Harvard referencing
How to cite a podcast episode in Harvard referencing
A podcast episode is a part of a series, so it needs the same host/producer distinction as a book chapter — plus an episode number that is easy to miss.
THE FORMAT
A podcast episode in Harvard, at a glance
Presenter, A. (Year) ‘Title of episode’, Title of podcast [Podcast]. Day Month. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Okafor, R. (2022) ‘The archive that burned’, Slow Histories [Podcast]. 5 October. Available at: https://slowhistories.org/episodes/42 (Accessed: 3 March 2024).
(Okafor, 2022)
In prose: Okafor (2022) reconstructs the fire from the insurance file rather than the press coverage.
Okafor, R. (2023) ‘Field notes from Lagos’, Slow Histories [Podcast]. Calder Audio, 14 March. Available at: https://slowhistories.org/episodes/field-notes-lagos (Accessed: 3 March 2024).
In text: (Okafor, 2023)
Copyeditor formats APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE automatically — cite a source once and the reference list builds itself. See how citations work .
BEFORE YOU FORMAT
What Harvard needs from a podcast episode
Elements to collect
- Host or producer, with their role in parentheses
- Date the episode was released
- Title of the individual episode
- Episode number, when the series uses them
- Title of the podcast series
- Production company or network
- URL
Rules specific to this entry
- The episode is a part and the series is the whole, so the episode title takes quotation marks and the series title takes italics — the same split as a chapter inside a book.
- Harvard guides rarely say where the episode number goes. Putting “episode 42” after the series title is the common improvisation; whatever you choose, use it for every episode you cite.
- The release date is split like a newspaper date: the year goes with the presenter, the day and month go after the medium marker.
- Name the network or production company when two podcasts share a title or when the producer matters to your argument.
Building the entry, step by step
Collect the details
Before you format anything, gather every element Harvard needs for a podcast episode: Host or producer, with their role in parentheses; Date the episode was released; Title of the individual episode; Episode number, when the series uses them.
Build the reference list entry
Arrange those details in the Harvard order: Presenter, A. (Year) ‘Title of episode’, Title of podcast [Podcast]. Day Month. Available at: URL (Accessed: Day Month Year).
Add the in-text citation
In the body of your paper, cite it as (Okafor, 2022) — or work the same reference into your sentence as Okafor (2022) reconstructs the fire from the insurance file rather than the press coverage..
Check it against the exceptions
The episode is a part and the series is the whole, so the episode title takes quotation marks and the series title takes italics — the same split as a chapter inside a book.
Harvard RULES
The conventions behind every Harvard entry
your institution’s Harvard style guide — Harvard has no single governing manual is the authority. Where a journal or department publishes its own house rules, those win — check your submission guidelines before the reference list is final.
The rules that apply across every source — author order, capitalization, how the reference list is sorted, and where Harvard entries most often go wrong — are collected on the Harvard referencing guide.
The same podcast episode in another style
Switching styles late in a draft is normal. Here is the same source formatted five other ways.
Questions about Harvard and podcast episodes
What if the podcast episode has no author?
Move the title into the author position and alphabetize by the first significant word of that title — ignoring an initial “A”, “An” or “The”. In the text, use a shortened form of the title where the author name would go.
What do I need before I can cite a podcast episode?
Host or producer, with their role in parentheses, Date the episode was released, Title of the individual episode, and the rest of the elements listed above. A podcast episode is a part of a series, so it needs the same host/producer distinction as a book chapter — plus an episode number that is easy to miss.
Is there anything unusual about a podcast episode in Harvard?
The episode is a part and the series is the whole, so the episode title takes quotation marks and the series title takes italics — the same split as a chapter inside a book.
What else catches people out here?
Harvard guides rarely say where the episode number goes. Putting “episode 42” after the series title is the common improvisation; whatever you choose, use it for every episode you cite.
Can I reformat this podcast episode in another style later?
By hand, you would retype the entry — the element order, punctuation and italics all differ between styles. In Copyeditor, sources are stored as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole reference list at once.
Cite it once
and never reformat it again
Copyeditor keeps sources as structured data, so switching between APA, MLA, Chicago and IEEE reformats every citation and the whole reference list at once.
