Bibliography is a list of all the sources you have used in the process of researching
your work.
A bibliography is an orderly list of resources on a particular subject.
A bibliography provides the full reference information for all the sources which you
may have consulted in preparing a particular project.
The purpose of a bibliography is to allow the reader to trace the sources used.
The most important functions of bibliography are:
i) to save the time of the user: It saves the time of the user by providing relevant
literature otherwise it would consume more time to collect the material or
information. But for bibliography, even a scholar faced with such a vast amount of
literature would use his way, wasting much time before he is able to read even of past
of which he is required to study.
ii) Easy access of information: Information is vital to the development of various
fields of knowledge. Therefore. it is essential that relevant information be brought to
the attention of professionals. administrators and researchers, who have urgent need
of it.
iii) It acts as a bibliographic tool: No modern library can function without
bibliographical tools like bibliography.
iv) To Assist an enquirer: To know the total out (current and retrospective) of
material on particular subjects or topics, irrespective of the language, the origin or the
physical nature of the items, and
v) To explain issues concerning the variations and differences of texts of works, their
editions and versions etc.
The need for or uses of any bibliography can be summarized as follows.
1. To serve as a tool for book selection.
2. To help in identification and verification of bibliographic details of documents both
old and current.
3. To help in inculcating reading habits, publication of relevant reading list is a must.
4. To help in location of material, in terms of place of publication, location, in the library
of point of purchase.
5. To save the time of the scholar by providing him the comprehensive list of documents
on his subject of research.
6. To have bibliographical control of vast mass of documents produced in conventional
and non-conventional forms and by manual and mechanical means, i.e, in short to
control knowledge explosion.
7. To provide quick and easy access to information contained in documents to user or
scholar, to keep him update.
8. To keep the scholar informed of the latest additions made to his subject by giving him
the means of new publications given in publisher’s subject for it is an index compiled
systematically.
9. To make available a list of books known to exist in a certain library or else in a certain
field of study such as a definite period of time, or a specific subject, or a given
language, or a certain form of exposition or an individual author, and so on.
10. To discover the life-story of books as a physical object, in respect of its printing,
paper and other aspects of gross body of book.
11. To avoid duplication of research; in case of a researcher, bibliography enables him to
find out what has already been written on his subject and allows him to keep himself
well informed and up-to-date.
12. To promote the use of books and other materials by the publications of subject
bibliographies and author bibliographies.
13. To assist the user in locating the existence of or identifying a book or any reading
material which may be of interest to the reader.
14. To serve as a key or guide to the literature of the subject, for it is an index compiled
systematically.
What are the different kinds of bibliographies?
Different types of academic works call for different types of bibliographies.
Analytical bibliography
An analytical bibliography documents a work’s journey from manuscript to
published book or article. This type of bibliography includes the physical
characteristics of each cited source, like each work’s number of pages,
type of binding used, and illustrations.
Annotated bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a bibliography that includes annotations,
which are short notes explaining why the author chose each of the sources.
Generally a few sentences long, these notes might summarize or reflect on
the source.
An annotated bibliography is not the same as a literature review. While a
literature review discusses how you conducted your research and how your
work fits into the overall body of established research in your field, an
annotated bibliography simply explains how each source you used is
relevant to your work.
Enumerative bibliography
An enumerative bibliography is the most basic type of bibliography. It’s a
list of sources used to conduct research, often ordered according to
specific characteristics, like alphabetically by authors’ last names or
grouped according to topic or language.
Specific types of enumerative bibliographies used for research
works include:
National bibliography
A national bibliography groups sources published in a specific region or
nation. In many cases, these bibliographies also group works according to
the time period during which they were published.
Personal bibliography
A personal bibliography lists multiple works by the same individual author
or group of authors. Often, personal bibliographies include works that
would be difficult to find elsewhere, like unpublished works.
Corporate bibliography
In a corporate bibliography, the sources are grouped according to their
relation to a specific organization. The sources can be about an
organization, published by that organization, or owned by that
organization.
Subject bibliography
Subject bibliographies group works according to the subjects they cover.
Generally, these bibliographies list primary and secondary sources,
whereas other types of enumerative bibliographies, like personal
bibliographies, might not.
How is a bibliography structured?
Although each style guide has its own formatting rules for bibliographies, all
bibliographies follow a similar structure. Key points to keep in mind when
you’re structuring a bibliography include:
Every bibliography page has a header. Format this header according
to the style guide you’re using.
Every bibliography has a title, such as “Works Cited,” “References,”
or simply “Bibliography.”
Bibliographies are lists. List your sources alphabetically according to
their authors’ last names or their titles—whichever is applicable
according to the style guide you’re using. The exception is a single-
author bibliography or one that groups sources according to a shared
characteristic.
Bibliographies are double-spaced.
Bibliographies should be in legible fonts, typically the same font as
the papers they accompany.
