How To Write A Bibliography
What Is A Bibliography?
When one comes to think about how to write a bibliography, it should be evident pretty early on that this is a subject that is often taken too lightly or entered into without enough accuracy and planning. Equally, there are many different requirements and formats involved in completing this task, so when the writer addresses the twin ideas of ‘What is a Bibliography?’ and ‘How do I write a Bibliography? They must be aware that there are many factors to consider.
In its simplest definition, the answer to ‘What is a Bibliography?’ is that it is a list of all the sources (or evidence) used to complete the task at hand, be it a coursework essay, a report or a review. All work which draws on the thoughts, ideas, ruminations, suggestions and opinions of others simply must be credited as their work and not your own! To do otherwise would be to bring into play the possibility of accusations of plagiarism or cheating. Therefore, to not credit sources is perhaps the biggest mistake to be made when thinking about how to write a bibliography.
When analysing ‘What is a bibliography?’ the writer must also be aware of some of the more subtle but still necessary requirements when thinking about how to write a bibliography. Not only must the writer reference the above, more obvious borrowings (which are invariably lifted from the original in the form of a direct quote) but they must also be careful to credit authors when summarising or paraphrasing the thoughts of another person. Just because you aren’t using direct quotes, this simply cannot be passed off as your own work!
In addition to this, the diligent and serious writer, when contemplating the mechanics of how to write a bibliography also needs to factor in any reproductions that they may have made and then subsequently presented in the body of their own work. So, in answering the question ‘What is a Bibliography?’ the writer also needs to accept that diagrams, drawings, pictures and any other representations must be included in the bibliography.
How To Write A Bibliography
The format of how to write a bibliography must also be observed. The bibliography will come at the end of a piece of work. It is important that this page is isolated from the rest of the work and not simply tagged on a couple of space bar strikes underneath the finished essay! This is to clearly define for the reader just exactly what is a bibliography.
When considering the mechanics of how to write a bibliography, the writer must also be aware of the range of potential sources that they may have to acknowledge. The list of sources is likely to come from the following mediums: Books, Journal articles, Newspapers, CD-ROMS, The World Wide Web, magazines and television or other audio-visual media. A crucial factor for any writer pondering on how to write a bibliography is to make sure that each and every reference is accurately noted down in a manner that allows the reader of the work to follow the path back to the original source. This is the acid test of a successful bibliography.
Format is also crucial when the writer comes to practically demonstrating their understanding of how to write a bibliography. One absolute rule to observe when trying to successfully answer the question ‘What is a good bibliography?’ is that the reference (the acknowledgement of the quote, fact, drawing being ‘referred’ to) must appear twice in the finished work. The first time will be in the body of the work itself, adjacent to the material being quoted. This will take the form of a shortened, ‘in-text’ notation. This initial referencing is then outlined in full at the end of the work, in the bibliography itself. The in-text reference is an extremely vital part of a good essay and must be factored in when one is establishing how to write a bibliography. The following information is generally required: The author’s surname (or the editor’s surname if the reference is drawn from an edited text), what year the source was published and on what page or pages it is drawn. This is then expanded upon in the actual bibliography. Authors trying to determine how to write a bibliography must pay detailed attention to this element of their work, as it easy for a strong offering to be undermined, at such a late stage, by ineffectual and inaccurate referencing.
There are other important criteria which must be adhered to when determining how to write a bibliography: These may include the following: The authors must be listed alphabetically, the year of the original publication needs to be denoted, the title of the work is observed and placed in commas, the publishers of the medium used is referred to and the city of the publishers is also added. There are numerous types of format to consider when you are thinking about how to write a bibliography. Some of the most popular and widely-used formats are Harvard, MLA and APA, all of which have their own idiosyncrasies challenging the writer, when answering the crucial question of ‘How do I write a Bibliography?’ to absolutely determine the individual requirements of each format.
Therefore when looking at just what is a bibliography, the writer has to be aware that some systems of referencing will only ask for listings of specific, in-text references. Other formats or styles will ask for additional notification of works that have broadly influenced the final effort without being specifically referred to or quoted from. These differences are very important and must be considered at the outset when the writer is establishing how to write a bibliography.
In this increasingly technological age and with the rapid advance of Internet based sources, it is perhaps more crucial than ever to accurately determine the answers to the two key questions of ‘What is a bibliography?’ and ‘How do I write a bibliography?’ If these questions are successfully answered the writer is inevitably in a more secure position.
