It is probably important to start out by explaining the difference between a bibliography and a work cited page. At first glance, both documents seem to be the same and yet they are two very different sorts of assignments.
A bibliography is a list of all the resources that you are reviewing to find information on your topic or primary source. You may not end up using all those resources when you go to write your actual research paper, but you had to read through a great deal of scholarly work before you would know what would and would not work in terms of your paper and working towards focusing it around a central issue.
A work cited page, on the other hand, is literally the resources you cited in your actual research paper. So, even if you read a resource from cover to cover, if you didn't quote, paraphrase, or summarize something from that text in your research paper you cannot list it on your work cited page. It would be listed in your bibliography, however.
- Creating your Works Cited Page:
- For author’s names, the last name goes first, separated by a comma, then the first name.
- A period and a space go after each element of the citation.
- Citations are given in alphabetical order and are not numbered.
- Titles of books, newspapers or magazines are underlined. Titles of articles are given in quotation marks. Periods follow most parts of the citation. A space follows each period.
- All citations start flush left and the second, third or more lines are indented one tab.
- The entire text is double spaced.
- The page should be titled Works Cited (or Bibliography) and should have standard margins. Your own titles, even these, are never underlined or in quotation marks.
- "Works Cited" means you actually cited the information in your paper.
- "Bibliography" means you consulted the sources but did not actually cite the information in your paper.
- See the Examples Below for Common Sources:
- A Book by a Single Author:
Author. Title. City: Publisher, Year.
- A Book by Two or More Authors:
Blanchard, Maude and Connie Marsh. Elemental Design in Twentieth
_____Century Clothing. Boston: Marquart, Tolman, & Ross, 1968.
Tyler, Sonia. "A Path Worth Walking." Women on the Journeys of Life and
_____Love. Ed. Evelyn Masters. San Diego: Harcourt, 1982. 3-27.
- An Article in a Reference Book:
"Mandarin." The Encyclopedia Americana. 1993 ed.
- An Article in a Newspaper:
Feder, Barnaby J. "For Job Seekers, a Toll-Free Gift of Expert Advice."
_____New York Times 30 Dec. 1993, late ed.: D1+.
- An Article in a Magazine:
Frank, Michael. "The Wild West." Architectural Digest June 1993: 180+.
- Material from a CD-ROM:
The CIA World Factbook. CD-ROM. Minneapolis: Quanta, 1992.
or
"Albatross." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd Ed. CD-ROM. Oxford UP,
_____1992.
- A Web Site:
Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/revision. Name of institution/
_____organization affiliated with the site. Date of Access. <electronic
_____address>.
- An Article on a Web Site:
Author(s). "Article Title." Name of web site. Date of Posting/revision.
_____Name of institution/organization affiliated with site. Date of
_____Access. <electronic address>.
- An Article in an Online Journal or Magazine:
Author (s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year):
_____Pages/ Paragraphs. Date of Access <electronic address>.
- An Electronic Database:
Author. "Title of Article." Relevant information for the database. Date of
_____Access. <electronic address for retrieval>.
- A Film:
It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed,
_____Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946.
- A Personal Interview:
Grams, Tom. Personal interview. 25 March 1998.
