Bibliography

The bibliography is the closing section of a project, and though it comes last it is far from a formality. It is the place where you acknowledge every secondary source you consulted while developing the project — the published material that you drew upon rather than collected yourself. Listing these sources keeps the project honest, transparent and verifiable, allowing anyone who reads your report to see where your background information came from and, if they wish, to check it for themselves.

What goes into the bibliography. In this section you record the details of all the secondary sources used in the course of the project. As the book notes, these commonly include:

• magazines,
• newspapers, and
• research reports,

along with any other published documents, articles or official publications from which you obtained data or information.

Why the bibliography matters.

• It gives due credit. Acknowledging the work of others is a basic requirement of honest study; using someone's data or findings without citing them is not acceptable.
• It supports credibility. A project that names its sources is far more convincing than one that does not, because readers can trace the origin of the secondary information and judge how reliable it is.
• It aids verification and further study. By listing exactly where the material was found, the bibliography lets a reader confirm the facts or pursue the topic further.

Good practice. Record each source clearly and completely enough that it can be identified and located again — for a magazine or newspaper, for instance, the name of the publication and the relevant issue or date; for a research report, its title and the body that produced it. It also helps to keep the list orderly, for example arranging entries alphabetically or grouping them by type of source, so that a reader can find a particular reference easily. Only sources you actually consulted should appear; the bibliography is a record of what genuinely informed the project, not a display of unread titles. …