How to incorporate a href in wp_query?

Hi all,

I have a wp_query to list the posts title and excerpt for a subcategory. I want the title to link to its respective post, but unable to figure out how to get the a href working properly in the following code. The link that is being generated from the below code is, /category/sub-category/the_permalink(). Any suggestions please?

<?php
$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;

$args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 10, 'order'=> 'ASC', 'orderby' => 'title', 'category_name' => 'diet-tips', 'paged' => $paged,'post_type' => 'post' );
$postslist = new WP_Query( $args );

 if ( $postslist->have_posts() ) :
        while ( $postslist->have_posts() ) : $postslist->the_post(); 

echo "<div style='border:1px groove gray; margin-bottom:5px;'><h3 class='btposth'><a href='the_permalink()'>";
                 the_title();
             echo "</a></h3><div class='btpostdiv'>";
                 the_excerpt();
             echo "</div></div>";

"<br />";
  endwhile;  

       next_posts_link( 'Older Entries', $postslist->max_num_pages );
             previous_posts_link( 'Next Entries ?' );
        wp_reset_postdata();
    endif;
    ?>

<br />