I read somewhere that you can reference, the Harvard way, by stating the author, before ending the sentence with a date - like so:
Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (2017).
But, after reading through my dissertation, my teacher told me this was invalid Harvard referencing; and, he said I should cite the author like this:
Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (Author, 2017).
Is this true, or can I indeed use the proposed method?
There can be disagreement on how to reference correctly within a style. I have referenced in both ways that you cite, with no complaints from my tutors. I have also had papers published using both methods of citation with no corrections from the copy editors.
However, I think what we are experiencing here is your tutor's preference. He clearly wants you to do things in method B rather than method A, for whatever reason. I am sure he has read through multitudinous publications, some of which use method A, though his own preference is B.
When I wrote my first essay for my master's I used footnotes for referencing. My tutor wrote on the paper that in-text citations were much better: neither was wrong, but my tutor was specifying a preference and recommending a better habit to get into. Similarly, seeing as yours is the one marking your papers, I would just go with it.
I am in one of the fields where author-date (Harvard) referencing is common, and I have not seen the style that you describe. Normally, it's either:
Author (2017) finds xyz.
or
Xyz (Author 2017).
Of course I do not know all the citation formats in all different fields, so it is possible that such style exists in some fields I don't know. However, based on some common style guides, I believe such style, if exists, is not common. For example, the Oxford Style Guide (New Hart's Rules), which covers a few different common reference styles, only gives author-date examples similar to what I've given here. The same is true for the APA Manual, which is a widely used style guide that prescribes the author-date system.
In some contexts (including some educational institutions), authors are expected to (at least roughly) follow a particular citation style. In such case, you can consult the reference guide.
