Difference between references, work cited and bibliography
After completing your paper, you may find yourself confused and uncertain about what title to use in the list of sources. Bibliography, work cited and references are all terms that can be used as titles, however, you have to consider the citation style used.
Work cited is majorly used in Modern Language Association (MLA) citation, References American Psychological Association (APA) citation, and bibliography Chicago and Turabian citation.
Unlike references and work cited that contains a list of all the sources cited in the paper, a bibliography contains all the sources used in the composition of the paper, whether they are cited or not cited in the text.
References
In APA citation format the list of sources is entitled references. References are mostly used in psychology, sciences, and education.
Guidelines for references
1. Must be arranged in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name or date of publication if the author’s name is not known.
2. They should be on a new page.
3. All the sources should be centered.
4. The citations should start with the author’s name followed by the date of publication, title, publisher, and URL. For example, Tol, R.S (2009). The Economic Effects of Climate Change. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23(2), 29-51
Work cited
Work cited is used in the MLA citation style. It is mainly used in humanities. Just like references, the work cited contains all the sources cited in the in-text citation.
Guidelines for work cited
1. The list of sources should be on a new page.
2. They should be double spaced.
3. Second and subsequent lines should be indented 0.5 inches from the margin.
4. The sources should be arranged alphabetically depending on the author’s name.
5. The citation should begin with the author’s name followed by the title of the source, publisher, and other contributors. For example, Haines, Andy, and Smith A. “Health Effects of Climate Change.” Journal of economic perspectives 23, no.2 (2009): 29-51
Bibliography
A bibliography is majorly used in Chicago and Turabian citation styles. It consists of all the sources used in the paper whether they are cited or not.
Guidelines for a bibliography
1. Entails a long reference and a matching footnote in the in-text citation.
2. A citation begins with the name of the author followed by the title, publisher, date of publication, and page numbers. For example, Smith, John James. Effects of Climate Change. Springer, 2003.
An annotated bibliography contains a brief note from the author explaining the importance of the source.
