IELTS Triumph: How to Write A Bibliography

Bibliography Rules

While you have cited your work in your essay, at the end of your work you need to list your sources.

This is so your reader can find the sources should they want to read more. It shows how much research you have done and it can also include work you have read that you didn’t cite in the essay.

There are minimum requirements for how you must present your bibliography.

Follow these rules and you will be fine

Books: Surname, First name initial (Year of publication) Title of Book. Edition. Publisher, Place of publication.

Note: Only state the edition number if it is not the first.

Example: Smith, A. (2003) The Wealth of Nations. BantamClassics, London.

Note: If there are three or more authors you must list every author in your reference list don’t use et al

Chapters in books

Surname, First name initial (Year of publication) Title of chapter, In Editor (ed.) Titleof Book. Publisher, Place of publication, page numbers of chapter.

Books written in a foreign language

Surname, First name initial (Year of publication) Title of Book [Title in original language], Publisher, Place of publication.

Journal articles

Surname, First Name initial (Year of Publication) ‘Title of Article’ Name of Journal,Volume (and number – if relevant), page numbers of article.

eJournal articles

Surname, First name initial (Year of Publication) ‘Title of article’ Title of journal[Online],Volume number, Page numbers of the article Available from: URL, [Date of access]

Example: Franks, J.F. (2012) ‘When to go Back’, Journal of Work, [Online] 6, pp122 – 134 Available from: http://www.flu.ac.uk [Accessed 16th May, 2016].

Web Publication

There is not a standard for Internet sources that everyone agrees on. Make sure you have the URL and the date you looked at it, because the Internet is always changing.

Author Surname, First name initial (Year of Publication) Title of webpage / article. Available from: URL, [Date of access].

Example: Youth, B. (2006) The theory of light. http://www.sope.newcastle.ac.uk/entries/truth-light/, [accessed on 12/01/17] No author

Name of source Year of Publication: Title of webpage. Available on: URL, [Date of access].

Example: BBC News 2017: Is Sweden’s deputy PM trolling Trump in Facebook photo?. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38853399, [accessed on 04/02/17]

Note: Authors must be in alphabetical order in the bibliography

IELTS Triumph