How to Write a Perfect Bibliography Format and Its Importance
As a student, you will be required to write different assignments while in college or university and hence, you are required to present a list of bibliographies. Regardless of whether you are writing a master`s dissertation, a research paper, or an essay, most college students find it stressful the first time they are required to present bibliographies at the end of their assignments. Unfortunately, writing bibliographies for most students is not that easy since there are various rules to be followed, which most scholars are not conversant with due to lack of experience. It is important to note that developing a well-written bibliography not only requires a lot of patience but also takes a lot of time. At times, you can write a well-researched paper but fail to earn good grades because the bibliography is not written correctly. In such a circumstance, you can opt to seek bibliography help services from Peachy essay, which also has a free bibliography generator to aid scholars who may be struggling to cite their sources correctly.
In most cases, college students prefer seeking assistance from essay writing services, to avoid the long process of developing a well-written bibliography. Peachy Essay has a team of professional writers who assist students in completing their assignments without compromising on the quality. To be honest, seeking assistance from companies offering writing services is usually the best way out if you find yourself stuck with many important things to accomplish. Unfortunately, the online platform is filled with many companies that pretend to offer professional services which is not always the case. When you work with a professional company such as Peachy Essay, you can easily order a custom written assignment, and thereafter get quality work within your preferred duration. However, if you are going to write your assignments, this article will present to you some of the guiding principles of writing a bibliography.
What is a bibliography?
Before we can provide you with some of the tips on how to write a bibliography, it is important to first answer the question of what is a bibliography. The definition of the term bibliography is simpler than it sounds. Unfortunately, most college students tend to shamble the bibliography segment in their assignments because of the lack of knowledge about what is contained or how to write a bibliography. Unless you have a clear idea of what is a bibliography, you will not be able to figure out how to write it correctly. A bibliography is a list of all the sources of information you have used in writing your content and it is usually presented on the last page of your research paper, dissertation, or essay. This is inclusive of the sources you might have quoted or referred to in your essay as well as any other source of information you read while preparing to write your content. The use of a bibliography is one of the ways of informing your readers about the different sources of information you have referred to as well as the findings you have come across while performing your research. Now that you are familiar with what a bibliography is, the next thing is to know the format of a bibliography.
Bibliography format
A bibliography is always located on the last page of any academic paper, be it a thesis, research paper, dissertation, or an essay. Some of the common elements of a bibliography include; the name of the authors, the date of publication, the title, and finally the publisher of the research material. In some cases, you may be requested to present an URL link of where the source of information was retrieved from. There are different ways, which you can use to arrange your bibliography. One of the most common ways is based on alphabets. That is, arranging the list of bibliographies in an alphabetical order based on either the names of the authors or the titles of the work, in situations where there are no names provided. Every time you write the names of the authors, you should provide the surname as well as the other names in initials.
The other method that you can use to arrange your list of bibliographies is in chronological order based on the year of publication. Chronologically arranging your sources allows you to provide a storyline on how a certain issue was studied. Other times, you may use a reverse chronological arrangement where most attention is given to the current state of the topic you are discussing. It is important to arrange your list of sources systematically to ensure that the readers can access any information in case they would like to acquire more detailed information. Also, a systematic organization of the literature provides you with an opportunity of arranging your list of bibliographies based on topics in the individual rubrics, individual issues, and different branches of knowledge. Although most writers prefer arranging their list of bibliographies in alphabetical order, it is believed that this method is usually not complete as it includes only the literature stated in the text without reflecting other used sources.
What should a bibliography look like?
As stated above, a bibliography contains a list of sources, which you used to write your essay, a book, a research paper, or a dissertation. A bibliography is different from the works cited page since it includes all the sources that were used to write your content and not merely the works that were cited in your paper. The bibliography to be used greatly depends on the style of writing that is being used. Some of the common styles of writing include; American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), and Modern Language Association (MLA). Each of these styles has a different way of formatting the bibliography. As a result, it is important to ensure that there is a match between the format of the paper and the bibliography. Whereas most students have the perception that all forms of writing have a bibliography, the fact is that different styles have varying formats. The MLA uses the works cited page, where the lists of sources are arranged in alphabetical order while in APA, the references are also listed alphabetically.
The MLA writing format is mostly used in writing English Literature and other disciplines that are in the field of Humanity. When using the MLA format, you should always ensure that you keep track of all the internet articles, films as well as books. In other terms, you should cite all the resources you used when developing your content. Always ensure that you have identified the author, title, the place where the source was published, the publisher, and finally the date of publication as well as the page number where the information was obtained. The list of your sources should also be arranged alphabetically. While writing your bibliographies in MLA format, always try to find as much information as possible when writing each source. The nine core elements, which should be contained in each source, include; the name of the author, names of other contributors, the title of the source, version, number, the publisher, and finally the date of publication.
The Chicago format is mostly used in writing historical content. There are two ways of writing your bibliographies using the Chicago format. The first one, which is usually simpler, entails an author-date style where the first element of the bibliography is the name of the author, which is followed by the date of publication. The American Psychological Association (APA) writing format is used in writing social sciences as well as other sciences in the field of psychology. The first element in the bibliography is the names of the authors, which is followed by the year of publication that is placed in parenthesis, the title of the work, and finally, the publisher. You should always make a point of consulting your professor in situations where you are unsure about the format to use when writing your content.
An example of a bibliography
While writing using the MLA format, your list of bibliographies should be contained on the last page with a centered title written works cited. All entries should be arranged in alphabetical order with the author`s last name starting and other names written in initials. In situations where the names of the authors are not known, you may arrange the titles of the sources in alphabetical order while eliminating any A, The, or An. When writing the dates, you may spell out the names of the days or months in your paper. However, you should abbreviate them while writing them in the works cited page, except for May, June, and July. Regardless of whether you choose the month day year style (June 21, 2020) or the day, month, year style (21 May 2020), the most important thing is that you should always remain consistent while writing your entire paper. Also, all the second lines of each source should contain a hanging indentation. The following are some examples of writing bibliographies using MLA format.
Last name and first name of the author. Title of the book. Additional information. Publisher, date of publication.
For instance;
Arnold, James. The History of the American People. Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society, 1974.
The basic format for writing a bibliography in APA format requires the writer to list the first names of each author and the rest of their names in initials, the date of publication, the title of the work, and finally, the name of the publisher. In situations where there are more than three authors, we only mention the name of the first authors then we add the word et al.,
The surname of the author, other names in initials. Date of publication. Title of the article. Publisher.
For instance;
James, A. (2020). The hostilities come home: United States battle against Europe`s veterans. Berkeley: California University Press.
Importance of a bibliography
If you are planning to write a dissertation, a research paper, or an essay, the bibliography will be one of the most important research areas you will need to devote a lot of your time. Without a bibliography, there is a high probability that your work will be rendered useless. Whereas this may be regarded as a harsh effect, research without fact-checking may indeed make the professors or readers doubt the credibility of the information. No examiner will accept a research paper, dissertation, or thesis that is lacking a bibliography. One of the reasons why a bibliography is important is it serves as a fact-checking tool. You should be as accurate as possible more so when writing sciences. Through the bibliographies, an examiner can assess whether the information was cited correctly.
Are there any other advantages of writing a good bibliography?
The other advantage is that well-cited and referenced paperwork builds your credibility as the writer and researcher. In other words, a bibliography establishes the writer`s credibility among his or her peers in a certain field. Research or an argument that is well documented is believed to be more credible than as compared to that, whose bibliography is not well written. Finally, a bibliography aids in the verification of an individual`s work. It is well-known that any piece of academic writing must first go through a serious vetting process before it is published as academic material. Regardless of whether an individual is an editor or a peer-reviewer whose main task is to analyze the sources in the bibliography and ascertain that the sources are written accurately.
Why depend on Peachy Essay’s bibliography writing services
As an online-based service provider, this company is well-known to provide professional services in the timeliest mannerism. Many students do not understand the various steps that one needs to take when coming up with a good bibliography. Apart from offering a free and incredible bibliography generating tool, the company has an experienced team of experts that can easily guide you on how to write properly cited and referenced academic papers. There are many rules that one needs to understand and follow when creating bibliographies and this team of experts is well-versed with all the individual requirements of each of these styles. Students no longer need to spend countless hours trying to master the art of creating bibliographies. You can easily communicate with the team to get any form of help you may need no matter how urgent your deadline.
In essence, a bibliography contains a list of sources that were used in writing a research paper, dissertation, or essay. It is located among the last pages of any academic material. The basic structure of the bibliography should contain certain elements such as the names of the author, the year of publication, the title of the work, and finally the publisher. Among the many benefits of a bibliography, it is used to indicate the credibility of an individual`s written content. In the ancient days, college students used to go through diverse difficulties in writing their bibliographies. However, the challenge was eliminated by the presence of technology where there are tools such as the bibliography generator, which can aid students to come up with well-written bibliographies within a short duration. Such tools are available online and can be used without any charges.
