Harvard Referencing Made Easy
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Harvard referencing into Word 2007 does go! Word includes APA but how do you load it up for Harvard? This short five minute article on Harvard made simple will show you how to save hours of time and money whether you are studying and don’t want to lose presentation marks or writing a report for business. This article which covers:-
- ensuring word is compatible with Harvard
- further shortcuts to ease the burden
- ways of making money out of writing.
When I jumped ship from PR practice to academia at LJMU, I had to teach the subject. I was staggered to discover that in Microsoft Word 2007, the single most widely used referencing tool was not included in the styles directory. APA, the preset would do around 80% of the job but then you would need to proof against other sources. So let’s see how we can add some styles and ensure our copy of Word is fully loaded for referencing. Ironically, and by way of disclaimer, I have decided not to reference to Harvard in this article so you can immediately see the hyperlinks direct from my blog.
First let’s have a look at the References ribbon on Microsoft Word. Click to enlarge the screenshot:- The most common task we have to do in Harvard is to insert a citation. We simply click this and a drop down list appears.
You choose what type of document you would like to reference and complete the form. Word stores this in its “memory” for when you are ready to add your Bibliography later. (Go to Bibliography > Insert Bibliography).
The advantages of Harvard referencing as you go along are multi faceted. The biggest one is time management. This method will allow you to maintain your train of thought and keep to convention. The problem is that Word 2007 doesn’t have Harvard as standard. The closest is a combination of APA and Ghost. But come 3 am in the morning, using two referencing styles in unison could be frustating to say the least.
Enter Bibword. These incredibly helpful people have provided a style sheet which you can cut and paste into your Word directory safely. To access this directory, you would normally go to Program Files > Office > Office 12 > Bibliography. But first you would need to download the software from and follow its installation instructions. It arrives as a zip file. Copy the style list, once unzipped, and paste into your directory.
But if you do experience problems, simply drop me a line and I will try my best to help.
How to Summary:-
1) To add the Harvard plug in go to Bibword and add the styles to your registry
2) Go to Word 2007’s References tab (fourth one along on the Word 2007 ribbon)
3) Place your cursor where you want to put the reference
4) Go to “Insert citation” and complete the form
5) When you are ready “insert bibliography” (don’t forget to save periodically)
6) You can double check your Harvard citations against a whole plethora of articles on the internet but rest assured that by installing the Bibword properties, you will be able to refernce comfrttably and safely as you go along.
