This is an excellent introduction to LaTeX produced by the University of Cornell. It contains lots of worked examples. Highly recommended.
MiKTEX (pronounced mick-tech) is an up-to-date implementation of TEX and related programs for Windows (all current variants) on x86 systems.
Main features include:
- easy to install
- complete: more than 800 packages (fonts, macros, ...) are included
- living: the package repository is updated periodically
- easy package management: a wizard helps you to keep your installation up-to-date
- the DVI viewer Yap allows for an optimized edit-compile-view cycle
- MiKTeX is open source
TeTeX is the main Linux TeX implementation. You will probably find that your Linux installation already has this installed, but if not you can download an appropriate version from here.
A comprehensive guide to getting, installing and running LaTeX on a Mac running Mac OS X
JEdit is a java-based text editor. It provides a LaTeX editing mode which is very helpful. Make sure that you load in the plug-ins, since these provide additional functionality. The XInsert plug-in is particularly important, because this provides LaTeX keyword insertion.
This site provides a style package for producing Harvard style bibliography citations and entries. You will have to follow the instructions for installing new packages that are supplied with your TeX distribution in order to install the package.
A page of links to almost everything on TeX that is available for free