There are many different style manuals governing the form of citations and bibliographies. There are two widely used styles -- the APA (American Psychological Association) style and the MLA (Modern Language Association) style. Because the MLA is the style most commonly used in secondary schools and colleges, it is the format used in English classes. (You should always use whatever style is required by your teacher or publication editor.) To generate a correctly formatted bibliography in either the MLA or APA style, go to this helpful website: easybib.com.

Citation Style

Any time you use another writer's idea -- whether by direct quotation of his or her words, by summary or by paraphrase -- you must credit that writer and source. In the MLA format, such credit is given in the body of the essay, article or research paper rather than in footnotes or endnotes.

To give credit with a parenthetical citation,

• insert required information (usually the author and page number) in parentheses after the borrowed words or ideas
• put the parenthetical reference where a pause would occur naturally in the text and also as near as possible to the material being cited
• make sure the work you cite appears in your bibliography

Specific information about the form used for various works can be found on the Bond Library website.

Bibliography Style

A bibliography is a list of works consulted for work on or referred to in an essay, article or other form of research writing. Because your reader might want to refer to the same sources you consulted and cited and because you must give proper credit for quotations or the ideas of others, you must provide an accurate bibliography.

The bibliography appears at the end of the essay, article or research paper. Like the rest of the essay, the bibliography is double spaced. Sources are listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name (or by title if there is no author). The first line of each entry is flush with the left margin, but the second and following lines are indented five spaces (one tab). 

There are several different kinds of bibliographies, including these three:

• an annotated bibliography contains a list of works and a summary of each work, sometimes including comments about the helpfulness of the work to the writer/researcher
• a complete bibliography (or "Works Consulted" list) includes every source the writer/research has read on the subject
• a "Works Cited" list includes only those works quoted or referred to in the final piece of writing

In general a bibliographic entry includes the author's name, title of the work, place of publication, publisher and date. The form varies, however, depending upon the kind of work cited. For further information, you might also consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and read the "Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style" online at the MLA site (select "MLA Style" and then "Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style").