Keep a record of any sources you decide to consult. You will need this record, called a working bibliography, when you compile the list of sources that will appear at the end of your paper. Your working bibliography will probably contain more sources than you will actually include in your list of works cited. It is called a working bibliography because you develop it as you work, as a list of potentially useful sources.

The format of the working bibliography depends on the documentation style you are using: MLA, APA, Chicago, or CSE.

Most researchers print or save information for a working bibliography from the library’s catalog and databases and from the web. If you download or use a visual that is not your own, you must gather the same information as for a print source.

For web sources, some bibliographic information may not be available, but spend time looking for it before assuming that it doesn’t exist. When information isn’t available on the home page, you may have to follow links to interior pages. Look especially for the author’s name, the date of publication (or latest update), and the name of any sponsoring organization.

Sometimes an annotated bibliography is part of the assignment. Once you have created a working bibliography, you can annotate it. Writing several brief sentences summarizing the key points of a source will help you identify the source’s role in your paper. Also, putting key ideas into your own language will help you clarify the source’s ideas in your own mind and avoid plagiarizing an author’s ideas later.