Most college students in the United States are required to write at least a couple of research papers before they graduate. While doing so, they are required to keep track of and list all the material they have consulted during their preparatory research. This material can include books, periodicals, and websites in addition to other primary and secondary sources such as interview transcripts, statistical data, letters, photographs, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, encyclopedias, and textbooks.
The list may contain sources that the author eventually did not consider useful or chose not to quote from. Nevertheless, even such sources should be included because they have formed part of the preparatory work. The list is known as a bibliography and is placed at the end of a research paper or writing project.
This article features a comprehensive guide to writing a bibliography, complete with all the information one must include in it as well as formats and examples based on the style guide being followed.
Information Included in a Bibliography
Students are expected to write down, photocopy, or print the following information for each source acknowledged in the bibliography.
For Printed Sources
- Author’s name
- Title of the publication OR title of the article (if it appears in an encyclopedia or magazine)
- Date of publication
- Place of publication (for books)
- The publishing company (for books)
- Volume number (for encyclopedias or magazines)
- The page number(s)
For Websites
- Names of the author and editor (if available)
- Page title (if available)
- The name of the company or organization that posted the information
- The URL or web address of the page
- The date the author accessed the page (if the information is time sensitive)
An annotated bibliography includes all of the above information along with a short description and evaluation for each source on the list. Annotations allow readers to understand how a source is helpful or related to the topic in question.
Bibliography Examples
Books:
- Beck, Connie J. A., and Bruce D. Sales. Family Mediation: Facts, Myths, and Future Prospects. Washington: APA, 2001.
- Boswell, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson. Edited by George Birkbeck Hill and L.F. Powell. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934.
- Gibbs, Jewelle Taylor, and Larke Nahme Huang, eds. Children of Color: Psychological Interventions With Minority Youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.
Bibliographies appear not only at the end of research papers; they are also included in other forms of academic writing such as books, reports, online presentations, and essays. In academic research, all sources used by the author, whether summarized/paraphrased or directly quoted, must be acknowledged in the bibliography. A bibliography, along with properly formatted in-text citations, is necessary to correctly cite the author’s research as well as to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
Finding Bibliographic Information
Bibliographic information for different kinds of sources can be found in different places, so the author may need to do some digging to get to it. They can try looking in the following places:
- For books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias – the title page
- For articles – headings
- For newspapers – the front, second, or editorial page
- For journals and magazines – the contents page
- For websites – header or footer; the Contact or About pages
Bibliographies and Style Guides
The format of a bibliography depends on the style guide an author adheres to. A style guide spells out the writing and design standards for documents and promotes uniformity in formatting and style within and across documents. Some commonly used style guides for academic writing include the American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), and Harvard Referencing Guide. Each style guide has a different format for writing a bibliography. The MLA handbook, for instance, uses a Works Cited page, which lists sources alphabetically. The APA handbook uses a Reference List, where references are listed in alphabetical order. The CMS handbook uses a Reference List in the author-date style or a Bibliography in the notes-bibliography style. Harvard Referencing uses a Reference List that is ordered alphabetically by the last name of the first author of each work.
Choosing the Appropriate Style Guide
Before creating a reference list for a writing project, students need to know which style they will be using. This is usually determined not only by the teacher or professor, but also by the type of writing project they will be taking on. Most high school projects, for example, typically use MLA style because this makes it easier to source websites, advertisements, and audio-visual material. College projects use a number of different styles depending on the type of project. APA, MLA, CMS, and Harvard Referencing Guide are some of the most popular style guides used in academia.
If the professor hasn’t specified a style, the writing project and its subject determine which style would be most appropriate.
- MLA is generally used for English, history, or humanities projects. MLA 7 is especially useful for students learning to research and write academic papers.
- APA is used for writing papers on social and behavioral sciences such as psychology, social work, and education. It is sometimes also used for business subjects.
- CMS is a professional style guide used for work intended for publication.
- Harvard Referencing is an easy style that can be used for most subjects.
Sample Bibliographies According to Each Style Guide
1. MLA
Books
Format:
Author’s last name, first name. Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.
Example:
James, Henry. The Ambassadors. Serenity, 2009.
Dictionary and Encyclopedia
Format:
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Title of Encyclopedia. Date.
Example:
Content, N. (4).” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., Merriam-Webster, 2003, p. 269.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Format:
Author’s last name, first name. “Article title.” Periodical title Volume # Date: inclusive pages.
Example:
Trillin, Calvin. “Culture Shopping.” New Yorker 15 Feb. 1993: 48-51.
Website or Webpage
Format:
Author’s last name, first name (if available). “Title of work within a project or database.” Title of site, project, or database. Editor (if available). Electronic publication information (Date of publication or of the latest update, and name of any sponsoring institution or organization). Date of access and <full URL>.
Example:
Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of Rooms?” BoardGameGeek, 29 Sept. 2008, boardgamegeek.com/thread/343929/best-strategy-fenced-pastures-vs-max-number-rooms. Accessed 9 Jun. 2020.
2. APA
Books
Format:
Last name, Initials. (Year). Book title. (Contributor initials, last name, role.) (Edition). City, State/Country: Publisher.
Example:
Kempe, C. H., & Helfer, R. E. (1980). The battered child (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Dictionary and Encyclopedia
Format:
Entry name. (Year). In Dictionary name (edition). Place: Publisher
Example:
Eyewitness. (1996). In The Oxford Compact English Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Format:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title: Subtitle. Newspaper Title, page range. URL [if viewed online]
Example:
Wallace, K. (2007, December 4). Passport applicant finds massive privacy breach. The Globe and Mail, pp. A1, A8.
Website or Webpage
Format:
Author, A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Smith, T. (2019, January 10). How to structure a dissertation. Retrieved from https://www.scribbr.com/category/dissertation/
3. Chicago Manual of Style
Books
Format:
Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.
Example:
Smith, Zadie. Swing Time. New York: Penguin Press, 2016.
Dictionary and Encyclopedia
Format:
Title of Dictionary, ed. First name, Surname (if known), number edition. (Location: Publisher, Year of publication), s.v. “Title of Entry,” URL if entry came from an online source.
Example:
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), s.v. “Story.”
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Format:
Last name, First name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Title, Month Date, Year of publication.
Example:
Rebecca Mead, “The Prophet of Dystopia,” New Yorker, April 17, 2017,
Website or Webpage
Format:
Last name, First name. “Title of Web Page.” Publishing Organization or Name of Website. Publication date and/or access date if available. URL.
Example:
Smith, John. “Obama inaugurated as President.” CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/01/21/obama_inaugurated/index.html (accessed February 1, 2009).
4. Harvard Referencing Guide
Books
Format:
Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title. ed. City: Publisher, p. Pages Used.
Example:
Franklin, A.W. (2012). ‘Management of the problem’, in Smith, S.M. (ed.) The maltreatment of children. Lancaster: MTP, pp. 83-95.
Dictionary and Encyclopedia
Format:
Title. (Year) Volume (if applicable). Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.
Example:
Shorter Oxford English dictionary. (2007) Vol.2. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Format:
Surname, Initial(s). (Year) “Title of Article,” Title of Newspaper/Magazine, issue number (if applicable), day and/or month of publication, page number(s).
Example:
Lewis, S. (2015). ‘Rainbow support for York pride’, The Press, York, 18 June, p.6.
Website or Webpage
Format:
Author Surname, Initial(s) Year (page created or revised), Title of page, Publisher (if applicable), viewed Day Month Year, <URL>.
Example:
Cancer Council 2017, Causes of cancer, Cancer Council, viewed 21 May 2018, <https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/>.
