Harvard to APA Converter — Free
Convert Harvard citations to APA 7. The differences are subtle — both are author-date — but there are real distinctions that matter for journal submissions.
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The full converter lives at /tools/citation-converter with this pair pre-selected. It supports bulk input and 14+ other style pairs.
Why Harvard → APA 7th Edition isn’t just a reformat
Harvard and APA are close cousins: both author-date, both alphabetical reference lists, both emphasise recency. The common assumption is they're interchangeable. They aren't — not quite.
The key practical difference: Harvard is a family of styles, not a single one (Bath Harvard, Cite Them Right Harvard, APA Harvard hybrid, AGPS). APA 7 is a specific, published style manual with precise formatting rules. When a journal says 'APA', it means APA 7 exactly; when a handbook says 'Harvard', it means 'the variant your department uses'.
Most UK/Australian undergraduates learn Harvard; most US postgraduates submitting to American journals need APA. This converter normalises to strict APA 7 and assumes your source citations follow a generic Cite-Them-Right Harvard format.
Key differences
- Author separator in reference list: Harvard often uses `and`; APA uses `&`
- Ampersand in in-text: Harvard `(Smith and Jones, 2024)`; APA `(Smith & Jones, 2024)`
- Edition notation: Harvard typically `(2nd edn.)`; APA `(2nd ed.)`
- Retrieved dates: Harvard often requires a retrieval date for online sources; APA 7 only requires it for sources that change over time (social media, wikis)
- DOI format: both use `https://doi.org/...` now; older Harvard variants used `doi:...`
Worked example
Harvard (input)
Smith, J. and Jones, A. (2024) 'The role of spaced repetition in long-term retention', *Journal of Educational Psychology*, 116(3), pp. 234-251. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000999 (Accessed: 15 March 2024).
APA 7th Edition (output)
Smith, J., & Jones, A. (2024). The role of spaced repetition in long-term retention. *Journal of Educational Psychology*, 116(3), 234–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000999
APA 7 drops the 'Available at' phrasing and the retrieval date (the DOI is stable). Quote marks around the article title become italics/title-case per APA rules.
Related converters
- APA to MLA converter — Convert APA 7 citations to MLA 9.
- MLA to APA converter — Convert MLA 9 citations to APA 7.
- APA to Chicago converter — Convert APA 7 citations to Chicago 17 Notes-Bibliography.
- BibTeX to APA converter — Convert a BibTeX `@article` or `@book` entry to an APA 7 reference.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the biggest difference between Harvard and APA 7th Edition?
- Author separator in reference list: Harvard often uses `and`; APA uses `&`
- Is there a free Harvard to APA tool?
- Yes — the full CiteDash citation converter at /tools/citation-converter handles this pair and 14+ other style conversions. It's free and requires no signup for single-citation use.
- Will this converter handle bulk bibliographies?
- The full converter at /tools/citation-converter supports bulk input (paste multiple citations, one per line) on the free tier. For very large bibliographies (500+ entries), the Pro plan removes rate limits.
- Why does my converted APA 7th Edition citation look slightly different from my advisor's?
- Citation styles have variants — journal-specific house rules, institutional style guides, and edition differences. The canonical format produced here follows the official style manual; if your advisor uses a custom house style, spot-check a sample entry against their guidance.