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LSBU Harvard Referencing: Instagram

Best Practice tips

Authors/Creators

Creators of social media posts often use their first names, pseudonyms or handles.  If no named author is available use one of these instead.

Title

Social media titles or posts can often be too long to include in a reference.  Write the first few words or sentence and then add ... to indicate that you have omitted part of it.

For further guidance on referencing online sources, see General guidelines for referencing online resources

Format of the reference

You will need:

  • Name of the author(s) or name of the Instagram account
  • Year the image was posted
  • Title of the post
  • Social media platform
  • Day month
  • Web address
  • Date accessed

 

Format:

Author’s surname, Initials. or Name of the Instagram account (Year the image was posted) Title of post [Instagram], Day month. Available from: www.webaddress.com [Accessed day month year].

Example:

BBC Cricket (2021) I thought the game would be decided on who handled the pressure best and thankfully I think we did [Instagram], 25 January. Available from: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKeVCVPDagI/ [Accessed 26 January 2021].

In-text citation: (BBC Cricket, 2021)

Instagram reference

Video

LSBU Harvard Referencing Quick Guide