How to Write a Bibliography for Publications

Years ago, writing a bibliography was a tedious and fairly complex task that required a lot of index cards and a certain amount of specialized knowledge. Forgetting a single detail, such as the name of a publisher or a date of publication, could invalidate an entire entry, and reduce the value of the bibliography significantly. With modern word-processing software, however, the task of creating a bibliography for publications is as simple as filling in the blanks.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer with word-processing software (such as Microsoft Word)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Open your word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word. Navigate to the "References" section, which is a tab on the horizontal ribbon at the top of the page in Word.

    • 2

      Click on "Manage Sources" to open a window called "Source Manager." If you have been adding citations with this program as you wrote your paper, they will appear on the left in the Master List. Use the "Copy" button to move citations from the Master List to the Current List, which will be the basis of your bibliography.

    • 3

      Click on "New" if you have not entered sources before. A window called "Create Source" will open. Select the appropriate type of source you would like to include in the bibliography (such as Journal Article, Book, Book Section, and so on).

    • 4

      Populate the fields provided for that type of source. For Journal Article, for example, you will be asked to enter the author, title (of the article), name of the journal, year of publication, and the pages for the journal. Click OK and repeat until all your sources are included in the Master List, then move them into the Current List.

    • 5

      Click on Bibliography in the References section to insert the bibliography in your paper. The actual format of the entries will vary depending on what kind of citation style you choose. In the popular Modern Language Association (MLA) format, for example, a magazine article would appear as Doe, Jane. "The Best Bibliography Ever." San Diego News 5 January 2010: 16-17, and a book would appear as Doe, John. How to Write a Bibliography. San Francisco: Imagination Press, 2009.

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