Writing A Bibliography

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of all the sources, such as books, encyclopedias, and websites, which are used to get information for a report or project. 

Why do you need a bibliography?

A bibliography is an important part of any research paper or project.  It shows you did not copy the author.  It also shows anyone reading your report or project where to find more information on that topic.   

How to Create a Bibliography

It is important when writing a bibliography to follow the pattern for each source.  You should have all your information together and pay attention to punctuation.  ?,!.   

Below are examples for different sources. Just remember to follow the pattern!   

For a book:

• Author
• Title                                          
• City of publication
• Publisher
• Year of publication

Everts, Tammy. Dolphins. New York: Crabtree, 1995.

For a print encyclopedia article:

• Author
• "Title of article"
• Name of encyclopedia  
• Year of publication

Odell, Daniel K.  “Dolphins." The World Book Encyclopedia.  2004.

For an online encyclopedia article:

• Author
• "Title of article"
• Name of encyclopedia
• Date you first found information
• URL of web site 

Tavolga, Margaret C. “Dolphin." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 27 Nov. 2005

 < http://gme.grolier.com  >.

For a print magazine article:

• Author
• "Title of article"
• Name of magazine
• Date of publication
• Page numbers of the article

Schleichert, Elizabeth.  “Free to Fish.”  Ranger Rick.  April 2005:  22-24.

For a web site:

• Author
• Title of web site
• Date the website was created or last revised
• Date you first found information
• URL of web site

Bottlenose Dolphins.  2002.  27 Nov. 2005.

     <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Bottlenose/home.html>.

**Sometimes it is difficult to find all the information for a web site.  Try to include as much information as you can find.  The example above shows that no author was found so that part of the citation was omitted.**

For A Photograph or Illustration:

Keep in mind that photographs and illustrations need to be cited as well.  The following is an example of a citation for an online photograph. 

• Creator, if known
• Title of work, if known (if not use a description)
• Web site title
• Date you first found information
• URL of web site

Jumping Bottlenose Dolphins.  Sea World.  27 Nov. 2005.   

           <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Bottlenose/home.html>.

Here’s the finished product! 

Things to Remember

Follow the patterns!

Put your bibliography in alphabetical order.

Bring the first line of your citation to the margin, and then indent all other lines.

Your bibliography should be the last page of your report.