How to write a bibliography? Free Essay Example

Writing any type of paper, we use different materials as sources for our ideas. All the studies are based on the groundwork of past generations, and even our simple essays cannot be created without someone’s contribution.

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What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is the list of all the books, articles and academic works, which were used for your paper preparation. It does not matter if you apply direct reference to someone’s statement, or you just have read an article, and some separate ideas inspired you to provide your own argument, both of them have to be included in the bibliography.

However, the direct links need priority inclusion.

Using many sources is an indicator that the students have read a lot of literature and that the work is meaningful. However, not every assignment needs so much preparation. Some professors require writing a bibliography for every task that is implemented. Only one look makes it possible to understand how valuable the work is, so we should not underestimate it.

The correctness of registration letter shows the responsibility and carefulness of those who prepared it, so this is an important factor for a high score.

Which sources should be included in the bibliographical reference?

If you analyse a novel or article, it should be added to the footnotes. All the sources, from which you take quotations, as well as arguments of critics, also have to be included in the list of references. Even if you used some controversial statement in the paper and your professor found it inappropriate, you can refer to the source and only give reasons for your choice, but not explain, how you came up with it.

How to write a bibliography?

Regardless the type of paper and the number of used materials, all the sources have to be designed in the same style. There are several options which you may use for the reference list; they differ in the order of recording information. Usually, students are free to choose any of them, but some colleges require a certain style.

Books are the most common sources in any bibliography. There is a universal order of data, which should be used in any option of design: last name and first initials of the writer, year of the publication, title of the book, city of the publication, publisher’s name and page numbers.

E.G. Beletsky, L. 1996. The red-winged blackbird: the biology of a strongly polygenous songbird. Academic press, London. 314 pp.

Pay attention to the punctuation and spaces; they have to be identical as in the example. References to periodical literature do not contain information about the city but include a number of publication.

E.G. Salman, William A. (July-August 1997) “How to Write a Great Business Plan.” Harvard Business Review 74. 98-108 pp.

Referring to articles, do not forget to note journal title and article number.

E.G. Henry, W. A. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today’s schools. Time, 135, 28-31pp.

Web-sources became even more popular than books, but remember, that you cannot use any information from unreliable websites. Author’s name has to be indicated in the source. It is necessary to indicate the link, as the information on the Web is being updated continuously.

E.G. Gala, S. (2012, October 6). Vice versa [Review of the book Sometimes it happens]. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck-.html?pagewanted=2

Sometimes students use another source of information, such as lectures and conventions. Besides the name of the speaker and topic of the lecture, you also must write when and where the meeting occurred.

E.G. Ramsden, Joshua. “Ways of rendering foreign lexical units” Discovering Linguistic Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 16 May 2010, Union Club Hotel, North Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address.

Interviews are reliable and unique sources for academic work. The reference to personal interview must contain only the name of the respondent and the date.

E.G. Black, Brian. Personal interview. 23 November 2015.

The paper about visual art also requires references to paintings and sculpture. Note the artist’s name, the title of work, the date of creation, materials, and the name of an institution where it is stored.

E.G. Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Do not forget that bibliography title should be in the heading. All the sources must be arranged in alphabetical order and numbered. The best way to avoid complicated and time-consuming registration of the list is to note down data after having studied the source.