How to write a bibliography? An Overview and Examples of Bibliography to begin!

What is a Bibliography? 

Bibliography plays a crucial role in the prevention of copyright infringement. How? When one writes a book or magazine article or any textual content by using the information provided by other sources published by other copyrighted authors, it comes under plagiarism. But, in the event that you want to protect your work from any kind of accusation of copyright infringement legal punishment, you are required to give credits to the previously mentioned sources. How to write a bibliography? 

Before you put your book or magazine, or content into the market, you must write a bibliography. It gives credit to the original discoverers of the information that you have included in your content. In the absence of a bibliography, one can face lawsuits by the actual people from whom you have received the information for your text. So, is it necessary? The answer is NO. A bibliography is not essential if you have already added a reference list in your book, magazine, or article. Yet, a bibliography is recommendable because it improves the authenticity of your work. 

So, today in this reading, we present you with a brief guide on how to write a bibliography? Are there multiple methods to write it? Or, is there a strict list of guidelines one should follow? You will get to know everything by the end of this article. So, let’s get started: 

Disclaimer: Professional bibliography writers write all the information and methods below. For additional details and fact check, you can leave comments to be answered as quickly as possible. Here we go!

What does a bibliography include?

Now, in the previous section, you learned what a bibliography is? It is a type of reference listing which delivers credit to the people or authors whose work have been used in the content. Those who are pursuing a PhD or other forms of courses that require writing research papers, they’d know that each research paper requires a bibliography or reference list. Otherwise, the piece is unacceptable. Hence, the importance of a bibliography goes without saying. 

Here’s what a bibliography includes: 

• Name the author or authors (whose work you used in your paper or viewed to learn about the concept).
• Title of Content (For example, a book in the Author’s name which you have used to write your paper).
• Company’s name and address which published the referenced Author’s book. 
• Date of publishment
• Page No. (i.e.., page number of the book you have acquired the information from).

Now, in the event that you miss adding a bibliography in your paper, you may fail. And, that’s for sure. So, never forget to keep saving the sources from where you collect the information for your paper. Otherwise, in the end, the process will be all confusing. 

Apart from this, a bibliography is of different types. 

What are the types of a Bibliography? 

First of all, students often question if there’s a more straightforward method to write a bibliography. So, here’s what you need to understand: there are no different methods to write a bibliography. Instead, there are different types. In total, these types of bibliographies are introduced till now. 

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analytical Bibliography
• And, Enumerative Bibliography.

What’s the difference between all three?

Well! To begin with, Annotated bibliography is a type of reference listing which majorly focuses on the Author’s publication. For example, Author’s name, book’s name or title, chapter number, page no. and so on. But, there’s a bit of addition to annotated bibliography. After adding the general information, a small descriptive paragraph is added. This paragraph describes the reference’s importance in creating the Author’s work. 

As the word “analytical” suggests, Analytical Bibliography is a type of reference listing which describes the outer appearance of the Author’s book. For example, colour, the material of the book, bookmark, etc. This type of bibliography is added when the manufacturing of the book, publication, printing, and raw material influences the text of the book. 

Last but not least, Enumerative bibliography is the most accessible form of reference listing. This type of bibliography is used everywhere. 

You can view research papers online or offline. 

Wikipedia reference listing also uses enumerative bibliography. To write this bibliography, a rigid pattern is used. 

You will learn it ahead in this reading. 

How to write a bibliography? 

For the most part, Enumerative Bibliography is commonly written to provide a reference listing or cite other publisher’s work for the reader’s reference. There are no different methods to write it. However, different styles are there. The two most popular styles of writing a bibliography are APA style and MLA style. Whether you are writing any of the following, either styles are valid for:

• Blog
• Research Paper
• Wikipedia Page
• Website Content
• Book/Magazine
• Educational Book (Annotated Bibliography is recommended)
• And others like miscellaneous content on the internet/printed sources like newspapers. 

How to write a bibliography in APA style? 

STEP 1: Create a rough sheet to collect the following information for all the sources

While writing your research paper, whenever you catch yourself copying a phrase from another book or page on Google, write now the following information for the mentioned source: 

• Author’s name (for blogs, check the author name at the top. For books, check the book cover for name).
• Title of the Book/Blog/Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, or Dictionary (name)
• Heading of the content (from which heading you have picked the phrase).
• If Newspaper – note down the page number. For example, the front page or editorial page. Also, note the Newspaper’s brand and date of printing. 
• Page No. of Book/Magazine.
• For Websites – note the header or footer.
• Check address and company’s name in the “contact us” section – for website and book. 

It is crucial how you collect all this information. Please make certain that you haven’t forgotten or missed any available detail. In that case, the APA Style bibliography will fail. And in research papers, bibliography or reference listing makes 10% of the total marking. 

STEP 2: List the references as per the format

What’s the format of bibliography APA styling? Here it is: Author’s last name > first initial > publication date of year > Book title > City of Publication > Company which printed the book > page no. or the page no. Series. 

Hence, for example, 

Smith, W. (2001). Just the Two Of Us. Washington D.C.: Enumerative Printing Company. (pp. 70 – 75).

You can make this an annotated biography by adding a short description of the book. Similarly, you can write down credits for all the sources in a bibliographic manner. 

Note: APA Style of Bibliography is always written in an alphabetical manner. 

How to construct a bibliography using the MLA or Chicago Style? 

As directed in the above section, collect the information of all the sources beforehand. This includes: 

• Author’s name (for blogs, check the author name at the top. For books, check the book cover for name).
• Title of the Book/Blog/Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, or Dictionary (name)
• Heading of the content (from which heading you have picked the phrase).
• If Newspaper – note down the page number. For example, the front page or editorial page. Also, note the Newspaper’s brand and date of printing. 
• Page No. of Book/Magazine.
• For Websites – note the header or footer.
• Check address and company’s name in the “contact us” section – for website and book. 

If there are multiple authors of a publication or magazine, please note down the names of all authors. 

Next step:

MLA Style format: 

Author’s last name > First name of the Author> Book title (in italic format) > City of Publication > Publishing or Printing Company > (Year of publication).

In the event that you have acquired information from authentic internet sources like Encyclopedia, following the given format: 

Author’s last name > the First name of the Author > Article’s title (in italic format) >Date.

For printed sources like magazines and newspapers, add the “date” and page number at the end. And, for websites, URL is important while citing. 

Guidelines for how to write a bibliography? 

You can master the art of bibliography writing. And today, it’s a lot of money. Because it takes a lot of time and effort for writers to do so, they hire other writers to write a bibliography on their behalf. So, if you get a hold of this art, you can be considerable. 

To master how to write a bibliography guide, following the given guidelines strictly.

• The book’s title shall always be written in italic font. 
• When there are multiple authors, only the primary Author’s first and last name, one must write. The secondary Author’s last name and first initial is written. For the rest of the authors, only initials are written. For example, Will Smith to W.S.
• APA style is always written in alphabetical order. 
• MLA style is always written in a chronological manner. 
• While stating the title of the book, All write all initial words in capital. For example, Just The Two Of Us. 
• You can use standard abbreviations. For example, editor to ed. Vol volume.
• While referring to unpublished work, use quotation marks. For example, The Game of Thrones, “Part 12.”
• Underline book title when you are writing a bibliography on a typewriter. 

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Work Citation

#1: Can you plagiarize a bibliography? 

The answer is NO. Let’s suppose you are writing someone’s words in your content (like a research paper). In the bibliography, you credit the original author. Then, it’s not plagiarism. But, if you do not give credit to the initial author, it’s plagiarism. On the other hand, copying someone else’s bibliography entirely may include plagiarism. 

#2: Are bibliography and references the same? 

For the most part, in students’ research papers, you see “references” at the end. Is it the same as a bibliography? The answer is NO. The bibliography is much more challenging than simply referencing. For example, while referencing, you only include the Author’s name, title, URL, and date. However, in the bibliography, other information such as page no., other Author’s name, company’s name and address, one shall give. 

#3: Does bibliography include in word count? 

Since most of the students get research paper assignments with limited word count restriction, it isn’t evident whether or not a bibliography is a part of this word count. So, let’s make it clear. The bibliography does not include a word count. It can be as long or short based on the books or Author’s work you have consulted your research with. 

Epilogue

Want to know more? Drop your questions in the comments. We will get back to you with simple and understandable answers. If you’re going to emerge in the art of bibliography, this is a great reading, to begin with. Thank you!