Bibliographies

Bibliographies
Bibliographies are records of sources that you have used to research a topic. When you create a bibliography, you want to make sure to give credit to the authors of materials you have used. One day, you will also be creating material that others will read and learn from, so you want to make sure you **give credit** to rightful authors. Bibliographies follow a certain format depending on the method of citation ( really a word for recording your source) as well as the type of source - book, magazine,video,Internet, etc. - that you might use. A bibliography is a list of all the sources you used for research. Another list that is often created is **//Works Cited//** list. With this types of list, you list ONLY the sources that you directly used for the paper. Mr. Puricelli suggests you take a look at this site from Purdue University's Writing Lab for a concise and clear explanation on citations and creating a research paper.

How to Evaluate
When looking for information, make sure you take the time to evaluate your sources. The sixth grade had spent some time in Tech determining how you can validate a web site. You will need to check things like the content, the author or organization, the ease of navigation, the amount of advertising,and sometimes even checking links within the site to see if the are valid and helpful.What you are looking for is reliable and accurate information. QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ASKING YOURSELF: You are better off, when you focus on research sites,to focus on those run by established institutions such as museums, libraries, universities and government agencies. Be sure to check the extension (i.e. .com,.org,etc) and verify the author.
 * 1) Is the information **correct**? - Try to find at least 3 different sources that agree on that information.
 * 2) Is the author an **expert** on the subject? - Find out if the author of a book or article or the creator of a Web site is a specialist on the subject. Don't use a source if its author has a general interest in the subject but no expert knowledge about it.
 * 3) Does the source give a **balanced** point of view? - An author or Web site creator may be trying to persuade you to believe something. Use several different sources to make sure you learn about all points of view on your topic.
 * 4) Is the information on your topic up-to-date? - Look at the copyright dates of books, the issue dates of articles, and the revision dates of Web sites. If you need current information, don't use a source that is more than 5 years old.

Format
When creating a list, whether it is a Bibliography or a Works Cited list, the title should appear on top of the page in the center. This list will be on a seperate sheet of paper used only for the purpose of listing your sources. The second line and any addition lines of each entry should be indented 5 spaces. The entries should be listed in alphabetical order by the name of the author (s). The whole list should be double-spaced. ( You may have received a printed copy of examples of bibliographies from your teacher. Note that the formatting is as important as the arranging of the information in alphabetical order by author's last name.)

Listed below are a number of online sites that can provide bibliographic format information OR actually help you create the bibliographic entry:
 * As long as you have all the information necessary for a bibliography entry, you can use Easybib to format it for you,then copy and paste it into tyour bibliography. Easybib uses the MLA ( Modern Language Association) bibliography format.Easybib is a feature that can be used with YOLINK which has been loaded on to our student machines at school. **REMEMBER**, ** when you have finished your bibliography **, it needs to be arranged **ALPHABETICALLY** by the first letter in the entry!
 * [|The Citation Machin]e - This site is a BIT complicated when you first begin to use it, but can ultimately be a life saver if you take the time to ** CHECK YOUR WORK **and make sure you have followed both the directions from the machine and the directions from your TEACHER properly.
 * A[|utomatic Bibliography Format] - This site is reasonable for using if you want to print the bibliography up right now; you are not able to save on it unless you become a member. Right now, I do not know enough about the company to recommend.

//**References**// This is a very through [|presentation on bibliographic formats] created by a Middle School librarian in Florida. It has not only the various options, but also models how they should be written. I especially like the fact that it also has helpful hints. Here is another great source for [|examples of bibliographic format] depending on the type of source you have used. It was created by Susan Aroldi who is a librarian at Oradell Public School in New Jersey. Her school uses the same format that we use here at Sacred Heart.

End notes and footnotes
[|Slideshow] - This presentation was created by another librarian, slthelen, and stored on slideshare.