The Harvard system in brief:
In the Harvard system, the author surname and date of publication are used within the main body of the text...
...to refer reader to the list of references, where the full publication details are listed.
One of the advantages of the Harvard system is that there is no need to include a separate bibliography in addition to a list of references. It also means that using the Latin terms 'ibid' and 'op cit' is unnecessary.
There are a number of Harvard styles in use, so you may find in your reading that there are small variations in the details.Introductions on YouTube:
Two further videos are available on this playlist.Download the library's referencing handbook:
This is available from the 'Referencing your work' web page or you can pick up a free print copy in the library.For more than just the basics of Harvard referencing try either of these books:
Neville, C. (2010). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism, 2nd ed. Open University Press.
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2010). Cite them right; the essential referencing guide, 8th ed. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.For more specific guides to referencing visual arts and moving image materials, try any of these:
University of the Arts London. Guide to the Harvard system of referencing. (PDF)For software that will do the job for you (just about):
University for the Creative Arts. Referencing.
British Universities Film & Video Council Audiovisual Citation Guidelines.
RefME is a new free app that you can download to a phone or tablet. You can scan book barcodes to create a list of references, or look up articles in journals, or create your own references using the form provided.
Traditional applications such as Refworks, and Endnote (see the 'Referencing your work' web page) are designed with experienced researchers in mind, and take time to learn how to use. RefME takes less than five minutes to master.
Translations and Reprints
A couple of points that don't get good coverage are dealing with translations and reprints. Pears and Shield (2010) suggest adding a statement of translation after the title (e.g. 'Translated by Richard Howard'). For reprints, they suggest citing the original date of publication in the text, and in the list of references, and including the reprint information in the list of references. This will inform your reader the original date of authorship, and give them enough information to find the specific publication that you used.
My interpretation of this is below:
Barthes, R. (1980). Camera lucida; reflections on photography. Translated by Richard Howard. Reprint, London: Vintage, 1993.
In text this could be: Barthes (1980).
There are other ways of doing this, but this seems acceptable to me.
Ibid / Op cit
Ibid and Op cit. are not used in the Harvard system, but you will come across them, so its useful to be able to distinguish between the two.
Ibid = ibidim (meaning 'the same place') used to refer to an immediately preceding reference.
Op cit. = opere citato (meaning 'in the work cited') used to refer to a previously cited work, and preceded by a shortened form of the work referred to.