Learn and Generate Bibliographies, Citations, and Works Cited

AuthorAdrienne Mathewson

Adrienne Mathewson, past Editor-in-Chief of Bibliography.com, is an Information Professional with a Master of Library Information & Science degree from San José State University with an emphasis on information literacy and scholarly publishing. Certified Librarian Adrienne is passionate about Library Science. She became a certified librarian through the State of New Mexico in 2012. University Editorial Experience as Editor-in-Chief of San Jose State University’s Student Research Journal (https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/ischoolsrj/vol5/iss2/1/), Adrienne guided the editorial team through the scholarly journal’s double-blind, peer-reviewed process to provide quality, cited articles to library information and science researchers. Volunteer Experience inspired Adrienne’s passion for digital inclusion and information literacy led her to volunteer as a digital training team member of Librarians Without Borders (https://lwb-online.org/). She has also served as a committee member for Recuerda a César Chávez and volunteered at Magdalena Public Library in New Mexico. Connect With Adrienne Mathewson: Adrienne has over 25 years of experience as a freelance writer and editor. She lives in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. If you’d like to learn more about her, you can connect with via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennemathewson/).
Difference Between Footnotes and Endnotes Explained
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If you are writing your school paper with Chicago style citation using the notes-biblio style or if your teacher asks you to include notes in your paper, you need to know the difference between footnotes and endnotes. Typically, notes are included in Chicago 17 notes-biblio style, but you may include them in an MLA or APA citation style school project if your instructor requires them. Where Do...

Preparing to Write MLA College Papers
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Learning to research and write MLA 8 college papers is an essential skill as you leave the comfort of high school classes. One frequent complaint by college professors is that high school students come unprepared for college-level writing. Gearing high school classes towards standardized tests encourages teachers to teach the five-paragraph essay. Thus, students don’t really learn how to...

Using Note Cards for MLA Research Papers
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In today’s digital age, it seems strange that organizing your research sources would be done on index cards. Instead of a mobile app or Google Doc, writing your sources on separate 3″ x 5″ index cards may still be a better way to help organize your citation sources. Although some teachers provide Word document templates that follow the same pattern, note cards make it easier to sort...

Difference Between Five-Paragraph Essay and MLA Paper
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In high school, you’ll learn how to write a five-paragraph essay. This skill comes in handy as you learn to develop a thesis statement and organize an essay. Writing a five-paragraph essay is a part of standardized testing, which means it is a useful skill to learn. However, it is different from an MLA 8 format research paper or essay. Organizing a Five-Paragraph Essay When you write a five...

Tips for Writing Good MLA Thesis Statements
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Writing thesis statements for your MLA 8 style school paper can seem intimidating to high school and college students. You may have practice in understanding thesis statements when you prepared five-paragraph essays. Maybe you have even written short five-page research papers in your English classes. Writing MLA College Papers However, now you are entering college and you will be writing a lot of...

Understanding APA Literature Reviews
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Teachers often assign research papers to students, especially an APA literature review. Literature reviews may be part of a larger research paper or stand alone on their own. Since conducting original research and writing a paper about it takes considerable time, instructors often require students prepare papers such as compare and contrast, critical essays or literature reviews instead. What Is...

Works Cited vs. Bibliography vs. APA References
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You’ve come to the end of your paper and now you need to cite your sources. Should you use a works cited page now? Or, is it a list of references? What’s the difference for a bibliography vs. reference lists? Knowing the answer for what citation format to use comes down to the topic and whether your paper is MLA, APA or Chicago style. Using this knowledge, learn if you should use a...

Writing an APA Style Paper for a School Project
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In high school, your teacher typically asks you to write a critical essay or a short research paper on a current event or interesting person. Writing in MLA style and creating a works cited page for your references works well for these papers. However, if you take psychology or sociology classes in high school or college, you may be asked to write a paper using APA 7 style. Understanding APA...

APA Annotated Bibliography Guide With Examples
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You just got the hand of bibliographies, but now your teacher is requesting an APA annotated bibliography. You can feel the sweat beading on your forehead and the panic starting to set in. First of all, don’t panic. Creating an annotated bibliography in APA format is as simple as 1, 2, 3. Well maybe not that simple, but it’s not as hard as you think. Learn the ins and outs of creating...

Writing Abstracts for a Literature Review in APA Format
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Do you need to know how to write a literature review abstract in APA? You’ve come to the right place. This citation example focuses on abstract writing in an APA format style paper. Learning how to write an abstract in APA is an excellent skill to have, as it helps you develop the ability to summarize the essential points in your paper. In addition to a how-to, you can explore several APA...

Citing Visual and Performing Arts in Chicago Author-Date Style
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You may use MLA style to write about art in high school, but there is a good chance you’ll be using Chicago/Turabian 17 style in college. If you are writing exclusively about an artist or art history, you will probably be asked to use the Chicago notes-biblio style. The notes-biblio style is ideal for writing about music, history and art, because you add notes throughout the text. Chicago author...

Citing Reference Works in Chicago Author-Date Style
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You will see the term “reference work“ frequently while doing research for your school project. But, what exactly are reference works? We usually think of dictionaries and encyclopedias when we hear that term; however, other works such as indices, almanacs and catalogs fall under that category as well. Some reference works are even guides to other reference works. Basically, a reference work is a...

Chicago/Turabian Author-Date Citation Elements
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As you’re researching your sources for your Chicago/Turabian 17 author-date paper, start to gather the citation elements you need to prepare for your reference list. It can be overwhelming when you’re faced with the daunting research needed for your paper. You can make your life easier by creating a preliminary or working bibliography of all your sources as you go along. Information to...

Entries to Include in Chicago/Turabian Author-Date Style
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As you gather your sources for your school research paper, you must remember to include every piece of information. While preparing your Chicago 17 author-date style reference list, you want to make sure you give credit where credit is due. This is a cornerstone of research for several reasons. Not only do you have to give credit to the original creator, but you need to direct your reader to your...

Creating MLA In-Text Citations
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Learn the ins and outs of creating an MLA in-text citation. Explore how to deal with multiple or no authors, multiple sources, and even anthologies through this quick and easy guide to MLA in-text citations. MLA In-Text Citation Website Create MLA In-Text Citations for Multiple and No Authors MLA In-Text Citation for Multiple Sources In-Text Citations for Anthologies and Collections Quoting vs...

Guide to MLA Container Format With Examples
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As you learn about using MLA 8 for citing your sources, you’ll notice the term “container” being used. You may wonder what that means for you as you create your works cited page. There’s a simple reason why MLA format developed the container style. While updating the MLA Handbook, the editors realized they needed to create an easier way to format entries. Since information is found in...

Chicago Notes-Biblio Style vs. Author-Date Style
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Even though the notes-biblio and author-date styles both come from the Chicago/Turabian 17 style guide, there are critical differences between the two formats. Once you’ve selected the style you want to use, follow the format carefully. Both the in-text citation and its corresponding bibliographic entry are formatted differently. Understanding Chicago Notes-Biblio Style Because the Chicago style...

MLA Abbreviations and Acronyms Including Months
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You may use abbreviations and acronyms in your MLA 8 works cited list. However, when you are writing your paper, you should always spell out the words in full. Instead of using abbreviations such as etc., i.e. and e.g., write them out completely. For example, instead of using e.g., write out “for example.” When you use acronyms in your MLA format paper, write them out in full first. Then, you can...

Creating a Chicago/Turabian Style Reference Page
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If you used the author-date Chicago/Turabian style while creating your paper instead of the notes-biblio style, you will need to create a reference list rather than a bibliography. The reference list is basically the same as the bibliography; however, you title the page References and you do not need to include all the sources you consulted. You do need to include all the sources that you cited...

MLA 7th Edition vs MLA 8th Edition
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As you start to prepare your paper, you hit a crossroads. Should you use the seventh edition or the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook? You may think there’s not much difference. However, the MLA 8th edition introduced a shift in creating entries for your works cited list. In 2016, the Modern Language Association (MLA) decided it was time to revise its guidelines to reflect ever-changing...

How to Put MLA Works Cited in Alphabetical Order
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You finally finished your research paper and your sources have been created into entries. Now, you can start putting it all together. You’re almost done. Alphabetizing your MLA 8 works cited list is easy as it follows the letter by letter method. Read on to understand how this method works when you’re dealing with multiple authors, no author or other cases. List Items Alphabetically  The first...

Organizing Works Cited in MLA Format
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Unlike a bibliography, an MLA format works cited list only lists the sources you cite in your research paper. Every citation in your paper should match up to an entry in your works cited list. This means you need to review your paper to make sure the in-text citations are properly sourced at the end of your paper. If your instructor asks you to prepare a bibliography in MLA 8 style, title it as...

How to Make and Use 3-em Dash in Chicago Style
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While developing your Chicago/Turabian style bibliography or reference list, you may use the 3-em dash method for multiple works by the same author. In the author-date style, you will use the publication date to organize your entries by the same author (or editor or translator). If you are using the notes-biblio style, you will organize your entries by the title of the work. Creating a 3-em Dash...

How to Cite a Legal Case, Document, or Source in APA
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If you’re using legal sources in your report, you’ll need to know how to fit them into your reference list. You may feel somewhat confused, though, because, for the most part, APA format follows The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation style for citing legal sources. However, in some cases, you’ll still follow standard APA 7 guidelines. Bluebook or APA The seventh edition of APA...

APA Reference List Examples of Periodical Citations
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Periodicals are materials that are published on a regular basis. For example, magazines, newsletters, and journals may be published daily, weekly, monthly or on other regularly scheduled dates. Periodicals follow a general format in your APA 7 report with a few differences between them. Newspaper article citations include the year of publication as well as the day; however, journal articles use...

Putting APA References in Alphabetical Order
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You’ve finished your paper and organized your references. Now you’re ready to alphabetize the entries in your APA 7 format reference list. However, you have authors with the same name, weird letters, and numbers. What should you do? APA citation order is getting confusing. Rather than panic, learn how to create an APA reference list in alphabetical order by following these quick and...

8 APA Book Reference Examples
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Do you want to know how to reference a book in an APA paper? Creating APA book reference citations for a print or e-book in your reference list is simple once you understand the format. APA 7 uses the author-date system, which means the author’s last name, first initial, the date of publication, title, and publisher are essential elements of the book citation. Learn how to create APA book...

What Is DOI?
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You’re gathering your resources together when suddenly you notice that several of your online journal articles aren’t linked to a web address (URL). What is that mysterious notation at the end of the citation? You’re used to seeing a link to an online article in this way:   Then all of the sudden, this DOI® number shows up: DOI: 130.065.109.155. What does this mean? The Difference...