theguide11e

Creating a Working Bibliography

A working bibliography is an ongoing record of the sources you discover as you research your subject. In your final project, you will probably not end up citing all the sources you list in your working bibliography, but recording the information you will need to cite a source — as you identify it— will save you time later. ( Just be sure to double-check that your entries are accurate!) Your working bibliography should include the following for each source:

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Author’s (or authors’) name(s)
Title and subtitle
Publication information: A version or edition number (for example, revised edition, 3rd ed.), the name of the source's publisher (for books), the date of publication (copyright year for books), and the page numbers of the section(s) you consulted; a periodical’s name, volume, issue, and date or season, and the article’s page numbers
Location information: The call number of a book (for your reference); the name of the database through which you accessed the source; the DOI (digital object identifier — a permanent identifying code that won’t change over time or from database to database); for an article, or if one is unavailable, the full URL (ideally a permalink, if the site provides one); the date you last accessed the source (for a Web page, though you will rarely need to include an access date in your paper's works-cited entry; see Chapter 24 for more information.)

You can store your working bibliography in a computer file, in specialized citation management software, or even a notebook. Each method has its advantages:

A computer file allows you to move citations into order and incorporate the bibliography into your research project easily using standard software (such as Word or Excel).
A citation manager (such as Ref Works, Zotero, EndNote, or the Bedford Bibliographer) designed for creating bibliographies helps you create the citation in the specific citation style (such as MLA or APA) required by your discipline. These software programs are not perfect, however; you still need to double-check your citations against the models in the style manual you are using or in Chapter 24 or 25 of this text.
A notebook allows you to keep everything — working bibliography, annotations, notes, copies of chapters or articles — all in one place.

Chapters 24 and 25 present two common documentation styles — one created by the Modern Language Association (MLA) and widely used in the humanities, and the other advocated by the American Psychological Association (APA) and used in the social sciences. Other disciplines have their own preferred styles of documentation. Confirm with your instructor which documentation style is required for your assignment so that you can follow that style for all the sources you put into your working bibliography.