Education: Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism  

Guide to Referencing and Citations

The definitive guide!

This ebook offers detailed and comprehensive guidance on the Harvard referencing style recommended by the Department of Education at Oxford University. It includes guidance on why you need to reference, how to cite in your work and how to produce a bibliography. It gives examples of how to cite and reference a large number of different types of material.

The Harvard system of referencing uses the author and date of a publication to identify and organise references.  There are many variations of the Harvard system.  The Harvard for Oxford Department of Education version presented in this guide is the one recommended for use in assignments, dissertations and theses in the Department of Education. 

When you are using some databases and other sources, you may be given the option to view or save your references in the Harvard style.  However, this will not be exactly the same as the Harvard style recommended by the Department.

The most important thing is to be consistent and use the same version of Harvard throughout!

When using RefWorks, there is an option to reference in the Harvard for Oxford Department of Education style which follows the guidelines given here.

If you are asked to produce your references in a different way or to use a different system of referencing, please ask your tutor for guidance.

If you copy or export reference details from SOLO to RefWorks, please be aware that occasionally some information may not appear correctly in RefWorks. 

When you are using RefWorks, bear in mind that you still need to double-check your references, and not rely on the information exported from any database. In particular, make sure you check the author name(s) and the date of publication, to ensure that it has been imported to RefWorks correctly.

Information about academic integrity and plagiarism can be found from the information and downloadable handouts, created by Catherine Walter and Kate Williams, on the WebLearn pages for Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism.

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