Write a Bibliography

When you write a paper or a book, it's important to include a bibliography, a list of all the books, articles, and other references you used to inform your work. Bibliographies are typically formatted according to one of three styles: American Psychological Association (APA) for scientific papers, Modern Language Association (MLA) for humanities papers, and Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) for for books and journals.

Steps

Sample Bibliographies

Doc:APA Annotated Bibliography,Bibliography for Seminar Paper,MLA Annotated Bibliography

Writing an APA Bibliography

  1. Create a reference list. Reserve a page at the end of the paper for the bibliography. Title it "References." Follow this heading with a list of articles, books, web publications, and other sources you used to inform your work.
  2. Cite articles. Articles are cited with the author's name, followed by the year, then the title of the article, the publication name, the volume and issue number, and the group of pages referenced. The format is as follows: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). "Title of article." Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages.
    • Example: Jensen, O. E. (2012). "African Elephants." Savannah Quarterly, 2(1), 88.
    • If the article was retrieved online, include the words "Retrieved from" followed by the web address.
    • Include as much information as you can find. If information is missing, leave it out.
  3. Cite books. Start with the author's name, followed by the publication year, the title of the book, the location of the publisher, and finally the name of the publisher. The format is as follows: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
    • Example: Worden, B. L. (1999). Echoing Eden. New York, New York: One Two Press.
  4. Cite websites. Include the author's name, the complete date, the title of the web page, and the words "retrieved from" with the web address. The format is as follows: Author, A. A. (Year, Month day). Title of web page/document. Retrieved from http://URL to specific page
    • Example: Quarry, R. R. (May 23, 2010). Wild Skies. Retrieved from http://wildskies.com.
    • If no author is available, just start with the title. If no date is available, write "n.d."
  5. Include in-text citations. APA requires the use of simple citations in parenthesis directly after the line or idea in your text for which you used a particular reference. The in-text citations give limited information, and correspond with complete citations located in the bibliography at the end of the paper.
    • When paraphrasing a reference, include the author's last name and the year of publication. Example: Research showed that the monarch population has dwindled over the past ten years (Jensen, 2011).
    • For direct quotes, include the author's last name, the year and the page number. Example: The monarch butterfly population is "rapidly decreasing as a result of global warming" (Jensen, 2011, p. 380).
    • If you don't have an author's name, use the first few words of the publication title. Example: Fewer butterflies were seen on the California coast (Butterfly News, 2011).

Writing a MLA Bibliography

  1. Create a works cited page. Reserve a page at the end of your paper for the bibliography, referred to as "works cited" in MLA style. Write "Works Cited" at the top of the page, and list the books, articles, and websites that you used as sources in your paper.
  2. Cite articles. Start with the last name and first name of the author, followed by the title of the article, the title of the publication, the volume and issue number, the date, and the pages. Be sure to use the correct italicization and punctuation. The format is as follows: Author's last name, first name. "Article title." Periodical title Volume number Date: pages.
    • Example: Green, Marsha. "Life in Costa Rica." Science Magazine 1 4 Mar. 2013: 1-2.
    • Include as much information as you have on any given article.
  3. Cite books. Include the author's last name and first name, the book title, the place of publication, the publishing company, and the publication date. The format is as follows: Author's last name, first name. Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.
    • Example: Butler, Olivia. Parable of the Flower. Sacramento: Seed Press, 1996.
  4. Cite websites. Start with the author's last and first name (if available,), the title of the article or project, the title of the website, the date of publication, the name of the sponsoring institution, the date of access, and the full web address. The format is as follows: Author's last name, first name. "Title of work within a project or database." Title of site, project, or database. 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: Jong, June. "How to Write an Essay." Writing Portal. 2 Aug. 2012. University of California. 23 Feb. 2013. <http://writingportal.com>.

Writing a CMS Bibliography

  1. Create a bibliography page. Reserve a page for the bibliography at the end of your paper or book. Write "Bibliography" at the top and list the books, articles, websites, and so on that you used as sources in your work.
  2. Cite articles. Write the full name of the author, the article title, the journal or magazine title, the volume number, the date the article was published, and the page number. If you're citing a newspaper, leave out the volume number. The format is as follows: Author first and last name. "Article Title." Journal Title. Volume number (date): page number.
    • Example: Skylar Marsh. "Walking on Water." Earth Magazine 4(2001): 23.
  3. Cite books. Write the full name of the author, the title of the book, the city of publication, the publisher, the publication year, and the page number. The format is as follows: Walter White. Space and Time. New York: London Press, 1982.
  4. Cite websites. Write the name of the company or organization, the name of the web page or article, the date it was last modified, and the full web address. The format is as follows: Company name. "Name of Web Page." Date last modified. Web address.
    • Example: University of California. "History of University of California." Last modified April 3, 2013. http://universityofcalifornia.com.



Tips

  • Be sure to include each and every source you reference in your work.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

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