Creating Bibliographies Using Online Resources

 

 

If you’ve ever had any problems creating bibliographies, this article will show you how to automatically format your work using online resources.

 

APA general guidelines

 

-Create a separate page titled Reference List or Bibliography.

-All entries should be ordered alphabetically, entries without an author should be ranked alphabetically by their title.

-Indent all lines except the first line of each source (overhanging indent). Every overhanging line should be indented 5 to 7 spaces.

-Capitalize the first word of any title and any proper names.

-The tile of all books and journals should be either underlined or italicized.

-Use p. or pp. to designate page numbers of articles that don’t have volumes. p and pp. should be used for encyclopaedia articles, chapters from edited books and newspapers

 

MLA general guidelines

 

-Create a separate page for citations and title the page Work Cited or Bibliography.

-Capitalize the first word of any title and any proper names.

-If multiple publishers exist list all of them separated by a semi colon

-List only one city

-Indent all lines except the first line of each source (overhanging indent). Every overhanging line should be indented 5 to 7 spaces.

-The title of all books and journals should be either underlined or italicized.

-Do not use p. or pp. to designate page numbers.

 

For other formats such as Turabian or Chicago please check the web for basic guidelines.

 

 

Using Online Generators to Create Reference Lists

There are ample of online tools to aid you in creating a bibliography. There are three basic categories.

 

Basic Citations Generators – simply add in all your information (author, title.. etc) and the citation will be formatted correctly.

Example: www.citefast.com

 

More Complex Citation Generators – sign up an account, either type in the information or search for the source, and the citation will appear correctly formatted. Bibliographies can be saved and shared for future use.

Example: www.bibme.org

 

Reference Management Software – software must be downloaded, often free. Software can usually be installed directly into word processing software. RMS can perform ample of difference functions, including formatting whole papers.

Example: www.jabref.sourceforge.net/

 

 

 

 

About the Author

computer science/english major