Definitions
|
Your assignment requires a bibliography or reference list. What do you do? Include a list of urls at the bottom of the page? No!
First things first: Make sure you understand the terms: Referencing - the process of giving credit to the original owner(s) of the material you may use in your work. Citation - the way you tell readers that some material in your work came from another source. What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography? A reference list is used with in-text referencing styles (eg. APA) and it includes details of all sources you have cited in alphabetical order. A bibliography is a list of all the sources you used to generate your ideas about the topic including those cited in your assignment as well as those you did not cite. The bibliography is in alphabetical order.
|
Acknowledging your sources
When submitting an essay or other piece of academic work, you need to properly acknowledge the material that you have consulted. This allows others who read your work to verify facts or research the same information more easily. Acknowledgment may be in the form of in text citations, footnotes, endnotes and/or a bibliography. For a simple assignment at MHS, a bibliography or reference list is usually enough.
Remember to record bibliographic information
At the time of reading an information source, record all of the bibliographic information (descriptive elements) necessary to create a citation. You can either use referencing software or record manually. It is vital to be accurate and clear at this stage to save time verifying these things later on.
The information you should record:
- Author(s)/editor(s).
- Title.
- Edition (1st, 2nd, reprint ed. revised ed. etc.).
- Page numbers for direct quotations.
- Place of publication.
- Publisher.
- Date of publication.
- Web address if online resources and Date Accessed.
Subject guide created by
Introduction to citing and referencing your sources
