UsingEnglish.com

Writing Bibliographies

What is a Bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of publications used in a piece of writing or research. Whenever you are writing something such as a book, an academic work, a magazine article, etc. you will need to include a bibliography. If you use any information form other published materials you must list these in the bibliography. This provides a way to show where you have looked for this information, and allows the reader look further into related issues. Academic institutions in English speaking countries regard any uncredited reference, even if the exact words are not used, as plagiarism.

Jump To:

Bibliographies - Basic Examples

There are various different systems used for bibliographies. The main point to remember is to be consistent. If you follow this one, you will write a perfectly acceptable bibliography.

Pass the mouse over any of the words in the examples below for an explanation.

For Books

Clarke P. I., (1996), Computers and Language Learning, A Press, London

For Journals

Williams H. E., (1994), 'Early language acquisition', Journal of Early Learning, Vol. 12, No 2

 

Bibliographies - Advanced Examples

The following are examples of entries which could be found in a bibliography. You can find more information about each of the different elements by clicking on any highlighted area.

Books

Knight P.,  (1992), Computers and Language Learning, A Press, London

Collections

Karim A. (ed.),  (2000), Computer Based Learning, A Press, London
Samuel P. ,  'Computer Testing' in Computer Based Learning, Karim A. (ed.),  (1996)

More than one book in the same year

Zhenka J.,  (2001a), Computer Languages, A Press, London
Zhenka J.,  (2001b), CALL, A Press, London

Questions About Writing Bibliographies

Below are a number of questions to test your knowledge on writing bibliographies. Click on your chosen answer to see if you are correct.

1) When you are writing an entry for a book, you start it with the name ofthe author.
a) True
b) False
2) Which one of the following is the second thing you need to list?
a) The date of publication
b) The title of the book
c) The place of publication
3) When you are writing an entry for an article, you do not have to give the issue number.
a) True
b) False
4) Which of the following is the last item in an entry?
a) The date of publication
b) The title of the book
c) The place of publication
5) If the abbreviation ‘Eds.’ is used, there was only one editor.
a) True
b) False
6) The title of a book can be underlined or written in italics.
a) True
b) False

Trustpilot