bibliography writing in research

How to Write a Research Paper: Annotated Bibliography

• Anatomy of a Research Paper
• Developing a Research Focus
• Background Research Tips
• Searching Tips
• Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Journals
• Thesis Statement
• Annotated Bibliography
• Citing Sources
• Evaluating Sources
• Literature Review
• Academic Integrity
• Scholarship as Conversation
• Understanding Fake News
• Data, Information, Knowledge

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

UMary Writing Center

Check out the resources available from the  Writing Center . 

Write an Annotated Bibliography

What is an annotated bibliography?

It is a list of citations for various books, articles, and other sources on a topic. 

An annotation is a short summary and/or critical evaluation of a source.

Annotated bibliographies answer the question: "What would be the most relevant, most useful, or most up-to-date sources for this topic?"

 Annotated bibliographies can be part of a larger research project, or can be a stand-alone report in itself. 

Annotation versus abstracts 

An abstract is a paragraph at the beginning of the paper that discusses the main point of the original work. They typically do not include evaluation comments. 

Annotations can either be descriptive or evaluative. The annotated bibliography looks like a works cited page but includes an annotation after each source cited. 

Types of Annotations: 

Descriptive Annotations: Focuses on description. Describes the source by answering the following questions. 

Who wrote the document?

What does the document discuss?

When and where was the document written? 

Why was the document produced?

How was it provided to the public?

Evaluative Annotations: Focuses on description and evaluation. Includes a summary and critically assess the work for accuracy, relevance, and quality. 

Evaluative annotations help you learn about your topic, develop a thesis statement, decide if a specific source will be useful for your assignment, and determine if there is enough valid information available to complete your project.

What does the annotation include?

Depending on your assignment and style guide, annotations may include some or all of the following information. 

• Should be no more than 150 words or 4 to 6 sentences long. 
• What is the main focus or purpose of the work?
• Who is the intended audience?
• ​How useful or relevant was the article to your topic?
• Was there any unique features that useful to you?
• What is the background and credibility of the author?
• What are any conclusions or observations that your reached about the article?

Which citation style to use?

There are many styles manuals with specific instructions on how to format your annotated bibliography. This largely depends on what your instructor prefers or your subject discipline. Check out our citation guides for more information. 

Additional Information

Why doesn't APA have an official APA-approved format for annotated bibliographies?

Always consult your instructor about the format of an annotated bibliography for your class assignments. These guides provide you with examples of various styles for annotated bibliographies and they may not be in the format required by your instructor. 

Citation Examples and Annotations

Book Citation with Descriptive Annotation

Liroff, R. A., & G. G. Davis. (1981). Protecting open space: Land use control in the Adirondack Park. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

This book describes the implementation of regional planning and land use regulation in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York. The authors provide program evaluations of the Adirondack Park Agency’s regulatory and local planning assistance programs.

Journal Article Citation with Evaluative Annotation

Gottlieb, P. D. (1995). The “golden egg” as a natural resource: Toward a normative theory of growth management. Society and Natural Resources, 8, (5): 49-56.

This article explains the dilemma faced by North American suburbs, which demand both preservation of local amenities (to protect quality of life) and physical development (to expand the tax base). Growth management has been proposed as a policy solution to this dilemma. An analogy is made between this approach and resource economics. The author concludes that the growth management debate raises legitimate issues of sustainability and efficiency.

Examples were taken from http://lib.calpoly.edu/support/how-to/write-an-annotated-bibliography/#samples

Book Citation

Lee, Seok-hoon, Yong-pil Kim, Nigel Hemmington, and Deok-kyun Yun. “Competitive Service Quality Improvement (CSQI): A Case Study in the Fast-Food Industry.” Food Service Technology 4 (2004): 75-84.

In this highly technical paper, three industrial engineering professors in Korea and one services management professor in the UK discuss the mathematical limitations of the popular SERVQUAL scales. Significantly, they also aim to measure service quality in the fast-food industry, a neglected area of study. Unfortunately, the paper’s sophisticated analytical methods make it inaccessible to all but the most expert of researchers.

Battle, Ken. “Child Poverty: The Evolution and Impact of Child Benefits.”  A Question of Commitment: Children's Rights in Canada . Ed. Katherine Covell and R.Brian Howe. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 2007. 21-44.

             Ken Battle draws on a close study of government documents, as well as his own research as an extensively-published policy analyst, to explain Canadian child benefit programs.  He outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children.  His comparison of child poverty rates in a number of countries is a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children.  Battle pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve to be criticized by politicians and journalists.  He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, and laments that the Conservative government scaled it back in favour of the inferior Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB).  However, he relies too heavily on his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his bibliography.  He could make this work stronger by drawing from others' perspectives and analyses.  However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available to parents.  This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty in Canada.

Journal Article Example

  Kerr, Don and Roderic Beaujot. “Child Poverty and Family Structure in Canada, 1981-1997.”  Journal of Comparative Family Studies  34.3 (2003): 321-335.

             Sociology professors Kerr and Beaujot analyze the demographics of impoverished families.  Drawing on data from Canada’s annual Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors consider whether each family had one or two parents, the age of single parents, and the number of children in each household.  They analyze child poverty rates in light of both these demographic factors and larger economic issues.  Kerr and Beaujot use this data to argue that. 

Examples were taken from  http://libguides.enc.edu/writing_basics/ annotatedbib/mla

Check out these resources for more information about Annotated Bibliographies. 

• Purdue Owl- Annotated Bibliographies
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill- Annotated Bibliographies
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How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography: The Annotated Bibliography

• The Annotated Bibliography
• Fair Use of this Guide

Explanation, Process, Directions, and Examples

What is an annotated bibliography.

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

Annotations vs. Abstracts

Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptive and critical; they may describe the author's point of view, authority, or clarity and appropriateness of expression.

The Process

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.

First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style.

Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

Critically Appraising the Book, Article, or Document

For guidance in critically appraising and analyzing the sources for your bibliography, see How to Critically Analyze Information Sources . For information on the author's background and views, ask at the reference desk for help finding appropriate biographical reference materials and book review sources.

Choosing the Correct Citation Style

Check with your instructor to find out which style is preferred for your class. Online citation guides for both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) styles are linked from the Library's Citation Management page .

Sample Annotated Bibliography Entries

The following example uses APA style ( Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th edition, 2019) for the journal citation:

Waite, L., Goldschneider, F., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

This example uses MLA style ( MLA Handbook , 9th edition, 2021) for the journal citation. For additional annotation guidance from MLA, see 5.132: Annotated Bibliographies .

Waite, Linda J., et al. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 4, 1986, pp. 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Versión española

Tambíen disponible en español: Cómo Preparar una Bibliografía Anotada

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Reference Help

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Research Process: Bibliographic Information

• Selecting a Topic
• Background Information
• Narrowing the Topic
• Library Terms
• Generating Keywords
• Boolean Operators
• Search Engine Strategies
• Google Searching
• Basic Internet Terms
• Research & The Web
• Search Engines
• Evaluating Books
• Evaluating Articles
• Evaluating Websites

Bibliographic Information

• Off Campus Access
• Periodical Locator

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of works on a subject or by an author that were used or consulted to write a research paper, book or article. It can also be referred to as a list of works cited. It is usually found at the end of a book, article or research paper. 

Gathering Information

Regardless of what citation style is being used, there are key pieces of information that need to be collected in order to create the citation.

For books and/or journals:

• Author name
• Title of publication 
• Article title (if using a journal)
• Date of publication
• Place of publication
• Volume number of a journal, magazine or encyclopedia
• Page number(s)

For websites:

• Author and/or editor name
• Title of the website
• Company or organization that owns or posts to the website
• URL (website address)
• Date of access 

This section provides two examples of the most common cited sources: a print book and an online journal retrieved from a research database. 

Book - Print

For print books, bibliographic information can be found on the  TITLE PAGE . This page has the complete title of the book, author(s) and publication information.

The publisher information will vary according to the publisher - sometimes this page will include the name of the publisher, the place of publication and the date.

For this example :  Book title: HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible Author: Steven M. Schafer Publisher: Wiley Publications, Inc.

If you cannot find the place or date of publication on the title page, refer to the  COPYRIGHT PAGE  for this information. The copyright page is the page behind the title page, usually written in a small font, it carries the copyright notice, edition information, publication information, printing history, cataloging data, and the ISBN number.

For this example : Place of publication: Indianapolis, IN Date of publication: 2010

Article - Academic OneFile Database

In the article view:

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style.

Citations can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  SOURCE CITATION . The database does not specify which style is used in creating this citation, so be sure to double check it against the style rules for accuracy.

Article - ProQuest Database

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style. 

Bibliographic information can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  INDEXING . (Not all the information provided in this area is necessary for creating citations, refer to the rules of the style being used for what information is needed.)

Other databases have similar formats - look for bibliographic information under the article titles and below the article body, towards the bottom of the page. 

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• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

Bibliography.

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides

In addition to the sources cited in the individual text boxes of this writing guide, listed below are books about how to effectively write and organize a college-level research paper or dissertation [which frequently have good advice on writing, regardless of their purpose]. Enter the title of the book in the USC Libraries' search engine to check the availability of these or any other books on college-level writing and research. If the library does not own a particular title, you can request to borrow the book free of charge from the USC Libraries' interlibrary loan department .

• Abbott, Andrew. Digital Paper: A Manual for Research and Writing with Library and Internet Materials . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2014.
• Anders, Marian. The Practical Grammar Handbook for College Writers . 2nd edition. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2015.
• Aveyard, Helen. Doing a Literature Review in Health and Social Care: A Practical Guide . 3rd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
• Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles Raymond Cooper. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing . 10th edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.
• Badke, William. Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog . 5th edition. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, LLC, 2014.
• Ballenger, Bruce P. The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers . 8th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2015.
• Barnet, Sylvan, Pat Bellanca, and Marcia Stubbs. A Short Guide to College Writing . 5th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013.
• Becker, Lucinda. Writing Successful Reports and Dissertations . Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2014.
• Birkenstein, Cathy and Gerald Graff. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing . 4th edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
• Cahn, Steven M. and Victor Cahn. Polishing Your Prose: How to Turn First Drafts Into Finished Work . New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

Carter, Caron, editor. Successful Dissertations: The Complete Guide for Education, Childhood and Early Childhood Studies Students . New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

• Channell, Carolyn. Engaging Questions: A Guide to Writing . 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2016.
• Cioffi, Frank L. The Imaginative Argument: A Practical Manifesto for Writers . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017.
• Clark, Roy Peter. Help! for Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces . New York: Little, Brown, 2011.
• Clouse, Barbara Fine. A Troubleshooting Guide for Writers: Strategies and Process . 7th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013.
• Cottrell, Stella. Dissertations and Project Reports: A Step by Step Guide . Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
• Cutts, Martin. Oxford Guide to Plain English . 4th edition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Eby, Erika. The College Student's Guide to Writing a Great Research Paper: 101 Easy Tips and Tricks to Make Your Work Stand Out . Ocala, FL: Atlantic Pub. Group, 2012.
• Edwards, Mark. Writing in Sociology . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2014.
• Evans, David, Paul Gruba, and Justin Zobel. How to Write a Better Thesis . 3rd edition. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University. Publishing, 2011.
• Faigley, Lester. Writing: A Guide for College and Beyond . 4th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Higher Ed, 2016.
• Fiske, Robert Hartwell. To the Point: A Dictionary of Concise Writing . New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.

Floyd, Randy G., editor. Publishing in School Psychology and Related Fields: An Insider's Guide . New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2018.

• Gelman, Howard. Everyone Can Write: A Guide to Get You Started . Wollombi, NSW, Australia: Exisle Publishing, 2014.
• Gill, Charlene. Essential Writing Skills for College and Beyond . Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 2014.
• Giltrow, Janet, Richard Gooding, Daniel Burgoyne, and Marlene Sawatsky. Academic Writing: An Introduction . 3rd edition. Tonawanda, NY: Broadview Press, 2014.
• Gibson, Twyla, and Mark Lipton. Research, Write, Create: Connecting Scholarship and Digital Media . Ontario, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Glaser, Joe. Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your Writing . 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Goodson, Patricia. Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing . 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. "They Say / I Say": The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing . New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2017.

• Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. Rules for Writers . 9th edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2018.
• Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Research Imagination . 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2018.
• Harvey, Michael. The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing . Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 2013.
• Hjortshoj, Keith. The Transition to College Writing . Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009.
• Howard, Rebecca Moore. Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research . 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2013.
• Johnson, William A. A Criminal Justice Student's Writer's Manual . 6th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2015.
• Johnson Jr, William A., Gregory M. Scott, and Stephen M. Garrison. The Sociology Student Writer's Manual and Reader's Guide . 7th edition. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017.
• Joyner, Randy L., William A. Rouse, and Allan A. Glatthorn. Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation: A Step-by-step Guide . 3rd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2013.
• Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide . 12th edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012.
• Koerber, Duncan and Guy Allen. Clear, Precise, Direct: Strategies for Writing . Ontario, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Langan, John. Exploring Writing: Paragraphs and Essays . 3rd edition. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill, 2013.
• Lee, Kooi Cheng. Effective College Writing: A Process-Genre Approach . 2nd edition. Singapore: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
• Lerych, Lynne and Allison DeBoer Criswell. Everything You Need to Know about College Writing . Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016.
• Lester, James D. and James D. Lester. Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide . 14th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012.
• Lindemann, Kurt. Composing Research, Communicating Results: Writing the Communication Research Paper . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2017.
• Marsen, Sky. Professional Writing . 3rd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
• McMillan, Kathleen and Jonathan Weyers. How to Improve Your Critical Thinking and Reflective Skills . Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2013.
• McNiff, Jean. Writing Up Your Action Research Project . New York: Routledge, 2015.
• Miller, Scott A. Writing in Psychology . New York: Routledge, 2014.
• Muller, Jake. Writing in the Social Sciences: A Guide for Term Papers and Book Reviews . 2nd edition. Ontario, Canada: Oxford University Press Canada, 2015.
• Northey, Margot, Dianne Draper, and David B. Knight. Making Sense: A Student's Guide to Research and Writing: Geography and Environmental Sciences . 6th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Oliver, Paul. Writing Your Thesis . 3rd edition. London: Sage, 2013.
• Parsons, Tony, and Peter G. Knight. How to Do Your Dissertation in Geography and Related Disciplines . New York: Routledge, 2015.
• Pyrczak, Fred. Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences . 8th edition. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing, 2014.
• Raimes, Ann and Susan K. Miller-Cochran. Keys for Writers . 7th edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2014.
• Reinking, James A. Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook . 1oth edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2014.
• Reynolds, Nedra and Elizabeth Davis. Portfolio Keeping: A Guide for Students. 3rd edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.
• Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-step Guide for Students . 2nd edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2012.
• Roen, Duane, Gregory Glau, and Barry Maid. The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life . 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.
• Rudestam, Kjell Erik and Rae R. Newton. Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2014.
• Scott, Gregory M. and Stephen M. Garrison. The Political Science Student Writer's Manual and Reader's Guide . 8th edition. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017.
• Spencer, Linda. Writing Well in the 21st Century: The Five Essentials . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014.
• Starr, Douglas Perret and Deborah Williams Dunsford. Working the Story: A Guide to Reporting and News Writing for Journalists and Public Relations Professionals . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014.
• Szuchman, Lenore T. Writing with Style: APA Style Made Easy . 6th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2014.
• Thurman, Susan and Larry Shea. The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment . Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2015.
• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers . 9th edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
• Wallwork, Adrian. English for Research: Usage, Style, and Grammar . New York: Springer Science and Business Media, 2012.
• Wang, Gabe T. and Keumjae Park. Student Research and Report Writing: From Topic Selection to the Complete Paper . Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.
• Warner, John. The Writer's Practice: Building Confidence in Your Non-Fiction Writing . New York: Penguin/Random House, 2019.
• Watt, Jane. Report Writing for Social Workers . Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2012.
• Wyrick, Jean. Steps to Writing Well . 12th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2014.
• Wyse, Dominic and Kate Cowan. The Good Writing Guide for Education Students . 4th edition. London: Sage, 2017.
• Yagoda, Ben. How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them . New York: Riverhead Books, 2013.
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Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Learn how to write and format an annotated bibliography in APA Style (7th ed.).

Conducting research and documenting your findings is an essential part of the academic writing process. There are times when you will need (or be required) to conduct initial research prior to deciding on a thesis or focus for your writing. An annotated bibliography is a helpful tool to help you track and assess your sources.

Similar to formatting a paper, an annotated bibliography is formatted with double spacing and has a title page. An annotated bibliography does not typically include a list of references, since the annotated bibliography itself is a list of references, only each entry also provides information about the source.

Components of an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography includes a reference entry and a short annotation (paragraph) for each source. How annotations are written depends on the purpose of the research. There are two main components for each source included in an annotated bibliography:

• Bibliographic Information : This includes the same information you would provide in a reference list, formatted according to a reference entry for the particular type of source it is.
• Annotation : This is a short paragraph about the source that oftentimes summarizes the source and evaluates the usefulness of the source for your research paper or project, but what you include in the paragraph will largely depend on your particular assignment requirements.

Purposes of Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Writing an annotated bibliography is an effective way to document the research process and better prepare for a first draft. By requiring an annotated bibliography, your professor is setting you up for success. Some of the purposes and benefits of writing an annotated bibliography include the following:

• Formulate a thesis : Conducting research is a prewriting activity that can help narrow the focus of a topic that you are researching. Writing annotations for each source can help you understand the breadth and depth of a subject and determine your focus.
• Review the literature : An annotated bibliography can help you analyze the available literature on a subject. This is especially helpful for relatively new or persuasive topics where it is important to read about multiple sides of an issue.
• Illustrate the direction of your research : An employer or professor may want a preview of your research prior to the final draft of your paper. An annotated bibliography is a way to show your current research and its usefulness.
• Help other researchers : When other researchers find your paper particularly engaging, they often will examine your reference entries. However, an annotated bibliography provides more information about a source, such as a summary, which allows researchers to make an informed decision about whether to locate that source. With a references list, the reader has to guess whether a source will be useful and relevant.

Ways to Annotate Sources

There are several ways to write annotations depending on the purpose or the requirements of the assignment or research. Common approaches to writing annotations include the following:

• Summarize the source : Summarizing the source means to state briefly the main ideas of the source in relation to the current research. For instance, a medical book may have multiple chapters, but the only part to summarize for this source is the information that pertains to the research for the current paper’s topic. Please note: A summary must be written in your own words.
• Evaluate the source : To evaluate a source means you determine the strengths and weaknesses of the piece in relation to a particular research topic. When evaluating a source, the reliability and validity of the source are also determined. Reliability refers to the source’s credibility. Is it biased? Is the article from a website that is also selling a product related to the subject of the article? Is there a hidden agenda in the source? Validity indicates the accuracy or correctness of the information. Is the information gathered from experts? Is it just the opinion of the author? Is the author an authority on the topic at hand? What are their professional or academic credentials?
• Reflect on the usefulness of the source : How does this source fit in with the current research project? Is this a source you can use in your paper? Does it help define a problem or present an argument that would add depth and detail to your research? Is it better suited as a starting point to find other sources (i.e., is it useful only for background information)?
• Combination : Any combination of the above approaches to writing an annotation may be required. You may choose to write a separate short paragraph for each approach, or combine them into one annotation. As always, it is essential that you are careful to restate things in your own words to avoid plagiarizing an authors’ original words or ideas.

Sample Annotated Bibliography

Note. When formatting an Annotated Bibliography on a Word document, the bibliographic references have hanging indents .

Baker, B. (2003, November 27). Version control helps keep rework to a minimum. *EDN, 48*(26), 227-232. https://doi.org/10.9999/1.111111

This is a short article geared mostly toward digital developers who either are programming more than 10,000 lines of code or are programming within teams. It also emphasizes the importance of a VCS, but more so in the development environment. For this project, the only thing I might use this for is the simple statement that while a VCS is great for any work environment, without the discipline to use it regularly, they are worthless.

Huber, T. (2005, May). *JEDI version control system*. SourceForge. https://jedivcs.sourceforge.net

This site includes detailed instructions for operating an open source VCS. It is written for a technical audience that must have some background on this particular system. What is interesting about this site is the idea of open source. Maybe there are other version control systems available via the Internet through shareware sites. This particular site will probably not be used in writing the final project, but it is a source that can lead to further research on this idea of freeware for a VCS.

McVittie, L. (2007). Version control, with integrity. *Network Computing, 12*(21), 34-45. https://doi.org/10.9999/2.222222

This is an informative article with an overview of the details inside a VCS—branching, configuration, repository, access management, and more. What makes this article valuable though is the overview of several version control systems on the market (at least in 2001). After reading through the overview of several products, if one fits what my company is looking for, I can begin searching for that product and further information on the Internet. This article may or may not be used in the actual writing of the final proposal, but it will be useful information for further research on the project.

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Research Writing and Analysis

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Annotated Bibliography

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Writing an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a summary and evaluation of a resource. Writing an annotated bibliography will help you gain an in-depth understanding of your topics and is useful for organizing and cataloging resources for use when developing an argument. An annotated bibliography begins with an APA formatted reference followed by one or two paragraphs of text that summarizes the study, evaluates the reliability of the information, and evaluates how the information relates to previous and future research. 

This table provides a high-level outline of the structure of a research article and how each section relates to important information for developing an annotated bibliography.

Annotated Bibliography Sample Outline

Author, S. A. (date of publication). Title of the article.  Title of Periodical, vol.  (issue), page-page.  https://doi.org/XXXXXX

Write one or two paragraphs that focus on the study and its findings.

• Two or more sentences that outline the thesis, hypothesis, and population of the study.
• Two or more sentences that discuss the methodology.
• Two or more sentences that discuss the study findings.  
• One or more sentences evaluating the study and its relationship to other studies.
• << Previous: Step 5: Illustrate
• Next: Literature Review >>
• Last Updated: Apr 22, 2024 4:50 PM
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research paper writing tips from the top experts

How to Write a Bibliography for a Research Paper: Guide & Samples

A bibliography is undoubtedly one of the most essential parts of every research paper. A research paper without a bibliography equals poorly conducted research. As such, the importance of a bibliography in a research paper cannot be overemphasized.

To produce well-constructed research, you must consult other authors and use their materials to support your argument. This is the only way to give these authors their credit; by listing them out in your bibliography.

Acknowledging the sources used in writing the topic is an effective approach to avoiding plagiarism in your research. It is also a great way to provide and inform other scholars with sources they may not be aware of. This article seeks to provide the format of bibliography and how to write a good bibliography for your research paper.

What Is a Bibliography in a Research Paper?

Simply put, a bibliography is a list of works used in writing a research paper. Every research paper must contain a list of sources the author used in preparing the research paper. Your source can range from books to scholarly papers, speeches, private records, interviews, letters, websites, and other sources.

Your research paper was not created in a vacuum; you must have consulted other authors or sourced to create enriched content. Therefore, at the end of your research, you must attach a list of all the sources used.

How to Write Bibliography for Research Paper

Writing a bibliography isn’t so hard; all you need is a list of sources used and a format for documenting them. To make things easier for you, prepare a draft comprising all of the sources you must have used. Ensure you include the book’s full title, the author, place of publication, publication date, and publisher. All sources must be listed out alphabetically using the authors’ names.

It is also important to note that there are different formats for writing a bibliography. As such, you must decide which format to employ in your research paper. You can format your work in Modern Language Association (MLA) format, American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Regardless of which you choose, ensure that it is done correctly.

How to Format a Bibliography

Once you have an idea of how to format a bibliography, most of the work is completed. However, when writing it you need to pay close attention to each format and its content to avoid mixing them up. For printed sources, the bibliography of a research paper should provide the following:

• Author’s name
• Title of publication (provide the title of the article if it’s a journal, magazine, or encyclopedia)
• Date of publication
• Place of Publication of a book
• The publishing house of a book
• Volume number of magazine or encyclopedia
• The page numbers

To document sources from a website, you need to document the following:

• The author or editor’s name if there’s any
• Title of the page
• The organization of the webpage
• The URL of the website
• The date the information was gotten from the website

The common formats for writing a bibliography in a research paper are MLA and APA style. A bibliography is known as “Works Cited” in MLA and on the other hand, it is called “References List” in APA. Though both formats contain similar information about the sources used, there are still slight differences in formatting style. Here’s  what MLA and APA bibliography styles should look like.

How to Write a Bibliography APA

Your research paper’s bibliography must be attached at the end of it with the tag “References” at the center. In addition to this, you need to pay attention to the basics of APA style, such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, underlining or italics, hanging indentation, and others. Here’s a research paper bibliography example in APA style:

Author’s last name, first initial. (Publication date). Book title . City of Publication: Publishing company.

• For encyclopedia:

Author’s last name, first initial. (Date). Title of Article. Title of Encyclopedia (Volumes, pages). City of Publication: Publishing Company.

• For magazine and newspaper articles:

Author’s last name, first initial. (Publication Date). Article title. Periodical title, Volume number (issue number if there’s any), page numbers.

How to Write a Bibliography MLA

Bibliography in MLA format is called “Works cited” and must be arranged in alphabetical order according to the author’s name. Here’s the required format for MLA style for varying sources:

“Author’s last name, first name. Book title. Publication City: Publishing company, publication date.”

• Encyclopedia & dictionary:

“Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Encyclopedia’s Title. Date.”

• Magazine & newspaper:

“Author’s last name, first name. “Article title.” Periodical title volume Date: inclusive pages.”

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How to Write an Annotated Bibliography - APA Style (7th Edition)

What is an annotation, how is an annotation different from an abstract, what is an annotated bibliography, types of annotated bibliographies, descriptive or informative, analytical or critical, to get started.

An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, website, or other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?

While an abstract also summarizes an article, book, website, or other type of publication, it is purely descriptive. Although annotations can be descriptive, they also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, usually 100–200 words in length.

Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different purposes:

• Provide a literature review on a particular subject
• Help to formulate a thesis on a subject
• Demonstrate the research you have performed on a particular subject
• Provide examples of major sources of information available on a topic
• Describe items that other researchers may find of interest on a topic

There are two major types of annotated bibliographies:

A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source as does an abstract; it describes why the source is useful for researching a particular topic or question and its distinctive features. In addition, it describes the author's main arguments and conclusions without evaluating what the author says or concludes.

For example:

McKinnon, A. (2019). Lessons learned in year one of business.  Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting ,  30 (4), 26–28. This article describes some of the difficulties many nurses experience when transitioning from nursing to a legal nurse consulting business. Pointing out issues of work-life balance, as well as the differences of working for someone else versus working for yourself, the author offers their personal experience as a learning tool. The process of becoming an entrepreneur is not often discussed in relation to nursing, and rarely delves into only the first year of starting a new business. Time management, maintaining an existing job, decision-making, and knowing yourself in order to market yourself are discussed with some detail. The author goes on to describe how important both the nursing professional community will be to a new business, and the importance of mentorship as both the mentee and mentor in individual success that can be found through professional connections. The article’s focus on practical advice for nurses seeking to start their own business does not detract from the advice about universal struggles of entrepreneurship makes this an article of interest to a wide-ranging audience.

An analytical or critical annotation not only summarizes the material, it analyzes what is being said. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented as well as describing the applicability of the author's conclusions to the research being conducted.

Analytical or critical annotations will most likely be required when writing for a college-level course.

McKinnon, A. (2019). Lessons learned in year one of business.  Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting ,  30 (4), 26–28. This article describes some of the difficulty many nurses experience when transitioning from nursing to a nurse consulting business. While the article focuses on issues of work-life balance, the differences of working for someone else versus working for yourself, marketing, and other business issues the author’s offer of only their personal experience is brief with few or no alternative solutions provided. There is no mention throughout the article of making use of other research about starting a new business and being successful. While relying on the anecdotal advice for their list of issues, the author does reference other business resources such as the Small Business Administration to help with business planning and professional organizations that can help with mentorships. The article is a good resource for those wanting to start their own legal nurse consulting business, a good first advice article even. However, entrepreneurs should also use more business research studies focused on starting a new business, with strategies against known or expected pitfalls and issues new businesses face, and for help on topics the author did not touch in this abbreviated list of lessons learned.

Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.

• Choose your sources - Before writing your annotated bibliography, you must choose your sources. This involves doing research much like for any other project. Locate records to materials that may apply to your topic.
• Review the items - Then review the actual items and choose those that provide a wide variety of perspectives on your topic. Article abstracts are helpful in this process.
• The purpose of the work
• A summary of its content
• Information about the author(s)
• For what type of audience the work is written
• Its relevance to the topic
• Any special or unique features about the material
• Research methodology
• The strengths, weaknesses or biases in the material

Annotated bibliographies may be arranged alphabetically or chronologically, check with your instructor to see what he or she prefers.

Please see the  APA Examples page  for more information on citing in APA style.

• Last Updated: Aug 8, 2023 11:27 AM
• URL: https://libguides.umgc.edu/annotated-bibliography-apa

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The Principles of Biomedical Scientific Writing: Citation

Zahra bahadoran.

1 Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Parvin Mirmiran

2 Department of Clinical Nutrition and Human Dietetics, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Khosrow Kashfi

3 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City University of New York School of Medicine, New York, United States

Asghar Ghasemi

4 Endocrine Physiology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Citation, the act of properly referring to others’ ideas, thoughts, or concepts, is a common and critical practice in scientific writing. Citations are used to give credit to own work, to support an argument, to acknowledge others’ work, to distinguish other authors’ ideas from one’s work, and to direct readers to sources of information. A good citation adds to the scientific prestige of the paper and makes it more valuable to the reader. The citation has three basic elements: quoting from others, an in-text reference to the source, and bibliographic details of the source. Beyond technical skills, the citation needs an in-depth knowledge of the field and should follow basic rules, including the selection of relevant and valid sources, stating information/facts from others’ work, and referring to others’ work accurately and ethically. Several systems and styles are used to cite scientific sources; however, the most commonly used systems in medical sciences are ‘author-date’ systems (e.g., Harvard system) and numerical systems (e.g., Vancouver system). Here, we discuss how to make an accurate, complete, and ethical citation, and provide simple and practical guides to organize references in a scientific medical paper.

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the word citation is defined as “an act of quoting,” where quote means “to speak or write from another usually with credit acknowledgment.” In scientific communication, the citation is commonly considered a technical practice to refer to the source in the text to represent that the information is derived from an external source ( 1 , 2 ). The citation is more than just referencing; it provides more value than acknowledging the source of literature being reviewed and making a reference list ( 2 ). Citation helps the authors put their work in connection with previous ones, to tell the story artfully, to acknowledge others’ work, and to contextualize study findings ( 2 - 4 ). A well-referenced paper supports the novelty and value of the work and improves its visibility ( 5 ).

Regardless of its importance, the citation may be the least noticed aspect of a scientific manuscript ( 6 ). Citation errors, including misquotation and errors in the bibliography, are common in the medical literature. The prevalence of misquotations in different journals ranges from 10% to 20% ( 7 ), and about 50% to 70% of references of published papers contain at least one error ( 8 , 9 ). Inaccurate quotations are displeasing for the cited author, misleading for the reader, and initiate circulation of false facts ( 7 , 10 ). The consequences of bibliography errors include difficulty in reference retrieval, limitation for the reader to read more widely, failure to credit the cited author(s), and inaccuracies in citation indexes.

Following our previous guides on how to write Introduction ( 11 ), Material and Methods ( 12 ), Results ( 13 ), Discussion ( 14 ), Title ( 15 ), and Abstract and keyword ( 16 ) of a hypothesis-testing paper, here, we provide a practical guide on importance and function of the citation of a scientific medical paper. We discuss how to select sources for the citation, quote information from others’ work, refer to the sources, and make an accurate reference list for a scientific biomedical paper.

2. Functions of Citation

The citation is used to give credit to an author’s work, acknowledge other’s work, distinguish an author’s ideas from others, direct readers to original sources of information, and avoid plagiarism ( 2 - 4 , 17 ). Citation help readers to understand the work, to justify the conclusions, to judge the novelty and scope of the manuscripts ( 18 ), and critically evaluate what contribution the study makes ( 4 , 19 ). Using proper citation is the only way to use the work of others and not commit plagiarism ( 20 ). To avoid plagiarism, authors need to accurately refer to the most relevant publications and cite facts and conclusions ( 1 , 20 ). Functions of the citation in different sections of an original paper are shown in Box 1; note that the result section does not have any citation.

3. Components of the Citation

The citation has three components: (1) quotation, i.e., providing either a summary, a paraphrase or a direct quotation from others’ works, (2) in-text references, i.e., brief addressing to the source, and (3) bibliographic details, i.e., name of the authors, source of publication, date of publication.

3.1. Quotation

Quotations from other sources can be provided by direct quoting, paraphrasing, or providing a summary ( 3 ). In direct quoting, others statements (more than six consecutive words) are exactly copied, put in the quotation marks, and immediately followed by an in-text citation to the original source; every word and punctuation mark should be exactly the same as the original version ( 17 , 20 , 22 ). Direct quoting is used when original words express an idea distinctively or more concisely than your summary, as well as to present well-known statements or to provide historical context for a particular theory or construct ( 8 , 23 ). Direct quoting is not used for reporting findings of a published work, variable names, and operational definitions. Box 2 provides some practical tips for the appropriate use of direct quotations.

In paraphrasing, authors express others’ writing in their own words ( 23 ), followed by a reference to the original source. In cases of paraphrasing another’s work or idea, authors should check their statement to be accurate and fair ( 17 , 20 ). Use of synonyms and rephrasing are typical ways to change the original statements ( 9 ); however, if the paraphrase is too close to the source text in wording, syntax, and structure, it may be considered ‘patch-writing’, which is “the act of making small changes and substitutions to the copied source material” ( 24 ). Note that paraphrasing and summarizing are complex and critical academic skills and depend on one’s knowledge of the content ( 25 ).

In providing a summary, a brief statement of the main points of a work (paper, book or chapter) is presented ( 23 ) using a neutral, affiliating, or distancing approach; in affiliating and distancing approaches, not only existing knowledge is summarized but also authors present their stance/viewpoint ( 2 ). The authors need to present their approaches accurately and persuasively by using appropriate verbs ( 2 ). For a neutral summary, use of verbs ‘comment’, ‘explain’, ‘indicate’, ‘note’, ‘describe’, ‘observe’, remark’, ‘state’, and ‘find’ is recommended ( 2 ). These referring verbs can be used either in the present or the past tense; using the present tense indicates that the source is recent and still valid, whereas the past indicates that the source is older and may be out of date ( 3 ). To find further appropriate verbs and vocabularies to cite the literature being reviewed, readers can refer to other works ( 2 , 26 ).

3.2. In-Text References

In-text references (brief address to the source in text) are presented by three major systems: ‘citation-sequence’, ‘citation-name’, and ‘name-year’. In the ‘citation-sequence’ system, numbers are used to refer to the reference list ( 27 , 28 ), which is numbered sequentially according to the appearance in the text. In the ‘citation-name’ system, the numbering system is used to refer to the reference list, which is numbered in alphabetical order by authors’ names; it means numbers are used in the text regardless of the order in which they appear ( 28 ). The ‘name-year’ system consists of the surname of the author and the year of publication, and the reference list is alphabetically ordered first by author and then by year ( 28 ). If ‘name-year’ system is used, in case of referring to two references with the same first author, chronological hierarchy order is followed (e.g., Annesley, 2010; Annesley, 2011), and in case of the same first author and same publication year, the references need to be differentiated by alphabetical letters after the year of publication (e.g., Annesley, 2010a; Annesley, 2010b) ( 19 ). If the name of author/editor cannot be identified, use the title of the work and the year of publication instead; if the date is not identified, use the phrase ‘no date’ after author’s name and where both author and date are unknown, use the title followed by ‘no date’ ( 23 ).

Citation management software programs (e.g., EndNote, Reference Manager, RefWorks, ProCite, and Refbase) easily connect in-text references to the reference list. These programs can format in-text references and bibliographic details in a different style (discussed in section 4) and can change them from one style to another.

The general rule to refer to a reference in the text is to place the reference immediately after the idea or fact introduced. In other words, an in-text referring might appear in the middle of a sentence and not always at the end ( 6 , 19 ). Unless a sentence ends with a fact (in which case the citation follows), the authors should not pool all the references at the end of a sentence ( 29 ). In case of citing multiple facts in a sentence, it should be clarified which reference is corresponding to which fact ( 19 ). Wherever more than one reference is used to support a fact, the authors should refer to the references in chronological order (the oldest reference is listed as the first in-text reference) ( 19 ). For direct quoting or citing a specific idea or piece of information, the page number of the quote should be included in the in-text reference ( 23 , 30 ). For an in-text citation that refers to secondary sources (second-hand references), name the original source and then use the term ‘cited by’ followed by the reference for the work in which it is quoted (e.g., Schweer, cited by Harrison, 1992, p. 774) ( 31 ).

3.3. Bibliographic Details (Reference List)

Every in-text reference should have a corresponding entry in the reference list ( 28 ); the exceptions are ‘personal communications’ ( 28 ), and ‘unpublished data’ ( 6 ) that are referenced within the text, but do not appear in the reference list. According to the British Standards Institution, a reference is “a set of data describing a document, sufficiently precise and detailed to identify it and enable it to be located” ( 32 ). The essential elements and order of the most common forms of references, including journal articles, books, reports, and websites, are given in supplementary Box 1.

The bibliographic details provided in the reference list should be accurate and complete to ensure that readers will be able to locate the material as easily as possible ( 32 ). The accuracy of the reference list increases the credibility of the author, the journal, and the research itself ( 33 ). To increase the accuracy of the bibliographic details, ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommends that “References should be verified using either an electronic bibliographic source, such as PubMed, or print copies from original sources” ( 34 ). Errors in the reference list usually arise by copying bibliographic details from previous papers; thus, authors should not copy from reference lists or databases, and the only reliable source is the original paper published in the journal ( 8 ). In case of using second-hand information, bibliographic detail of a source, where the information is found, should be included in the reference list.

4. Referencing Systems and Styles

Broadly, three types of referencing systems are employed in the academic world ( 3 ). These are, (i) consecutive-numbering system (well-known as Vancouver), (ii) author name-publication year system (well-known as Harvard) ( 19 ); (iii) footnote/endnote system, where sources are listed at the bottom of the page or at the end of the paper and the numbers in superscript run consecutively throughout the paper ( 3 ). The first two systems are commonly used in medicine, whereas the third system is most often used in the humanities. Other less common reference styles that have been established and used within different fields of science and disciplines include Modern Language Association (MLA) ( 35 ), the American Psychological Association (APA) ( 36 ), the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), and the American Medical Association (AMA) Style ( 29 ).

The first format for bibliographic references in medical science was adopted officially by the Vancouver Group and the National Library of Medicine (NLM), in 1979 ( 37 ). The Vancouver Group was a small group of editors of medical journals who met informally in 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals ( 37 ); the group expanded into the ICMJE and developed ‘the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,’ which is updated regularly ( 38 ) ( http://www.icmje.org ). The reference style is famed as the Vancouver style because of its origin, and it has become a broadly accepted bibliographic format ( 8 ). According to the Vancouver style (the author-number system), references are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text; references in text, tables, and legends should be identified by Arabic numerals in parentheses ( 38 ). The Vancouver style is used by PubMed and MEDLINE.

The Harvard system, so-called as the ‘parenthetical author-date method’, is another popular referencing system ( 31 ). The origin of the system is obscure; however, the first evidence of the system goes back to 1881, when Edward Laurens Mark, professor of anatomy and director of Harvard’s zoological laboratory, published a landmark cytological paper and used parenthetic author-year citation ( 39 ). As Chernin narrated ( 39 ), from an editorial note in the British Medical Journal in 1945, the expression ‘Harvard system’ was not introduced by the Harvard University, but an English visitor to the library of Harvard University was impressed by the system of bibliographical reference and named it as the ‘Harvard system’ upon their return to England. The Royal Society defined the Harvard referencing system in 1965 as “a system in which names and dates are given in the body of the text and the references alphabetically at the end of the paper” ( 31 ).

Although most biomedical journals have adopted the Vancouver style, some still prefer the Harvard system, because they like to know just what author(s) is/are being cited as they read the text ( 40 ). However, the Harvard system is criticized due to potential difficulties that it may create for the readers. For example, if they are interested in an item in the reference list, they need to look it up within the main text. This system may also disrupt the text when a large number of references need to be cited within a paragraph ( 40 ).

Although medical journals specify Vancouver or Harvard systems, some journals have made minor modifications ( 41 ). For example, they have modified the referencing systems, both in-text references, and bibliographies, they have changed punctuation marks, used bold, and italics enhancements, alphabetical or sequential ordering of references, or have made combinations of variations that create a unique reference style that is as large in number as the number of journals currently published ( 41 , 42 ). Authors should carefully follow the format used by the target journal that is usually given in the Information/Instructions for Authors.

5. Other Considerations

5.1. dealing with scientific sources.

The most important challenge of the citation process in a scientific work is ‘which sources must be selected for citation’ and ‘How do the authors deal with the literature being reviewed to cite others accurately and ethically?’ Existence of a large number of publications on the topic makes selection difficult; however, authors should artfully select them to cover all citation purposes and add to the manuscript scientific prestige ( 43 ). Among available sources, the most relevant, valid, methodologically sound, and those with a landmark contribution to the topic should be selected ( 9 , 17 ). If there are a significant number of prior studies on the topic, the most comprehensive and the most recent works should be selected because they presumably discuss and reference the older studies ( 44 ).

The most valid and available sources for citing are published peer-reviewed original journal articles; primary sources (research articles written by those who conducted the research) are preferred ( 21 ). Secondary sources (review papers) can be used when primary sources are unavailable, or a summary for elaborating research problem is more effective; however, they should not be taken as definitive word or fact on the topic ( 9 ). Citation of review articles rather than the original papers should be limited ( 45 , 46 ) since it fails to provide credit or acknowledge the effort of the authors of original research papers. In addition, it may lead to misinterpretation or oversimplification of original research findings ( 45 ). The use of high-quality systematic review is acceptable; otherwise, it should be acknowledged in the text as a review paper to prevent misleading the casual reader about the originality of the work ( 9 ).

Less valid sources (i.e., theses, conference proceeding papers, unpublished data, abstracts, and personal communications) are not recommended ( 19 ) unless they contain essential information not available from public sources ( 47 ). These less valid references can only be used for supporting the results of preliminary studies or citing parallel results in another study population ( 17 ). In case of referring to ‘unpublished sources’ or ‘personal communications,’ the written permission of the author is required to ensure the accuracy of the data and prior approval from the authors ( 6 , 17 ).

Sources that may not be found in public domain, e.g., submitted but unaccepted journal articles, meeting abstracts, and posters should not be used ( 6 , 17 ). Standard textbooks are not cited except for describing a theoretical or methodologic principle or a statistical procedure. As stated by ICMJE, authors are responsible for checking that the references cited not be retracted articles ( 34 ).

5.2. Statement Needs to be Supported by a Reference

As a general rule, findings/statements of other’s work need to be supported by references ( 9 ). Statements like ‘the literature suggest that…’ or ‘there is general agreement that…’ should be followed by addressing one or more references ( 9 ); it is, however, not appropriate and usually essential to support a statement with more than 3 or 4 references ( 9 ). In contrast, common knowledge in a field, defined as facts, dates, events, or information that are expected to be known by someone studying or working in a particular field (e.g., long-established facts or theories), or facts that can be found publicly (e.g., date of the second world war) and are likely to be known by many people (e.g., capital cities of the countries) do not generally have to be referenced ( 23 ).

5.3. Accuracy and Ethics of the Citation

Accurate citation is a crucial issue, enabling readers to follow the flow of ideas and statements in a scientific field and ensure the integrity of the science being communicated ( 19 , 48 ). Citing the sources without retrieving and reading their full-texts and understanding their entirety ( 19 ), giving multiple similar references to support a single statement, or using a single source to support multiple statements are among examples of inaccurate citations ( 48 ). Since an abstract is a brief summary of the work, its content may not accurately present details reported in the text, and therefore, it is a poor practice to cite references after skimming results of the abstract rather considering the whole text ( 9 ).

To avoid inaccurate quoting, the authors should review the entire original article to check the facts. They should be careful in case of paraphrasing or summarizing in order to make sure that the intent or meaning of the original author is not altered ( 49 ). To reduce the risk of misinterpretation of information, the use of secondary sources should be avoided ( 49 ). According to NLM, “The medical literature is full of references that have been cited from other references, serving only to perpetuate erroneous information”, thus, they emphasizes that the authors should never reference documents that they have not read ( 27 ).

Spurious citation, biased citation, and over self-citation are also common problems of citation (Box 3). Self-citation, defined as citing one’s own work in a scientific paper, is a common practice and is an essential part of scientific communication, which represents the continuous and cumulative nature of the research process ( 50 ). When a researcher works on a specific topic for years, 25% self-citation is not uncommon ( 46 ). However, either irrelevant self-citation or over self-citation are considered unethical practices, which affect the precision of the paper ( 50 , 51 ). The spurious citation occurs where sources are not needed but are included anyway, e.g., over-citation or redundant citation (i.e., where the extra sources do not add any value beyond the first source), or citing an obscure, historical reference to give an impression of erudition ( 4 ).

6. Common Errors and Problems of Citation

Citation errors reflect badly on the authors and the publishing journal and may reflect underlying flaws in other areas of the published research ( 33 ). Citation content errors (e.g., inaccurate quoting from others) and both major and minor errors in referencing (both in-text references and bibliographic details) can occur during the citation process ( 4 , 7 , 33 ). Inaccurate quotations or misquotations are perpetual citation errors that lead to circulate a false ‘accepted fact’, which are very hard to correct ( 10 ). A list of common citation errors is provided in Box 3.

Major errors in references, which are responsible for up to 21% of citation errors in the medical field ( 53 ), prevent the source being retrievable ( 4 ). With minor errors (i.e., punctuation and spelling mistakes in bibliography, i.e., name of authors, title, journal, volume, year, and page numbers), references can still be found ( 4 , 9 ). Potential pitfalls of citation-management software programs may also cause some citation errors ( 54 ). Several duplicate copies of a reference in the software may be inserted due to importing the same reference on a number of different occasions (maybe with different patterns); this may lead to the appearance of duplication in the reference list ( 6 , 48 ). In the case of anonymous papers (prepared by a committee or a group of authors), some mistakes may occur ( 54 ). Another common mistake relates to the journal-title; the journal-title may be imported in the abbreviated form, while both full title and conventional abbreviation need to be entered into the journal section of the reference manager ( 54 ). To sum up, the author is responsible for final checking the accuracy of the bibliographic details ( 19 ) and should correct reference manager databases before the reference is exported to the final bibliography.

7. Conclusion

Making good and accurate citations adds to the manuscript’s scientific prestige and signifies that authors have an in-depth knowledge of the literature and writing skills. An original research paper usually has 25 - 40 references and the authors should be note that citing too few or too many references may reflect poor intellectual attitude and work validity. The most important, most elegant and the most recent sources should be selected for citation.

Authors' Contribution: Study concept and design: Zahra Bahadoran and Asghar Ghasemi; drafting of the manuscript: Zahra Bahadoran, Parvin Mirmiran, and Asghar Ghasemi; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Khosrow Kashfi and Parvin Mirmiran.

Conflict of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest.

Funding/Support: This study was supported by the Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• Sample Bibliography

Below you’ll find a Bibliography adapted from a research paper written by Aishani Aatresh for her Technology, Environment, and Society course.

• Citation Management Tools
• In-Text Citations
• Bibliography
• Examples of Commonly Cited Sources
• Frequently Asked Questions about Citing Sources in Chicago Format

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• Citing Sources
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What Is a Bibliography?

• Writing Research Papers
• Writing Essays
• English Grammar
• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

A bibliography is a list of books, scholarly  articles , speeches, private records, diaries, interviews, laws, letters, websites, and other sources you use when researching a topic and writing a paper. The bibliography appears at the end.

The main purpose of a bibliography entry is to give credit to authors whose work you've consulted in your research. It also makes it easy for a reader to find out more about your topic by delving into the research that you used to write your paper. In the academic world, papers aren't written in a vacuum; academic journals are the way new research on a topic circulates and previous work is built upon.

Bibliography entries must be written in a very specific format, but that format will depend on the particular style of writing you follow. Your teacher or publisher will tell you which style to use, and for most academic papers it will be either MLA , American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago (author-date citations or footnotes/endnotes format), or Turabian style .

The bibliography is sometimes also called the references, works cited, or works consulted page.

Components of a Bibliography Entry

Bibliography entries will compile:

• Authors and/or editors (and translator, if applicable)
• Title of your source (as well as edition, volume, and the book title if your source is a chapter or article in a multi-author book with an editor)
• Publication information (the city, state, name of the publisher, date published, page numbers consulted, and URL or DOI, if applicable)
• Access date, in the case of online sources (check with the style guide at the beginning of your research as to whether you need to track this information)

Order and Formatting

Your entries should be listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. If you are using two publications that are written by the same author, the order and format will depend on the style guide.

In MLA, Chicago, and Turabian style, you should list the duplicate-author entries in alphabetical order according to the title of the work. The author's name is written as normal for his or her first entry, but for the second entry, you will replace the author's name with three long dashes. 

In APA style, you list the duplicate-author entries in chronological order of publication, placing the earliest first. The name of the author is used for all entries.

For works with more than one author, styles vary as to whether you invert the name of any authors after the first. Whether you use title casing or sentence-style casing on titles of sources, and whether you separate elements with commas or periods also varies among different style guides. Consult the guide's manual for more detailed information.

Bibliography entries are usually formatted using a hanging indent. This means that the first line of each citation is not indented, but subsequent lines of each citation are indented. Check with your instructor or publication to see if this format is required, and look up information in your word processor's help program if you do not know how to create a hanging indent with it.

Chicago's Bibliography vs. Reference System

Chicago has two different ways of citing works consulted: using a bibliography or a references page. Use of a bibliography or a references page depends on whether you're using author-date parenthetical citations in the paper or footnotes/endnotes. If you're using parenthetical citations, then you'll follow the references page formatting. If you're using footnotes or endnotes, you'll use a bibliography. The difference in the formatting of entries between the two systems is the location of the date of the cited publication. In a bibliography, it goes at the end of an entry. In a references list in the author-date style, it goes right after the author's name, similar to APA style.

• What Is a Citation?
• What Is a Senior Thesis?
• Bibliography: Definition and Examples
• Formatting Papers in Chicago Style
• Turabian Style Guide With Examples
• MLA Bibliography or Works Cited
• How to Write a Bibliography For a Science Fair Project
• APA In-Text Citations
• MLA Sample Pages
• How to Use Block Quotations in Writing
• Writing a History Book Review
• What Is a Style Guide and Which One Do You Need?
• Definition of Appendix in a Book or Written Work
• MLA Style Parenthetical Citations
• Bibliography, Reference List or Works Cited?
• Tips for Typing an Academic Paper on a Computer

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A bibliography is a list of sources appended to a research paper for readers to consult if they wish to obtain more information on anything covered in the paper in question. Although ‘bibliography’ and ‘ references ’ are terms that are often used as synonyms, we must clarify at the outset that they are not actually the same thing. This article offers information about a bibliography and also explains how it differs from a reference list.

Common use of bibliography

While some academic work also includes bibliographies, one of the best ways to understand the context for using a bibliography is with reference to fiction novels . While developing the content for a fiction novel, the author may do extensive background reading and research on a specific issue (e.g. medical procedures, a historical period) in order to (re)create scenarios and events within the novel that reflect real life as accurately as possible.

However, it is unlikely that they would directly cite these references within the novel. The list of background reading that they did, or recommend to readers should they wish to explore the topic further, would instead be compiled as a ‘Bibliography’ or ‘ Recommended reading ’ at the end of the book.

Bibliography vs. References

References (sometimes also titled ‘ Works Cited ’) give more detailed information about the sources cited in, or referred to, within the body of the paper. You would commonly see ‘References’ lists in academic work, such as journal articles or books.

On the other hand, a bibliography offers the same level of information about the sources that are consulted while preparing the paper but not specifically referred to within the text itself. 

As these serve distinctly different purposes, it is useful to note, therefore, that any publication can contain both a list of references and a bibliography .

(Follow the) Naming Convention

Some publishers and institutions may request that authors use the word ‘Bibliography’ instead of ‘References’. (This, perhaps, is the reason for the common confusion between the two.) It is not uncommon for students to be asked to submit essays and Masters or Doctoral dissertations/theses using the heading ‘Bibliography’ to refer to the list of references they have cited within their work. However, this is likely more of an exception than a rule and will depend on the individual publisher’s/institution’s specific requirements.

As such, it’s important to always check the submission requirements as you prepare any written work for examination or review. (Read more here about following journal guidelines: Understanding and following the Information for Authors )

Compiling sources for a bibliography

The mechanics of writing and formatting the details of your sources will be the same, irrespective of whether that section is titled ‘References’, ‘Works Cited’ or ‘Bibliography’. 

The specifics of how you write those sources depend entirely on which style or reference guide you are using (whether that is a personal choice or the preferred requirements of a journal/publisher/institution to whom you are submitting your work). It is therefore very important to check and understand the journal or publication requirements (including their preferred referencing style guide ) before you write and submit your paper (or thesis, or book etc.), so that you can format your sources, along with the rest of your manuscript, correctly.

Formatting sources for a bibliography

The tiny, intricate details required for writing and formatting sources can be very challenging. However, remember that if you supply all the necessary elements of a reference, a reference formatting professional (such as a proof-reader or a copy editor) or service can then format and punctuate each reference easily. Alternatively, you might prefer to use a referencing software/programme as you write, such as Endnote, Mendeley or Zotera, which allows you to select your preferred referencing style and formats all your sources accordingly.

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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Guide

How to Write a Bibliography for a Research Paper

• The purpose of a bibliography
• Bibliography in MLA style
• APA vs MLA comparsion
• Popular types of bibliography
• How to structure your bibliography
• How to cite popular types of sources
• Bibliography example

This helpful guide will show you how to write a bibliography for a research paper in MLA citation format. You shall learn what a bibliography is, why it is necessary, what aspects must be included, and how to structure it. We shall explore various types of MLA sources based on the most popular scenarios. In the final part of the guide, we provide a sample of a bibliography page for a research paper that is also done in MLA style .

The purpose of a bibliography in a research paper

A bibliography in academic writing represents a detailed collection of books, academic journals, scientific magazines, online sources , and various multimedia citations formed as a list. It represents all an author has used in research while composing an assignment. It must be noted that one should use every source used during the research process, not only those mentioned as direct citations. In other words, to write a bibliography correctly, you must include the following elements:

• The name of the author(s) is a critical bibliography element;
• Complete the title of the source material in question;
• Name of the publisher;
• Date when the work has been published;
• Page number, ISBN, or DOI of the source material.

Note: Many students seem to confuse the purpose of a bibliography in a research paper since it’s easy to confuse a Bibliography page with the Works Cited page that one may require for an MLA paper. While these may look the same, they do not stand for the same thing!

How to write a bibliography in MLA style?

The answer to that question is quite simple: to make a bibliography, you must compose an alphabetic list of all the sources used for a research paper. The best way to achieve that is to take notes while you are in progress of writing. Try to collect all the required information to make a Bibliography draft. Take notes of every book, website, magazine, and newspaper, depending on the sources used. Once you collect the notes, you can get them sorted much easier! Depending on the sources in print or those located online, you should include the following standard elements:

Bibliography Sources available in print: 

Name of the author(s)

Title of the publication or a magazine (if relevant)

Date of publication

Name of the publisher

Volume and page numbers for journals in print

Bibliography Sources found online for a bibliography page : 

Author’s name

Editor’s name

The name of the website

The date you accessed the online source (web pages, online databases, etc.).

As a rule, locating specific information for your bibliography can be challenging. You should always take time to locate as much information about the source as possible. When in doubt, look for the following ways to improve the credibility of bibliography sources:

• The heading of the article, meaning where the publisher’s information might appear.
• Frontpage or editorial page
• Table of contents in a journal
• Header or footer of the web source
• Contacts page or DOI numbers for journal publications

Bibliography writing in different styles

The type of your bibliography will largely depend on the citation types you are planning to use or the writing style in question. In writing a bibliography, you must start with double-checking things regarding formatting. For this purpose, we shall explore MLA Works Cited vs. APA References page . This bibliography guide won’t delve into specifics; we shall only explain how things relate and differ between the two most popular styles.

Popular Types of Bibliography: Bibliography, Annotated Bibliography, and Works Cited

As mentioned, a bibliography must include every source the author has consulted or referenced while creating the research paper. It means that it does not matter if the source has been cited. It must be mentioned once it has been used as a reference for a certain idea! Things do not work this way with a typical Works Cited page. Unlike a classic bibliography, it must include only those sources that have been actually mentioned as in-text citations.

As a researcher, you might encounter a sub-type of a Bibliography for a research paper type called an Annotated Bibliography . The major difference here is that you must show the usage intent, define the purpose, and provide bibliographic information about the author. In addition to the usual entry with the author and the publisher looking like a Bibliography entry, you must compose a short source description by offering a brief background and the importance.

Mainrules on how to structure your bibliography

Before you proceed any further, you must check the presence of the “Works Cited” (in MLA), “References” (in APA style), or a Bibliography heading for your page, depending on the situation and the type of sources that you have cited and/or consulted. Here is the basic bibliography checklist to ensure all the critical information is included. Let’s sum it up to five basic research paper bibliography questions:

• Have you included three to five valid sources providing verified and trustworthy information about your research subject?
• Have you included information that will make it possible to identify each of your sources? It must be the author’s name, title, and publisher.
• Have you checked your grading rubric twice to guarantee that you use citations properly (MLA, Chicago, APA, Harvard, etc.) for a bibliography?
• Has your Bibliography page been sorted according to the ABC?
• Are your sources relevant to the research subject and the main thesis questions?

Now, let’s proceed with the basic bibliography in research rules:

• All your Bibliography for research paper entries must be double-spaced.
• Check whether you must use single-spaced entries, depending on the format other than MLA.
• All your entries must be done according to the last name of the author and sorted alphabetically.
• Personal communications, letters, and interviews are not included in the Works Cited or References page. It is also true for Bibliography pages.
• The sources without an author must also be sorted alphabetically based on the title or organization’s name.
• A single space must be used after any punctuation mark used for MLA citation style for most bibliography types.
• If you plan to divide a long word or a lengthy URL into more than one line, use a hyphen or a slash.
• Avoid adding hyphens to the URL if the original link has not used it.
• Do not start the first line of the bibliographical information with any punctuation mark, except for the names of the quoted source.
• All the lines after the first in a Bibliography entry must have a hanging indent from the left margin (1/2 inches or 1.25 cm).
• The descriptive addition of the Annotated Bibliography must be presented with the hanging indent for all lines after the actual citation.

Note: when you are unsure about some source type and the validity, it’s necessary to consult your academic advisor or omit it entirely. It will help to make your bibliography sound confident!

How to cite popular types of sources with MLA examples?

We have collected all the types of sources that can be used for research paper writing based on the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. Look at the research paper bibliography example for each type and compare it to your existing bibliography sources.

Book with one author or editor bibliography example:

Stipe, Michael. The History of Alternative Rock Music: From Arts to Photography. Penguin Books Press, London, 2004.

Book with two authors or editors’ bibliography entry:

Cohen, Leonard, and J.B. King, eds. Canadian Arts and Culture: How the Cultural Identity Has Been Born. Ontario: BC Press, 1994.

Book with three authors or editors Bibliography:

Calbridge, John, Carl Brunsey, and Tony Wilson. Northern African Studies: Why Should We Preserve National African Heritage? New York: Syracuse University Press, 2022.

Book with more than three authors or editors bibliography rules:

Nilson, Mary N., Kristofer R. van der Hoef, Ronald Johnson, and Larry King. The Personality of Women in Sweden. Stockholm: Sweden House Press, 2021.

Book with compilers or compilers and editors:

McFly, Martin N., and Wayne Sanders, comps. and eds. The British Choral Traditions: A Compilation of Sacred Hymns and Cultural Works. London: Pengiun Books, 2012.

Book with no author or editor stated:

Seversen’s Guidebook to Marine Navigation: An Illustrated Guide to Denmark’s Marine History. Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019.

Book with one author, translated by another Bibliography entry:

Strandberg, Jonas. Stockholm Revisited. Trans. Ronald King and Michael Mills. New York: Metropolitan Press, 1996.

Work in an anthology, a collection by several authors, with one or more editors and/or compilers:

Fierce, Ben. “How to Overcome Stress in Business Studies.” Business Management and Marketing. Ed. William Johnson. Los Angeles: California, 2004, 34-39.

An article in an encyclopedia with no author stated:

“Compassion.” New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1996 ed.

Article in an encyclopedia with an author:

If the encyclopedia is famous and has all the entries based alphabetically, you should not provide volume and page numbers as you write bibliographies. If not, you must provide complete publication data with the author’s name, the title of the entry, the name of the encyclopedia, the editor, the edition, and the publisher with the publication year.

Carl van der Saar. “Autism.” Large Dutch Encyclopedia, 2004, English edition.

An article in a magazine, journal, periodical, newsletter, or newspaper with no author stated Bibliography scenario:

“How to Teach Kids the Art of Bushcraft.” Boys Scouting for Boys. Sept. 2016: 13-19.

“The Dangers of Video Games for Teenagers.” Los Angeles Daily News. 26 Sep. 2004: 34.

Article in a magazine, journal, periodical, newsletter, or newspaper with one or more authors:

Farrell, Joseph P. “And the Boys Took It up for Themselves: Scouting, Learning, and Dialogue across Cultures.” Education and Global Cultural Dialogue , 2012, pp. 49–67, https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137045591_4 .

Article from SIRS (Social Issues Resources Series):

Blake, John, and Inna Smith. “The Union of Workers Worldwide.” Labour Union Journal Nov.-Dec. 1991: 34-36. Labour Studies. Ed. Ellen Philips. Vol. 7. Oxford: Oxford Press, SIRS, 1996. Art. 14.

Advertisement in a Bibliography:

Make sure to include in a bibliography any vital information that has not been found in the original source that has been cited.

How to Build an IKEA Desk. Advertisement. 4 Jan. 2019.

Booklet, pamphlet, or brochure with no author stated:

Cancer Care: How to Monitor Your Health. San Diego, CA: Medical Sciences USA, 1996.

Booklet, pamphlet, or brochure with an author:

Zimmer, Hans R. Producing Music in 2022: Pandemic Challenges and Arts. Los Angeles, CA: Berkeley Music Press, 2023.

Book, movie, or film review:

For this type of bibliography, it is necessary to include short forms like “Rev.” for a review, “Ed.” for the edition or something being edited, and “dir.” for the director.

Kruger, Chad. “Learning to Survive in Canadian Rock Scene.” Rev. of Rock Music in Canada: How The Scene Has Been Born, by Brendon Call. Canadian Music Society. Jan.-Mar. 2011: 62-69.

CD-ROM, DVD, VHS:

That Eye The Sky. Dir. Michael Andrews. 1994. VHS. Australian Cinema Pictures, 1996.

Computer service, e.g., BRS, DIALOG, MEAD, etc.:

King, Michael. “Can U.S. Economy Receive a Boost?” Los Angeles Times. Late Ed. – Final Ed., 2. 4 Jun. 1993. DIALOG File 224, item 0207432

Definition from a dictionary:

“Turntable.” Def 3. The Musical Lexicon of Webster’s Online Dictionary. Canadian ed. 2007.

Film, movie:

The use of shortened forms in this bibliography citation type is necessary again for this type of bibliography writing, depending on what you want to include. A minimal film bibliography should include the movie’s title, the director, distribution data, and the year it was released.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dir. Tim Burton. Filmed after the famous book by Roald Dahl. Perf. Johnny Depp. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005.

Government publication:

Suppose you wish to cite a publication issued by the government for your bibliography. In that case, you must provide the government’s name itself, the agency behind it, the underlined title of your publication, the place of publication, the publisher, and the date.

Canadian Government. First Nations People and Cultural Adjustment. Gathering Strength: Building Canada’s Future. Ottawa: Ministry of Culture and Arts, 2004.

Internet citations or citing electronic bibliography sources:

“Boy Scout Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan and the Outdoor Code.” Boy Scout Oath, Law and Motto , www.usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/bsoathlaw.asp . Accessed 19 June 2023.

Blair, Tony. Interview. UK Prime Minister’s Main Office. 28 May 2002.

Mention the speaker’s name, the lecture title in quotation marks, the conference, sponsors, location, and the date.

Bradley, Andrew. “Domestic Abuse.” Arizona State University Hall, U of Arizona. 12 May. 2001.

Letter, editorial:

An editorial: 

Jones, Anthony. “Hey, Are You Safe?” Editorial. Johnson’s Publishing. 21 May. 2004: 3.

Rubin, Rick. “How Recording Analogue Has Made Me a Better Person.” Letter. Los Angeles Evening News. 5 Jan. 2005: 34.

Map, chart:

It must be treated the same way as you would treat a book citation in MLA with no author mentioned. Ensure you indicate whether it’s for a map or a chart citation.

The USA. Map. Arizona. National Geographic Archive, 2004

Canada’s Natural Reserves. Chart. Burnuby, Victoria, NCA, 2012.

Musical composition:

You must provide the composer’s name, the title of the musical piece (underlined), the number and key (if available), and any additional form information.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Little Suite, op.4., no 2.

If you are citing a published score, it must include the name of the composer, underlined title, data when the composition has been written, place of publication, and date of publication.

Stenger, Michael. Sweet Memories. London: Salisbury Hill, 1996.

Painting, photography, sculpture, architecture, or other art form:

It must include the name of the artist (if available), the title of the artwork that is underlined, the date when it was created, the museum or a gallery, city where it is located.

Friedrich, Andy. Sad Painter. 1924. Amsterdam Arts Gallery Collection, NL.

Patents must include the inventor’s name, patent’s title, issuing country with the patent’s number, and the date it was issued.

Kiske, Michael. “Laser Improvement Methods Through Cardio Stimulation.” German Patent Office. 29234809. June 1993.

Performance (ballet, concert, musical, opera, play, theatrical performance):

Disney’s Alladin. By Ronny Dio and Sally King. Dir. Julia Gaynor. Music and lyrics by Shania Twain and Eric Vinaldo. National New York Theater. NYC, 8 June 2012.

Radio, Television:

Anything cited from radio and television must include the title of the episode underlined or in quotation marks, the underlined title of the program, the title of the series, the network name, the radio station or TV channel, the city location, and the broadcast date.

The LXDS Morning Show. By Terry Hall. LXDS Radio Station, Louisianna, 4 Sept. 2004.

Recording & Music CD, LP, magnetic tape:

A bibliography in a research paper may refer to multimedia sources like audio archives. An audio recording would require the name of the author, singer, editor, or composer, depending on the source. It should also include the song’s title in quotation marks, the title of the recording underlined, publication medium, edition or version, and place of publication. Here is an example of such type for a research paper bibliography in MLA:

The Orions. “Sadness”. Black Album. CD. Exclusive Management by the Megaforce Records, Los Angeles, CA. Mastered by Rick Rubin, Sony Sound Productions, NYC. MFR, 2004.

Software on floppy disk:

Commander Keen Game, 230, Diskette, vers. 2.0. IBM PC, 1994.

Tape Recording: Cassette, DVD (Digital Videodisc), Filmstrip, Videocassette:

Johnson, Michael. Living Through Stress and Anxiety. Cassette tape recording read by the author. New York: Little & Jones Publishing, Audio Div., 1997.

Unpublished dissertations, theses:

You must state the author’s name, the unpublished dissertation’s title, or a thesis in quotation marks for a bibliography. Add the “Diss.” or “MA thesis” label, the university’s name, and the year of publication as you use it for your research.

Eisenberg, Robert. “The Military Conflicts in the Middle East.” BA Thesis. Syracuse University, New York, 2022.

MLA Bibliography page sample

As a rule, the most important is to see how a typical Bibliography page would look in MLA style format. Here is the sample bibliography page with five different sources that relate to a research paper related to Healthcare and Nursing discipline. Remember to start your Bibliography page on the next page after your conclusion part of the final paragraph.

Johnson, Kendall. Trauma in the Lives of Children: Crisis and Stress Management         Techniques for Counselors, Teachers, and Other Professionals . Hunter House Publishers, 1998.

Levell, Jade. “Childhood Domestic Violence and Abuse.” Boys, Childhood Domestic         Abuse, and Gang Involvement , 2022, pp. 47–63, https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781529219807.003.0004 .

Martin, Harold P. “Child Abuse and Child Development.” Child Abuse & Neglect , vol. 3, no. 2, 1979, pp. 415–421, https://doi.org/10.1016/0145-2134(79)90062-0 .

Naegle, Madeline A., and Carolyn Erickson D’Avanzo. Addictions & Substance Abuse:       Strategies for Advanced Practice Nursing . Prentice Hall Health, 2001.

“Recognize the Signs of Domestic Violence against Women.” Mayo Clinic , 14 Apr. 2022, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/domestic-violence/art-20048397 .

As you can see, one has two books, two different academic journals, and a web page related to a famous medical clinic representing a trustworthy research source. It is only a reference bibliography sample. As you are looking for a source for your research paper, always think twice about whether it can help support your argument or provide a piece of important evidence. Once the answer is “yes,” think about introducing your source and adding your author’s voice to the research!

• Writing a Research Paper
• Research Paper Title
• Research Paper Sources
• Research Paper Problem Statement
• Research Paper Thesis Statement
• Hypothesis for a Research Paper
• Research Question
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• Research Paper Summary
• Research Paper Prospectus
• Research Paper Proposal
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• Research Paper Styles
• AMA Style Research Paper
• MLA Style Research Paper
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• APA Style Research Paper
• Research Paper Structure
• Research Paper Cover Page
• Research Paper Abstract
• Research Paper Introduction
• Research Paper Body Paragraph
• Research Paper Literature Review
• Research Paper Background
• Research Paper Methods Section
• Research Paper Results Section
• Research Paper Discussion Section
• Research Paper Conclusion
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• Research Paper Bibliography
• APA Reference Page
• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography vs Works Cited vs References Page
• Research Paper Types
• What is Qualitative Research

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Academic Series 4. Citations and Bibliography

Welcome to the fourth article of Weava’s Academic Series!

This Academic Series is a guide to help you confidently tackle your research and school assignments. The purpose of this guide is to help you gain knowledge on how to properly cite external sources in your written work. We will illustrate how Weava is designed to help you at this stage of writing as well!

We recommend you to read our previous article on How to Plan Your Academic Essay , Academic Reading , and How to Research Efficiently for more tips on academic reading and writing.

Why is Citation So Important?

Citation is a key feature of academic writing. They are not considered optional but are requirements to enrich your research and to meet the standard of professionalism expected of academic writing. Citations are useful for a number of reasons, such as:

• To include evidence from authoritative sources to support your arguments and to enhance the persuasiveness of your argument.
• To make reference to the source or origin of the concept you are introducing.
• To increase the credibility of your arguments and to provide your reader with the references to verify or look further into as needed. 
• To avoid inadvertently plagiarizing someone else’s work.

Bibliography vs. In-text Citations

External sources should be cited in two ways – in the bibliography and in the in-text citations. Note that for academic research and writing, both the bibliography and in-text citations are required to be added in a proper format.

• Bibliography: A bibliography, also known as a reference list, is a list of all the external sources directly and indirectly quoted in your written work. The bibliography is placed at the end of the paper, and it is usually in alphabetical order of the author’s name. See the example below:

• In-text Citations: In-text citations are inserted in between texts of your essay, after the directly or indirectly quoted sentences. They are an abbreviation of the citation provided in the bibliography, and they usually include only the author’s name and the date of publication. The in-text citation also works as an index for readers to find the full citation in the bibliography. See the example below:

Citation Styles

There are different citation styles used in academic writing. Below are some commonly used styles you should be familiar with: 

You should note that regardless of the citation styles, the elements below are always used:

• Author(s) – who wrote it
• Title – what the article is called
• Source – the name of the publisher or title of the periodical 
• Volume & Issue numbers – applicable for journals
• Publication date – when the article was published
• Page numbers – where the reference is located in the original source

Note that each citation style may take a different approach in specific situations such as citing a source with multiple authors, citing uncommon sources (e.g., song lyrics), or citing one source multiple times in the same paragraph. We recommend you to visit the sites below for their official guidelines.

• APA Style : https://apastyle.apa.org/
• The Chicago Manual of Style : https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
• MLA Style: https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style
• Harvard : https://www.mendeley.com/guides/harvard-citation-guide

Use Weava to Create Your Bibliography

Did you know that Weava has an in-built bibliography generator? Normally, you would have to spend much time roaming through your search history to revisit the articles you referred to and to manually create bibliography entries for each of them. With Weava, you can save time by generating your entire bibliography using its web dashboard.

After using Weava to highlight texts you want to make references to, all you need to do at Weava’s dashboard is to click “cite” for Weava to automatically generate the bibliography entry. You can choose different styles – APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard – and simply copy-paste the entry to your reference list. With all your research saved in one place, you can conveniently manage and consolidate your citations.

See the illustration below on generating citations with Weava, and begin saving time for your research work!  

Weava for Students

Weava is a great tool for students as it helps you to easily retain information and stay organized on the web. Weava is currently used by hundreds of thousands of users worldwide in their academic journeys. If you haven’t already, consider downloading the Weava Chrome extension today.

For More Tips, We Recommend You Visit…

• Academic Series 1. How to Plan Your Academic Essay
• Academic Series 2. Academic Reading
• Academic Series 3. How to Research Efficiently
• Weava Resources – How to Cite with Weava
• (n.d.). Citing Sources – Writing Guides and Manuals – LibGuides at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library. Retrieved from https://libguides.ust.hk/writing/citing

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VII. Researched Writing

7.6 Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Emilie Zickel; Melanie Gagich; and Terri Pantuso

As you are gathering sources in your research, you will want to keep track of which information comes from what source. While other strategies have been discussed such as note taking, some researchers use an annotated bibliography for long term reference purposes. As the name implies, an annotated bibliography is the bibliographical reference of a given source along with key information from that source that you may use for future reference. As assignment parameters will vary by instructor, generally speaking the annotations are 150-200 words in length per source and do not include quoted material. The purpose of the annotations is to summarize the material within the context of your thesis statement.

Annotated Bibliographies follow a common structure and format. Below is an explanation of the elements and format of an annotated bibliography.

Components of an Annotated Bibliography

An annotation often offers a summary of a source that you intend to use for a research project as well as some assessment of the source’s relevance to your project or quality and credibility. There are two key components for each source: the citation and the annotation.

The Annotated Bibliography Samples page [1]  on the Purdue OWL offers examples of general formatting guidelines for both an MLA and an APA Annotated Bibliography.

You will provide the full bibliographic reference for the source: author, title, source title, and other required information depending on the type of source. This will be formatted just as it would be in a typical Works Cited for an MLA paper or a References page for an APA paper.

Tone and Style

Some elements can vary depending on the style you are using (e.g., APA or MLA). Be sure to review your style guide along with your assignment sheet. Generally speaking, use the following as a guide:

• Use signal phrases to refer to the author(s).
• Always maintain a neutral tone and use the third-person point of view and correct tense according to style guide (present tense for MLA, past tense for APA) (i.e., Tompkins asserts… ).
• Keep the focus of the summary on the text, not on what you think of it, and try to put as most of the summary as you can in your own words. If you must use exact phrases from the source that you are summarizing, you must quote and cite them.
• Annotations should not be a replication of the abstract provided by the source.

What to Include in Annotations

• After the bibliographical information, begin to discuss the source. Begin with a general summary of the source. Describe the key sections of the text and their corresponding main points. Try to avoid focusing on details; a summary covers the essential points and typically does not include quoted material.
• Evaluate the source’s credibility or relevance. Is the author an expert on the topic? How do you know? Is the source peer-reviewed or otherwise credible in nature? How do you know? What makes this source a good one to use?
• Discuss how you plan to integrate the source in your paper. Do you need to point out similarities or differences with other sources in the annotated bibliography? How does it support (or refute) your intended thesis?

Review your Annotated Bibliography assignment sheet for additional content requirements . Instructors often require more than a simple summary of each source, and specific requirements may vary. Any (or all) of these aspects may be required in an annotated bibliography, depending on how or if your instructor has designed this assignment as part of a larger research project.

This section contains material from:

Gagich, Melanie, and Emilie Zickel. “Keeping Track of Your Sources and Writing an Annotated Bibliography.” In A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing . Cleveland: MSL Academic Endeavors. Accessed July 2019. https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/annotated-bibliography/ . Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

OER credited in the text above includes:

Jeffrey, Robin. About Writing: A Guide . Portland, OR: Open Oregon Educational Resources. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/aboutwriting/ . Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

• "Annotated Bibliography Samples," Purdue Online Writing Lab, accessed December 20, 2021, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/annotated_bibliography_samples.html . ↵

A statement, usually one sentence, that summarizes an argument that will later be explained, expanded upon, and developed in a longer essay or research paper. In undergraduate writing, a thesis statement is often found in the introductory paragraph of an essay. The plural of thesis is theses .

7.6 Writing an Annotated Bibliography Copyright © 2022 by Emilie Zickel; Melanie Gagich; and Terri Pantuso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• MJC Library & Learning Center
• Research Guides

Format Your Paper & Cite Your Sources

• Harvard Style
• Citing Sources
• Avoid Plagiarism
• MLA Style (8th/9th ed.)
• APA Style, 7th Edition
• Chicago Style

What is Harvard Style?

What you need to know, harvard style tutorial.

• Other Styles
• Annotated Bibliographies
• How to Create an Attribution

Harvard Style

The Harvard referencing system is known as the Author-Date style . It emphasizes the name of the creator of a piece of information and the date of publication, with the list of references in alphabetical order at the end of your paper.

Unlike other citation styles, there is no single, definitive version of Harvard Style. Therefore, you may see a variation in features such as punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and the use of italics. 

Always check with your instructor and follow the rules he or she gives you.

• Harvard Style Guidelines Your class handout
• Harvard Referencing Quick Guide From Staffordshire University

Harvard Style will affect your paper in two places:

• In-text citations in the body of your paper, and
• The reference list at the end of your paper
• All in-text citations should be listed in the reference list at the end of your paper.
• Reference list entries need to contain all the information that someone reading your paper would need in order to find your source.
• Reference lists in Harvard Style are arranged alphabetically by first author.
• Begin your Reference list on a new page after your text and number it consecutively.

Sample References List:

Click on the Links Below to See Additional Examples:

• Sample Paper Paper provided by Kurt Olson
• Harvard Citation Examples Document created by The University of Western Australia

Click on the image below to launch this tutorial that was created by the University of Leeds. The section on Citing in Text is especially useful.

• << Previous: Chicago Style
• Next: Other Styles >>
• Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 12:04 PM
• URL: https://libguides.mjc.edu/citeyoursources

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 Licenses .

How to Write a Thesis Bibliography: A Step-by-Step Guide

Writing a thesis bibliography can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not familiar with the process. however, with a step-by-step guide, you can navigate through this essential part of your thesis with ease. in this blog post, we will walk you through the process of writing a thesis bibliography, ensuring that your sources are appropriately cited..

What is a Thesis Bibliography?

A thesis bibliography is a list of all the sources you have cited or referenced in your thesis. It includes all the books, articles, research papers, websites, and any other resources you have used to support your research and arguments. The purpose of a bibliography is to give credit to the original authors and allow readers to locate the sources you have used.

Why is a Thesis Bibliography Important?

A thesis bibliography serves several important purposes:

• It demonstrates the depth of your research and shows the credibility of your thesis.
• It allows readers to verify your research and delve deeper into the sources you have used.
• It helps you avoid plagiarism by providing a clear list of the sources you have consulted.
• It showcases your academic integrity and commitment to acknowledging the work of others.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Thesis Bibliography

Now, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of writing a thesis bibliography:

Step 1: Understand the Citation Style Guidelines

Before you begin compiling your bibliography, familiarize yourself with the citation style required by your university or department. Common citation styles include APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard. Each style has specific formatting guidelines for different types of sources, such as books, journal articles, and websites. Make sure to follow the guidelines consistently throughout your bibliography.

Step 2: Collect and Organize Your Sources

Gather all the sources you have referenced or cited in your thesis. Make a list of books, articles, webpages, and any other relevant sources. Organize them in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name or the title of the source.

Step 3: Format Your Bibliography Entries

When formatting each entry in your bibliography, keep the following in mind:

• Book: Include the author’s name, publication year, title, place of publication, and publisher.
• Journal Article: Include the author’s name, publication year, article title, journal name, volume number, issue number, and page range.
• Website: Include the author’s name (if available), publication or last updated date, title of the webpage, URL, and the date you accessed the website.

Step 4: Verify Your Information

Double-check all the information in your bibliography entries to ensure accuracy. Pay close attention to spelling, punctuation, and formatting. Use reliable sources or citation generators to confirm the correct citation format for each source.

Step 5: Apply Consistent Formatting

Make sure your bibliography entries adhere to the formatting guidelines specified by your citation style. Consistency in formatting is crucial for the professional presentation of your thesis.

Step 6: Proofread

Once you have completed your bibliography, take the time to proofread it. Look for any typographical errors, missing information, or incorrect formatting. A well-organized and error-free bibliography adds to the professionalism of your thesis.

Writing a thesis bibliography doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following this step-by-step guide, you can accurately list and cite all your sources, ensuring your thesis is well-supported and authoritative. Remember to always abide by the citation guidelines provided by your university or department, as they may have specific requirements. A meticulously crafted thesis bibliography adds credibility to your work and demonstrates your commitment to scholarly research.

For more assistance, feel free to consult your university’s writing center or reach out to your thesis advisor for guidance.

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Bibliography In Research Paper: Know Everything About It

Learn about what is a bibliography in a research paper and how to write a bibliography that makes your research paper undeniably perfect.

Imagine yourself as a research student and you have to submit a thesis for which you collected all the information and wrote your thesis but forgot to add a bibliography to it. Now your professor rejects your thesis for that one mistake. How would you feel? Wouldn’t it be disappointing? 

It indeed is disappointing but do you really think a bibliography is that important? In fact, have you ever wondered what a bibliography is? You must’ve seen it at the end of every book or article that you read but you wouldn’t have paid much attention to it. Read the article to know the importance of a bibliography in a research paper and how to write it according to the guidelines given. 

What is a Bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of sources or materials that you might have referred to while writing an article or a research paper. If the reader wants to explore more about the content apart from what you’ve written, they would refer to the sources that you’ve mentioned and a bibliography can be helpful. 

For example, if you’re reading a fiction novel about the culture of a European country in the 18th- century and you wish to learn more about it, what would you do? Here comes the importance of a bibliography. The author might have mentioned his research works – from where he collected information regarding European culture and he might’ve cited all those previous works in the form of a bibliography at the end of the book. This could help readers like you to explore more about the topic.

Bibliography vs References

Bibliography and references appear synonymous and thus, most of us try to use them interchangeably. But did you know this isn’t right? While both of them appear similar, there is this small difference that actually makes a lot of sense if you get to know it.

If we see the definition of reference, is the citation of all the works/sources that one used “ within the body of the paper”. This is the most important key difference. While references refer to the work that is present within the paper, a bibliography refers to the works which are “ not specifically referred to within the body of the paper” that is, it needn’t be necessary for a bibliography to have the exact sources on its body and you can cite a source even if you just used it to refer something regarding the topic.

Steps To Write A Bibliography In Research Paper

• The initial and foremost step to be followed before writing a bibliography is to make a note of all the books/sources/works you read when you’re doing your background research for a paper.
• Once you have a list of the books or sources, you need to check for the following information in the source :

If it is printed, check out for

• Authors’ name
• Title of publication
• Date of publication
• The publishing company of a book
• Page number(s)

If it is from a website, check out for

• Author and editor name
• Title of the webpage
• The company that posted that webpage
• URL of that webpage
• Before writing out your bibliography, you should know that there are two major guidelines for writing a bibliography (MLA Format and APA Format), and use them according to the need of your paper.
• Once you’re done writing a bibliography, make sure that you cited all the sources that you mentioned in the paper and whether you cited them in the correct format or not.
• If there are any mistakes or necessary changes, make them before you submit your paper.

Writing a bibliography might be a tiresome process as there’s a huge list of sources that need to be mentioned but adding a bibliography gives your research paper a more professional touch and sets your paper apart from the rest of the crowd.

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About Sowjanya Pedada

Sowjanya is a passionate writer and an avid reader. She holds MBA in Agribusiness Management and now is working as a content writer. She loves to play with words and hopes to make a difference in the world through her writings. Apart from writing, she is interested in reading fiction novels and doing craftwork. She also loves to travel and explore different cuisines and spend time with her family and friends.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Reference List: Textual Sources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Basic Format for Books

Edited book, no author, edited book with an author or authors, a translation.

Note : When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Plato (385-378/1989)

Edition Other Than the First

Article or chapter in an edited book.

Note : When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references, except for newspapers. List any edition number in the same set of parentheses as the page numbers, separated by a comma: (2nd ed., pp. 66-72).

Multivolume Work

Articles in periodicals.

APA style dictates that authors are named with their last name followed by their initials; publication year goes between parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized. If a DOI has been assigned to the article that you are using, you should include this after the page numbers for the article. If no DOI has been assigned and you are accessing the periodical online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical.

Article in Print Journal

Note: APA 7 advises writers to include a DOI (if available), even when using the print source. The example above assumes no DOI is available.

Article in Electronic Journal

Note :  This content also appears on Reference List: Online Media .

As noted above, when citing an article in an electronic journal, include a DOI if one is associated with the article.

DOIs may not always be available. In these cases, use a URL. Many academic journals provide stable URLs that function similarly to DOIs. These are preferable to ordinary URLs copied and pasted from the browser's address bar.

Article in a Magazine

Article in a newspaper.

Planet versus Plastics

Plastic waste has infiltrated every corner of our planet, from oceans and waterways to the food chain and even our bodies. Only 9% of plastic is recycled due to factors including poor infrastructure, technical challenges, lack of incentives, and low market demand.   

“We need legislation that disincentivizes big oil from producing plastic in the first place, coupled with enforced single use plastic taxes and fines,” says Desiree LaBeaud , professor of pediatric infectious diseases and senior fellow at   Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment . “We also need truly compostable alternatives that maintain the convenient lifestyle that plastic allows us now."

Plastic presents a problem like no other. Stanford scholars are approaching it from many angles: exploring the connection between plastic and disease, rethinking how plastic could be reused, and uncovering new ways of breaking down waste. In honor of Earth Day and this year’s theme – Planet vs. Plastics – we’ve highlighted stories about promising solutions to the plastics challenge. 

Environmental changes are altering the risk for mosquito-borne diseases

Our changing climate is dramatically altering the landscape for mosquito-borne diseases, but other changes to the physical environment - like the proliferation of plastic trash - also make an impact, as mosquitos can breed in the plastic waste we discard. 

Since this study published, HERI-Kenya , a nonprofit started by Stanford infectious disease physician Desiree LaBeaud , has launched HERI Hub , a brick and mortar education hub that educates, empowers and inspires community members to improve the local environment to promote health.

Using plastic waste to build roads, buildings, and more

Stanford engineers  Michael Lepech  and  Zhiye Li  have a unique vision of the future: buildings and roads made from plastic waste. In this story, they discuss obstacles, opportunities, and other aspects of transforming or upcycling plastic waste into valuable materials. 

Since this white paper was published, students in Lepech's  life cycle assessment course  have explored the environmental and economic impacts of waste management, emissions, and energy efficiency of building materials for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts. In addition to recycled plastic, they proposed a photovoltaic system and conducted comparison studies to maximize the system’s life cycle. This work is being translated into an upcoming publication.

Stanford researchers show that mealworms can safely consume toxic additive-containing plastic

Mealworms are not only able to eat various forms of plastic, as previous research has shown, they can also consume potentially toxic plastic additives in polystyrene with no ill effects. The worms can then be used as a safe, protein-rich feed supplement.

Since this study published, it has inspired students across the world to learn about and experiment with mealworms and plastic waste. Stanford researchers involved with this and related studies have been inundated with requests for more information and guidance from people inspired by the potential solution.

Grants tackle the plastics problem

Stanford Woods Institute has awarded more than $23 million in funding to research projects that seek to identify solutions to pressing environment and sustainability challenges, including new approaches to plastic waste management. 

Converting polyethylene into palm oil

This project is developing a new technology to convert polyethylene — by far the most discarded plastic — into palm oil. The approach could add value to the plastic waste management chain while sourcing palm oil through a less destructive route.

Improving plastic waste management

This project aims to radically change the way plastic waste is processed via a new biotechnology paradigm: engineering highly active enzymes and microbes capable of breaking down polyesters in a decentralized network of “living” waste receptacles. 

More stories from Stanford

Eight simple but meaningful things you can do for the environment.

A new, artistic perspective on plastic waste

Whales eat colossal amounts of microplastics

Event | Pollution and Health

A greener future begins with small steps

Mosquito diseases on the move

Last straw: The path to reducing plastic pollution

Plastic ingestion by fish a growing problem

Stanford infectious disease expert Desiree LaBeaud talks trash, literally, on Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything podcast. 

In the brain, bursts of beta rhythms implement cognitive control

Bursts of brain rhythms with “beta” frequencies control where and when neurons in the cortex process sensory information and plan responses. Studying these bursts would improve understanding of cognition and clinical disorders, researchers argue in a new review.

The brain processes information on many scales. Individual cells electrochemically transmit signals in circuits but at the large scale required to produce cognition, millions of cells act in concert, driven by rhythmic signals at varying frequencies. Studying one frequency range in particular, beta rhythms between about 14-30 Hz, holds the key to understanding how the brain controls cognitive processes—or loses control in some disorders—a team of neuroscientists argues in a new review article.

Drawing on experimental data, mathematical modeling and theory, the scientists make the case that bursts of beta rhythms control cognition in the brain by regulating where and when higher gamma frequency waves can coordinate neurons to incorporate new information from the senses or formulate plans of action. Beta bursts, they argue, quickly establish flexible but controlled patterns of neural activity for implementing intentional thought.

“Cognition depends on organizing goal-directed thought, so if you want to understand cognition, you have to understand that organization,” said co-author Earl K. Miller , Picower Professor in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. “Beta is the range of frequencies that can control neurons at the right spatial scale to produce organized thought.”

Miller and colleagues Mikael Lundqvist, Jonatan Nordmark and Johan Liljefors at the Karolinska Institutet and Pawel Herman at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, write that studying bursts of beta rhythms to understand how they emerge and what they represent would not only help explain cognition, but also aid in diagnosing and treating cognitive disorders.

“Given the relevance of beta oscillations in cognition, we foresee a major change in the practice for biomarker identification, especially given the prominence of beta bursting in inhibitory control processes … and their importance in ADHD, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease,” they write in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences .

Experimental studies covering several species including humans, a variety of brain regions, and numerous cognitive tasks have revealed key characteristics of beta waves in the cortex, the authors write: Beta rhythms occur in quick but powerful bursts; they inhibit the power of higher frequency gamma rhythms; and though they originate in deeper brain regions, they travel within specific locations of cortex. Considering these properties together, the authors write that they are all consistent with precise and flexible regulation, in space and time, of the gamma rhythm activity that experiments show carry signals of sensory information and motor plans.

“Beta bursts thus offer new opportunities for studying how sensory inputs are selectively processed, reshaped by inhibitory cognitive operations and ultimately result in motor actions,” the authors write.

For one example, Miller and colleagues have shown in animals that in the prefrontal cortex in working memory tasks, beta bursts direct when gamma activity can store new sensory information, read out the information when it needs to be used, and then discard it when it’s no longer relevant. For another example, other researchers have shown that beta rises when human volunteers are asked to suppress a previously learned association between word pairs, or to forget a cue because it will no longer be used in a task.

In a paper last year, Lundqvist, Herman, Miller and others cited several lines of experimental evidence to hypothesize that beta bursts implement cognitive control spatially in the brain , essentially constraining patches of the cortex to represent the general rules of a task even as individual neurons within those patches represent the specific contents of information. For example, if the working memory task is to remember a pad lock combination, beta rhythms will implement patches of cortex for the general steps “turn left,” “turn right,” “turn left again,” allowing gamma to enable neurons within each patch to store and later recall the specific numbers of the combination. The two-fold value of such an organizing principle, they noted, is that the brain can rapidly apply task rules to many neurons at a time and do so without having to re-establish the overall structure of the task if the individual numbers change (i.e. you set a new combination).

Another important phenomenon of beta bursts, the authors write, is that they propagate across long distances in the brain, spanning multiple regions. Studying the direction of their spatial travels, as well as their timing, could shed further light on how cognitive control is implemented.

New ideas beget new questions

Beta rhythm bursts can differ not only in their frequency, but also their duration, amplitude, origin and other characteristics. This variety speaks to their versatility, the authors write, but also obliges neuroscientists to study and understand these many different forms of the phenomenon and what they represent to harness more information from these neural signals.

“It quickly becomes very complicated, but I think the most important aspect of beta bursts is the very simple and basic premise that they shed light on the transient nature of oscillations and neural processes associated with cognition,” Lundqvist said.“This changes our models of cognition and will impact everything we do. For a long time we implicitly or explicitly assumed oscillations are ongoing which has colored experiments and analyses. Now we see a first wave of studies based on this new thinking, with new hypothesis and ways to analyze data, and it should only pick up in years to come.” 

The authors acknowledge another major issue that must be resolved by further research—How do beta bursts emerge in the first place to perform their apparent role in cognitive control?

“It is unknown how beta bursts arise as a mediator of an executive command that cascades to other regions of the brain,” the authors write.

The authors don’t claim to have all the answers. Instead, they write, because beta rhythms appear to have an integral role in controlling cognition, the as yet unanswered questions are worth asking.

“We propose that beta bursts provide both experimental and computational studies with a window through which to explore the real-time organization and execution of cognitive functions,” they conclude. “To fully leverage this potential there is a need to address the outstanding questions with new experimental paradigms, analytical methods and modeling approaches.”

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Online poetry writing at school – comparing lower secondary students’ experiences between individual and collaborative poetry writing provisionally accepted.

• 1 University of Helsinki, Finland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This study investigates how seventh-grade students experience online collaborative writing, its support in writing poems, and how collaboratively and individually written poems differ. The educational design research method was used in this mixed-methods study, which was conducted in natural classroom settings to investigate students' individual and collaborative poetry writing. The quantitative analysis of questionnaires and qualitative thematic analysis of post-experimental interviews show that the students enjoyed collaborative writing more and found it more accessible than individual writing. They experienced that it supported them in writing better poems and increased their writing confidence. They also appreciated the support of teamwork, although individual writing gave them more liberty to explore various aspects of poetry and express their feelings. From a pedagogical point of view, the students need to be provided with opportunities for collaborative poetry writing to make the writing process easier and more enjoyable. Online collaborative writing supports the process of poetry writing.

Keywords: Digital tool, technology in education, online poetry writing, collaborative writing Online Poetry Writing at School -Comparing Lower Secondary Students' Experiences between Individual and Collaborative Poetry Writing, poetry writing

Received: 02 Feb 2024; Accepted: 22 Apr 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Kangasharju, Ilomäki and Toom. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mx. Arja Kangasharju, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

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About 1 in 5 U.S. teens who’ve heard of ChatGPT have used it for schoolwork

Roughly one-in-five teenagers who have heard of ChatGPT say they have used it to help them do their schoolwork, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17. With a majority of teens having heard of ChatGPT, that amounts to 13% of all U.S. teens who have used the generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot in their schoolwork.

Teens in higher grade levels are particularly likely to have used the chatbot to help them with schoolwork. About one-quarter of 11th and 12th graders who have heard of ChatGPT say they have done this. This share drops to 17% among 9th and 10th graders and 12% among 7th and 8th graders.

There is no significant difference between teen boys and girls who have used ChatGPT in this way.

The introduction of ChatGPT last year has led to much discussion about its role in schools , especially whether schools should integrate the new technology into the classroom or ban it .

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand American teens’ use and understanding of ChatGPT in the school setting.

The Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023, via Ipsos. Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents, who were part of its KnowledgePanel . The KnowledgePanel is a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey was weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with their parents by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income, and other categories.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, an independent committee of experts specializing in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Here are the  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

Teens’ awareness of ChatGPT

Overall, two-thirds of U.S. teens say they have heard of ChatGPT, including 23% who have heard a lot about it. But awareness varies by race and ethnicity, as well as by household income:

• 72% of White teens say they’ve heard at least a little about ChatGPT, compared with 63% of Hispanic teens and 56% of Black teens.
• 75% of teens living in households that make $75,000 or more annually have heard of ChatGPT. Much smaller shares in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 (58%) and less than $30,000 (41%) say the same.

Teens who are more aware of ChatGPT are more likely to use it for schoolwork. Roughly a third of teens who have heard a lot about ChatGPT (36%) have used it for schoolwork, far higher than the 10% among those who have heard a little about it.

When do teens think it’s OK for students to use ChatGPT?

For teens, whether it is – or is not – acceptable for students to use ChatGPT depends on what it is being used for.

There is a fair amount of support for using the chatbot to explore a topic. Roughly seven-in-ten teens who have heard of ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use when they are researching something new, while 13% say it is not acceptable.

However, there is much less support for using ChatGPT to do the work itself. Just one-in-five teens who have heard of ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use it to write essays, while 57% say it is not acceptable. And 39% say it’s acceptable to use ChatGPT to solve math problems, while a similar share of teens (36%) say it’s not acceptable.

Some teens are uncertain about whether it’s acceptable to use ChatGPT for these tasks. Between 18% and 24% say they aren’t sure whether these are acceptable use cases for ChatGPT.

Those who have heard a lot about ChatGPT are more likely than those who have only heard a little about it to say it’s acceptable to use the chatbot to research topics, solve math problems and write essays. For instance, 54% of teens who have heard a lot about ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use it to solve math problems, compared with 32% among those who have heard a little about it.

Note: Here are the  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

• Artificial Intelligence
• Technology Adoption
• Teens & Tech

Olivia Sidoti is a research assistant focusing on internet and technology research at Pew Research Center

Jeffrey Gottfried is an associate director focusing on internet and technology research at Pew Research Center

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