Writing a Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of the sources you used to get information for your report. It is included at the end of your report, on the last page (or last few pages).

You will find it easier to prepare your final bibliography if you keep track of each book, encyclopedia, or article you use as you are reading and taking notes. List each of your sources on a note card. Include the full title, author, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication for each source.

When assembling a final bibliography, list your sources (texts, articles, interviews, and so on) in alphabetical order by authors' last names. Sources that don't have authors (encyclopedias, movies) should be alphabetized by title.

General Guide to Formatting a Bibliography

For a book: Author (last name first). Title of the book. City: Publisher, Date of publication.

EXAMPLE: Dahl, Roald. The BFG. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.

For an encyclopedia: Encyclopedia Title, Edition Date. Volume Number, "Article Title," page numbers.

EXAMPLE: The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1997. Volume 7, "Gorillas," pp. 50-51.

For a magazine: Author (last name first), "Article Title." Name of magazine. Volume number, (Date): page numbers.

EXAMPLE: Jordan, Jennifer, "Filming at the Top of the World." Museum of Science Magazine. Volume 47, No. 1, (Winter 1998): p. 11.

For a newspaper: Author (last name first), "Article Title." Name of newspaper, city, state of publication. (date): edition if available, section, page number(s).

EXAMPLE: Powers, Ann, "New Tune for the Material Girl." The New York Times, New York, NY. (3/1/98): Atlantic Region, Section 2, p. 34.

For a person: Full name (last name first). Occupation. Date of interview.

EXAMPLE: Smeckleburg, Sweets. Bus driver. April 1, 1996.

For a film: Title, Director, Distributor, Year. EXAMPLE: Braveheart, Dir. Mel Gibson, Icon Productions, 1995

For the World Wide Web: URL (Uniform Resource Locator or WWW address). author (or item's name, if mentioned), date.

EXAMPLE: (Boston Globe's www address) http://www.boston.com. Today's News, August 1, 1996.