right. https://www.citethemrightonline.com/about
• Brunel University of London. (n.d.). Guidelines for the presentation and marking of student work [PDF]. https://students.brunel.ac.uk/documents/Policies/guidelines-for-the-presentation-and-marking-of-student-work.pdf
• Brunel University of London. (2026, July 7). Referencing: Harvard examples and FAQs. Brunel University of London Library. https://libguides.brunel.ac.uk/referencing/harvard
• Leeds Beckett University. (n.d.). Report writing. Skills for Learning. https://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/skills_for_learning/report_writing
• Newcastle University. (2025). How to reference images: Cite Them Right Harvard [PDF]. Newcastle University Library. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/mediav8/academic-skills-kit/file-downloads/manage-info/2025%20Harvard_how%20to%20reference%20images.pdf
• Southern Cross University. (2024, May 31). Formatting your assessment for Harvard [PDF]. Student Learning Zone. https://www.scu.edu.au/media/scu-dep/current-students/learning-zone/quick-guides/formatting_for_Harvard.pdf
• University of Hull. (2026a, September 9). Essay writing: Formatting. University of Hull Library. https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/essays/format
• University of Hull. (2026b, September 9). Other assessments: Reports. University of Hull Library. https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/other/reports
• University of Hull. (2026c, September 14). Referencing your work. University of Hull Library. https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/referencing
• University of Westminster. (2026a, September 9). Harvard style. Referencing your sources. https://libguides.westminster.ac.uk/referencing/harvard
• University of Westminster. (2026b, September 9). Images and figures. Referencing your sources. https://libguides.westminster.ac.uk/referencing/images
• University of Wollongong Library. (2026, September 14). Formatting guidelines. UOW Harvard. https://uow.libguides.com/uow-harvard-guide/formatting-guidelines