When writing a research or any other sort of written work, we inevitably have to refer to other authors’ works and thoughts. Whether we simply mention the author’s idea, or quote his or her words verbatim, it is our duty to precisely indicate the source of information and its author. Carefully drawn quotation not only pays tribute to the author, but also makes it easier for the reader of our work to find the referred material. Conversely, failure to mention the author and the source amounts to plagiarism, which is a serious offence not tolerated in academic circles.
In order to make citing as useful and well organised, as possible, certain normative rules have been established that make references readily understandable to any student or scholar at any university in any part of the world. One of the most widely used reference systems is the Harvard system, known for its structure as "Author Date" method.
Before taking a closer look at the system itself, it is important that the key principle of citing should be remembered: we must quote every thought, statement or opinion that we have borrowed from another author’s work, whether in the form of verbatim quote, or by way of mentioning.
The Harvard system incorporates two ways of referring to cited material:
1. The author and the year of cited publication are mentioned in the text.
2. The author, the year, the title and other information on the publication are included in the Bibliography, added at the end of the work.
Importantly, the two ways of referring are not interchangeable, but are used conjunctly, the first to give the immediate reference to the source of the cited idea, and the second to provide the reader with the full list of materials used in the work.