A report is an official document that summarises some sort of information for a specific audience. It serves a highly specific objective, too. Reports are mostly in written form, although their summaries might be presented orally.
Companies, banks, accountants and industry groups, etc. are mostly the ones who make the most use of reports in their daily work routine. Some reports are meant to present minor project details every now and then.
But reports on a larger scale are to be presented to a certain audience in a company meeting, for example. Such large-scale reports might even go on to become published on a company’s official platform.
Additionally, reports might also be published in higher-order platforms, such as databases. Commonly used reports databases include Business Source Premier, Factiva, DataAnalysis, etc. There are government reports as well, citing them are a bit different from generic reports.
Core Harvard Format for Reports
In-text citation
(Author/Corporate author Year)
Add a page number for a quote:
(Author/Corporate author Year, p. #) or (pp. #-#).
Reference list entry (web/company site)
Author/Corporate author, Initial(s). (Year). *Title of report*. Series or number if shown. [online] City: Publisher, p.# or pp.#-#. Available at: URL [Accessed Day Mon. Year].
Harvard citation examples
- In-text: (NHS Diabetes 2014)
- Reference list: NHS Diabetes. (2014). Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Screening, Diagnosis and Follow Up. [online] London: NHS. Available at: https://example.nhs/report [Accessed 10 Mar. 2015].
If no personal author appears, use the corporate author. If no author at all, start with the report title.
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Reports in Databases
When a report comes via a database, include the viewed date and the database name.
In-text
(Corporate author Year) or (Corporate author Year, p. 13)
Reference list
Corporate author Year, *Title of report*, viewed Day Mon. Year, Database name.
Harvard citation examples
- In-text: (Datamonitor 2010) or (Datamonitor 2010, p. 13)
- Reference list: Datamonitor 2010, Rio Tinto SWOT Analysis, viewed 20 Jan. 2012, Business Source Premier (EBSCOhost).
Analyst-named database report
- In-text: (Stephen 2012) or (Stephen 2012, p. 24)
- Reference list: Stephen, T. 2012, IBISWorld Industry Report L7714. Retail Property Operators in Australia, viewed 20 Jan. 2013, IBISWorld.
Annual Reports
Print annual report
In-text
(Corporate author Year) or (Corporate author Year, p. #)
Reference list
Corporate author Year, *Full title of the annual report*, Publisher, Place of publication.
Example
- In-text: (Tabcorp 2012) or (Tabcorp 2012, p. 2)
- Reference list: Tabcorp 2012, Annual Report 2012, Tabcorp Holdings Limited, Melbourne.
Online annual report
Keep the pattern and add a link with an Accessed date.
Reference list
Corporate author Year, *Full title of the annual report*, viewed Day Mon. Year, URL.
Example
- In-text: (Woolworths Limited 2015) or (Woolworths Limited 2015, p. 12)
- Reference list: Woolworths Limited 2015, Annual Report 2015, viewed 10 Dec. 2015, http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/annualreport/2015/files/Woolworths_AR_2015.pdf.
Table For Reference
| Situation | In-text | Reference list essentials |
|---|---|---|
| Report on company website | (Corporate author Year) | Corporate author; Year; Title; series/number; [online]; city; publisher; pages; URL; Accessed date |
| Report in database | (Corporate author Year) | Corporate/analyst; Year; Title; viewed date; Database name |
| Annual report in print | (Corporate author Year) | Corporate author; Year; Annual report title; publisher; place |
| Annual report online | (Corporate author Year) | Corporate author; Year; Annual report title; viewed date; URL |
| No author shown | (Title Year) | Title (Year). Rest of fields as available |
Additional Examples
Company profile (PDF hosted on site)
- In-text: (ACME Corp. 2021)
- Reference list: ACME Corp. (2021). Company Profile 2021. [online] New York: ACME Corp., pp. 4–7. Available at: https://acme.example/profile.pdf [Accessed 2 Feb. 2022].
Government report (no personal author)
- In-text: (Department for Education 2019)
- Reference list: Department for Education. (2019). Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. [online] London: DfE. Available at: https://gov.example/dfe-strategy [Accessed 12 Apr. 2020].
NGO report with series number
- In-text: (WHO 2018, p. 33)
- Reference list: World Health Organization. (2018). Global Health Estimates 2016 (Series GHE-16). [online] Geneva: WHO, p. 33. Available at: https://who.example/ghe16 [Accessed 7 Jul. 2019].
Frequently Asked Questions
To cite a report in Harvard style:
- Author(s) last name, first initial.
- Year of publication.
- Title of report in italics.
- Report series or number (if applicable).
- Publisher.
- URL (if accessed online). Example: Smith, J. (2023). Report Title. Report Series No. Publisher. URL
Start with the corporate author. If none, use the title as the author.
Yes for quotes or specific figures. Use p. or pp.
Yes. Treat it as a report, not a generic PDF. Add the usual fields and the link.
Yes, when shown. It helps tracking in a research paper and in appendices.
Yes for links and database entries.
