How to Write a Bibliography
There are two styles of bibliographies, the MLA and the APA. Most
schools and universities use the APA style.
A bibliography is a list of materials used in creating a report or
paper. Information for bibliographies is taken right from the source.
The source is the book, magazine, encyclopedia or internet site you
used. Look at the title page for the publisher, city, and author.
Copyright information is usually found on the back side of the title
page.
The book or magazine title is always underlined in a bibliography. If a
citation (what you write down about your source) is more than one line
long, indent the second line five spaces.
Arrange the bibliography in alphabetical order, by the author's last
name. If there is no author listed, use the first word of the title (not
"a," "an," or "the"). When there is more than one author, you may use
the first author listed.
A publisher is the company that produces the material. The "place" is
the city where the publisher is located. If the city of publication is not
so famous, the name of the state or country is listed as well.
Your bibliography might look like this:
Aemes, David. Dogs Save the World. New York: Holiday House,
1996
Doheny, Zena. "Dogs in the Torah." World Book Encyclopedia.
Volume 12. Chicago: World Book, 1997.
Gomzu, Paysach. "Dogs in Sports." Sports Illustrated.
December 15, 1997: 62-67.
Katz, Mendel. "Working Dogs." Encarta. CD-ROM. Microsoft,
2000.
"Space Dogs." Astronauts in Cyperspace 26 August 1997.
< http://www.space.bu.edu/dogs/Wonders.>
OSLIS Secondary Citation Maker (to help make your
bibliography entries) (Thanks, Karen S.)
Books/Single Author A typical bibliography entry for a book has
three parts: the author, title, and publication information (this last
includes place of publication, publisher, and date of publication). These
will appear as follows:
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York:
Basic Books, 1973.
*If you are writing your bibliography by hand, everything italicized
should be underlined.
When only a single author is listed for a text, typical bibliography
entries will appear as follows:
Kasson, John F. Civilizing the Machine: Technology and
Republican Values in America 1776-1900. New York: Penguin,
1976.
Martin, Emily. The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of
Reproduction. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
The author's name should be given as it is listed on the title page of
the text. For example, if the author's name contains a middle initial on
the title page, the middle initial should appear in the bibliography
entry. If the author's name is abbreviated on the title page (A. L.
Rowse), the initials (and NOT the author's full first and middle name)
should appear in the bibliography. In the entry, the author's last name
should appear first, followed by a comma and then the author's first
name. A period should be placed immediately after the name and two
spaces should be left before the next part of the entry. If the author's
name contains a middle initial, only one period should appear after the
author's middle initial, followed by two spaces prior to the next part of
the entry.
Multiple Authors
When more than one person has authored a text, typical bibliography
entries will appear as follows:
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and John Ehrenreich, eds. The American
Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics. New York:
Vintage, 1971.
Fee, Elizabeth, and Daniel M. Fox, eds. AIDS: The Burdens of
History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Grossberg, Lawrence, Cary Nelson, and Paula A. Treichler, eds.
Cultural Studies. New York: Routeledge, 1992.
Hall, Stuart, et al. Policing the Crisis. Basingstoke:
Macmillan,1979.
The authors' names should be given as they are on the title page of
the text, in the order they appear (which will NOT always be
alphabetical). If two authors share the same last name, each author's
full name should still appear. If the names of editors, translators or
compilers appear on the title pages, then a comma come should come
after the last name to appear in the entry and the proper abbreviation
(eds., trans., or comps.) should follow the comma. In the entry, the
first author's name should be reversed, followed by a comma, and
then each additional author's name in its normal order. If MORE THAN
three persons authored the book, only the first name (reversed)
should appear, followed by a comma and "et al."
Books with Editors
When texts have been collected by an editor or editors, typical
bibliography entries will appear as follows: Fee, Elizabeth, and Daniel
M. Fox, eds. AIDS. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988.
Rosser, Sue V., ed. Teaching Science and Health From a
Feminist Perspective. New York: Pergamon, 1986.
The names of the editors should be given as they are listed on the title
page of the text. The first editor's name should be listed in reverse,
followed by the other editors' names. After the editor's name is listed,
a comma followed by "ed." should appear. If the text has more than
one editor, a comma followed by "eds." should appear instead.
Encyclopedias
To cite an article in an encyclopedia, use the same format as if it were
an item in an anthology (see above), the only difference being that the
editor should not be cited. If the passage designates a particular
author (sometimes this is done with abbreviations of the author's
name - find the entire name of that author elsewhere in the work),
give the name of the author first. If there is no explicit author, then
give the title first. If the encyclopedia arranges its articles
alphabetically, volume and page numbers may be omitted. If the
encyclopedia is very familiar and frequently appears in new additions,
only the edition and the year of publication.
"Mealworm." Encyclopedia Britannica. 1987 ed. Garvey,
Lawrence. "El Paso, Illinois. ” Encyclopedia Americana. 1982.
To cite a website, ukse the title of the webpage, the date you gathered
the information from that website, and the URL address from the
website as follows:
"Space Dogs." Astronauts in Cyperspace 26 August 1997.
< http://www.space.bu.edu/dogs/Wonders.>
Interviews
There are three kinds of interviews you may have to cite. The first is a
personal interview that you conducted:
Nelson, Cary. Personal interview. 15 Sept. 1987.
Begin with the name of the person interviewed, last name first. Then
write "Personal interview," followed by the date of the interview.
The second type of interview is a published interview:
Villalobos, Joaquin. Interview. Mother Jones July 1992: 8-10.
Name the person interviewed, followed by the word "Interview" and
the name of the publication in which the interview appeared. If the
interview has a title, include it, in quotation marks, after the
interviewee's name and do not include the word "Interview."
The third type of interview is a radio or television interview:
Rico, Jose. Interview. Afternoon Edition. WILL Public Radio.
Urbana, IL. 23 Sept. 1992.
Name the person interviewed, followed by the word "Interview." Then
give the program's title, underlined, and identifying information about
the broadcast.
Film or video
If you wish to cite a film or video tape, use the following format:
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Dir. Al Smith. With
Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. Walt Disney Home Video,1985.
Begin with the title, which should be underlined, followed by the
director's name. Then, include any additional information that you find
relevant, such as the names of lead actors. End with the distributor
and year, separated by a comma.
Television or Radio
Information for a television of radio program is cited as follows:
underlined title of the program; the writer, producer, director,
performers (order depends on emphasis); the network; the local
affiliate and the city; and the date of broadcast.
Asian Business Report. Narr. Ress Jones. Prod. John
Hawke. PBS. WEFT, New York. 15 August 1990.
If necessary, cite the title of a particular episode as follows:
"Emerging Tigers" Narr. Ress Jones. Prod. John Hawke.
Asian Business Report. PBS. WEFT, New York. 15