How to Write a Bibliography (Cite Sources)

A bibliography is used to give credit to resources you use to create reports. This is done using a specific format. Pay close attention to punctuation! Below are examples of how to cite books, websites, encyclopedias and films as sources of information.

1. Books: To cite a book as a source you need to know the author's name, the title of the book, the city where it was published, the name of the publisher, and the copyright date. You should be able to find this information on the TITLE PAGE (except for the copyright date, which should be on the BACK of the title page).

EXAMPLE:

Pilkey, Dav. The Adventures of Captain Underpants. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

Note the following: Start with author's LAST name, then put a comma and his or her first name. Next, UNDERLINE the title of the book. After the city, put a colon (:). Finally, after the name of the publisher put a comma and the copyright date. END CITATION WITH A PERIOD. 

Check your work! Make sure you put in THREE periods:

1. One after the author's first name.
2. One after the title of the book.
3. One at the end.

2. Web Pages and Online Encyclopedias: You need the author or publisher (if available), title of the web page (in quotations), and web address.

EXAMPLE: Web page (author known)

Johnson, Caleb. "Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages." http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html

EXAMPLE: Web page (publisher known)

Scholastic. "Voyage on the Mayflower." http://teacher.scholastic.com/thanksgiving/mayflower/index.htm

EXAMPLE: Online Encyclopedia (author known)

Nelson, John. "Tree." World Book Online. http://www.worldbookonline.com/na/ar/fs/ar565560.htm.

EXAMPLE: Web page (author and publisher unknown)

"Name of web page." Web address.

[NOTE: If you don't know who wrote or published the web page are you sure the information is reliable?!! Maybe this is a web page you should NOT use!]

3. Encyclopedia (books): You need the author (if available), the title of the article, the title of the encyclopedia, and the copyright date.

EXAMPLE for article about Ben Franklin (author known):

Hutson, James. "Franklin, Benjamin." World Book Encyclopedia. 1994.

EXAMPLE for article about Ben Franklin (author unknown):

"Franklin, Benjamin." World Book Encyclopedia. 1994.

4. Films: You need the title of the film, the format (videocassette, DVD), the film distributor, and the copyright date.

EXAMPLE:

Pilgrim Journey. Videocassette. Multimedia Entertainment, 1986.