5 Golden Rules For Writing A Dissertation Bibliography Properly

In order to complete a good dissertation, students must be able to finish a strong bibliography. Teachers want to know where the student found their information. This allows the teacher to see the credibility of the sources and the extent of the student's research. To garner the best grade on the assignment, students must learn how to write a bibliography.

Track Sources

From the moment the student begins their paper, they should track all of their sources. These can be compiled in a basic folder that includes any notes, quotes or data. If the student does not track their sources during the research process, they will have a difficult time trying to find them later. By carefully recording any source, students can ensure that they are able to achieve the best grade possible.

Use Note Cards

Note cards are a students best friend. These cards allow the student to carefully track, analyze and compile information. For the best bibliography, students should keep carefully organized note cards. For longer essays, students may want to create folders that organize the note cards by the section they are used in the paper. This allows students to save time on looking up information and makes referencing easier.

Follow Style Guidelines

Each field of study uses a specific writing style. Unfortunately, these different writing styles vary in how a bibliography is written. APA style is normally used for social sciences while MLA is common among the humanities. Chicago Style is typically used by history majors.

Go Back Through the Essay

Even with the best organization, students may forget to include a source. It may be time-consuming, but students should read through their entire dissertation. Every time they see a citation, they should go to the bibliography and make sure that it was included. If something is not properly sourced, it is considered a type of plagiarism. Unless students want to deal with plagiarism charges, they need to make sure that everything is sourced adequately.

Proofread

Like the rest of the dissertation, the bibliography requires proofreading. Students may misspell a title, location or the author's name. Often, the author's name is the issue since many last names are uncommon. Before sending in a dissertation, students must make sure that they have completely edited the bibliography. While editing, they should make sure that each source is correctly formatted according to its type. The different style guides can help students figure out how to correctly format a audio tape, book or website.