Creating a Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of the information resources consulted in the process of preparing your assignment. The bibliography is placed at the end of an assignment and should provide sufficient details to enable the sources to be found with ease and accuracy.

List all items used alphabetically by author (surname then initials), followed by the year of publication in brackets. The titles of specific books, encyclopedias, newspapers, journals etc. are written in italics or underlined. References to encyclopedias, journals, CD ROMs and web pages are made in a different manner from references to books, as shown below.

Books

Author(s) known

Author's surname, initials. (Year), title of book, edition where appropriate, publisher, city.

For example:

Bloggs, J. (1998), Salination of NSW pastureland, Sydney University Press, Sydney.

Smith, F. and Jones, B. (1995), Pastures of New South Wales, Longman, Sydney.

Author not known

School in society (1998), NSW Dept. of School Education, Sydney.

Edited book

White, H. (Ed) (2000), Dictionary of scientists, Oxford University Press, Sydney.

Chapter of an edited book

Druitt, B.C. (1987), 'Pasture loss in irrigation areas' in Jones, T. (Ed) Contemporary issues in NSW agriculture, Intervarsity Press, Sydney.

Encyclopedias

'Name of section', title of encyclopedia (year published) volume number, publisher, city.

For example:

'The Renaissance', World Book Encyclopedia (1998) vol.15, World Book, Chicago.

Newspaper article

Author's surname, initials. (Year), 'title of article', title of newspaper, date.

For example:

Johnson, P. (2001), 'Forgotten wilderness', Sydney Morning Herald, Tues Feb 17.

Journal or periodical article

Author's surname, initials. (Year), 'title of article', title of journal, number or month.

For example:

Harris, G. (1998), 'Effects of irrigation on the Murray River', Australian Rural Quarterly, 23, 2.

CD ROM

Name of disk, (year), (CD ROM), publisher, city. For example:

Conflict fleet to dragon boat, (1998), (CD ROM), Dept. of Multicultural Affairs, Sydney.

Web page

Author's surname, initials. 'title of web page', date of publication. (On-line)

<full URL on one line only>

(Date accessed).

For example:

Arnett, B. 'Earth', 23 June 2006. (Online)

<http://www.nswag.gov.au/salination/earth.html>

(19 August 2006).

Note: Many web pages do not state an author or date posted - provide as much of the required information as is available. The name of the organisation responsible can be used in place of the author's name if no name is given.

Personal communication

Person's surname, initials. (year of contact), (Pers. Comm.), person's address.

For example:

Smith, G.H. (2008), (Pers. Comm.), Main St, Grafton.

or where the person represents an organisation:

Grafton Neighbourhood Centre (2008), (Pers. Comm.), High St, Grafton.

For more detailed information please see the booklet Guidelines for referencing and bibliographies available in the reference section of the College Library.