How to Write a Research Paper: Compiling the Bibliography

Homework Center – Writing Skills

Research Papers Establish your topic. Look for sources of information. Read your sources and take notes. Organize your ideas. Write a first draft. Use footnotes or endnotes to document sources. Write a bibliography. Revise the first draft. Proofread the final draft.

All your sources in one place

Write 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. Start a preliminary, or draft, bibliography by listing on a separate sheet of paper all your sources. Note down the full title, author, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication for each source.

Also, every time a fact gets recorded on a note card, its source should be noted in the top right corner. (Notice that in the sample note card, The World Book, Volume 2, page 21, has been shortened to: WB, 2, p.133.) When you are finished writing your paper, you can use the information on your note cards to double-check your bibliography.

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. There are different formats for bibliographies, so be sure to use the one your teacher prefers.

General Guide to Formatting a Bibliography

For a book:

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

EXAMPLE:

For an encyclopedia:

Encyclopedia Title, Edition Date. Volume Number, "Article Title," page numbers.

EXAMPLE:

For a magazine:

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

EXAMPLE:

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:

For a person:

Full name (last name first). Occupation. Date of interview.

EXAMPLE:

For a film:

Title, Director, Distributor, Year.

EXAMPLE:

CD-ROM:

Disc title: Version, Date. "Article title," pages if given. Publisher.

EXAMPLE:

Magazine article:

Author (last name first). "Article title." Name of magazine (type of medium). Volume number, (Date): page numbers. If available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.

EXAMPLE:

Newspaper article:

Author (last name first). "Article title." Name of newspaper (Type of medium), city and state of publication. (Date): If available: Edition, section and page number(s). If available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.

EXAMPLE:

Online Resources

Internet:

Author of message, (Date). Subject of message. Electronic conference or bulletin board (Online). Available e-mail: LISTSERV@ e-mail address

EXAMPLE:

World Wide Web:

URL (Uniform Resource Locator or WWW address). author (or item's name, if mentioned), date.

EXAMPLE: (Boston Globe's www address)

Back: Use footnotes or endnotes

Next: Revise the first draft

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