The bibliography is a crucial element of any long piece of academic writing. Far from being a list compiled at the end of your work, the bibliography should be one of the first things you complete. Planning it can help to inform the title, structure and content of your paper.
A bibliography is a list of each and every source you have used in the process of researching your paper. Depending upon your subject, whether it’s art, history, literature or science, you may need to include not only books and journals but also websites, paintings, manuscripts, films or newspapers.
Each of these sources needs to be referenced in a different and very specific way. It is likely that you will also have to divide your sources into primary and secondary sources.
Check carefully the style guide of your University, as they way sources should be referenced and the way a bibliography should be structured varies across different institutions. You will be marked down if it is formatted incorrectly.
The first draft of your bibliography will inevitably change and go through several different mutations as you cut and add to it in the course of your reading. You might decide that you have too many primary sources to read in the time available, or your reading might lead you to other relevant sources which you would like to include.
As your bibliography changes, so will the content of your paper, and also perhaps the title. It is for this reason that it is a good idea to complete a first draft of a bibliography well before the title conformation date.
Whilst you are reading and taking notes, be sure to write down the title of the book, journal or website and the name of its author at the top of the page. Specific quotations should be followed by the page number it has been taken from and sticky notes left inside relevant pages of books can also be useful.
However you choose to go about it, keeping track of references will mean that you can avoid the last minute panic of flipping through all of your sources trying to find where a particular quotation came from!
Don’t forget that if you have given yourself too much to do by including too many sources there is always the option to cut it down slightly. Never leave an item in your bibliography which you didn’t get round to reading as this will be very obvious to the person grading your paper.
If you would like some professional help and guidance with your academic writing, get in touch with Proofread My Paper today!
Each of these sources needs to be referenced in a different and very specific way. It is likely that you will also have to divide your sources into primary and secondary sources.
Check carefully the style guide of your University, as they way sources should be referenced and the way a bibliography should be structured varies across different institutions. You will be marked down if it is formatted incorrectly.
The first draft of your bibliography will inevitably change and go through several different mutations as you cut and add to it in the course of your reading. You might decide that you have too many primary sources to read in the time available, or your reading might lead you to other relevant sources which you would like to include.
As your bibliography changes, so will the content of your paper, and also perhaps the title. It is for this reason that it is a good idea to complete a first draft of a bibliography well before the title conformation date.
Whilst you are reading and taking notes, be sure to write down the title of the book, journal or website and the name of its author at the top of the page. Specific quotations should be followed by the page number it has been taken from and sticky notes left inside relevant pages of books can also be useful.
However you choose to go about it, keeping track of references will mean that you can avoid the last minute panic of flipping through all of your sources trying to find where a particular quotation came from!
Don’t forget that if you have given yourself too much to do by including too many sources there is always the option to cut it down slightly. Never leave an item in your bibliography which you didn’t get round to reading as this will be very obvious to the person grading your paper.
If you would like some professional help and guidance with your academic writing, get in touch with Proofread My Paper today!