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Dissertation Bibliography & References: 7 Things To Know

Any academic paper, especially a dissertation, requires a basis, which is collected from other researchers’ works. The process of creating the paper requires adding your own thoughts to the basis. Any way, it is important to include references in the writing and put them together in your bibliography.

7 Things You Should Know About Dissertation Reference List/Bibliography

    Publication details.

    While reading any material you want to refer to in your work, make sure to note all details about the book/research paper/lecture/etc. These have to include:

    • the title of the work;
    • name(s) and surname(s) of the author(s);
    • the date of publication;
    • the place of publication;
    • the type of the text (journal, edited book, etc.);
    • the number(s) of the page(s) you took the information from.
    2. Publisher/Printer difference.

    You may confuse the printer and the publisher of the source. Remember, the thing you need is written on a title page of the book or its’ spine.

    3. Avoiding plagiarism.

    Use the reference every time you put a statement or piece of data that is not your own. While the introduction and the conclusion of your dissertation have to be based on your own thoughts, the main body has to be supported by the statements of other researchers. For an example, you may look how references are put in your sources.

    4. Reference format.

    There are many different formats to put the reference. Every University may require different peculiarities, but there are two main formats in common use:

    • ‘author, date’;
    • footnotes and endnotes.

    Having understood these main formats, you will have no difficulties using any other.

    5. The ‘author, date’ format.

    In order to use this way, put the surname(s) of the author(s) in the most appropriate place of the text. In case your source has two authors, include both surnames in the brackets. If there are several authors, you can write the surname of the first author and add et al., which is a Latin abbreviation for ‘and the others’.

    6. Footnotes and endnotes.

    Sometimes it’s required to use footnotes (references are put at the foot of the page) or endnotes (references are put at the end of the writing) in papers. The main idea of this format is not to interrupt the text of the paper, yet acknowledge all the sources.

    7. Punctuation and text formatting.

    Whichever way of referring you choose, make sure to check the punctuation of your list and text formatting (italics, capitals, bold, etc.). Fortunately, professional writers on https://thesisgeek.com/ can do it for you, if you need some help with punctuation and text formatting.

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