Harvard (Cite Them Right) · Standard
How to cite a technical standard in Harvard (Cite Them Right)
A standard citation credits a formal technical standard from a body such as ISO, IEEE, or a national institute. The classic mistakes are dropping the standard number, which is the identifier everything else hangs on, and citing a withdrawn edition without noticing it was superseded.
Worked example · Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Information and documentation: rules for bibliographic references (2021). Standard ESO 690:2021. Example Standards Organization. Available at: https://www.example.org/standards/eso-690.
Rendered with the official Harvard (Cite Them Right) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a reference list.
What to collect before you cite a technical standard
- The standards body
- The standard number with its year, as published
- The full title of the standard
- The edition or version, when numbered separately
- The URL or database, if your style wants one
Have a DOI? Generate the reference instantly
Journal articles, many books and reports carry a DOI. Paste it and get the Harvard (Cite Them Right) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in Harvard (Cite Them Right) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a technical standard in Harvard (Cite Them Right): FAQ
Is the author the committee or the standards body?
The body: ISO, IEEE, and peers act as corporate authors. Working-group names stay out of the reference unless your style explicitly asks for them.
The standard costs money and readers cannot access it. Cite it anyway?
Yes. Paywalled does not mean uncitable; the number lets any reader obtain it through a library. Never cite a leaked copy's URL.
How do I handle a superseded standard?
Cite the edition you used, by its dated number. If a newer edition exists and matters to your argument, say so in the text and cite both editions explicitly.
What does the in-text citation look like in Harvard (Cite Them Right)?
Author-date in-text citations, for example (Author, 2021), with a reference list.
Is the example on this page hand-written?
No. It is rendered by the same citation engine and official CSL style file CiteDash uses for full thesis bibliographies, from a clearly-marked placeholder source, and a test re-renders it on every release so the page can never drift from the engine.