A bibliography can also be called works cited, resources, sources or references. Whichever name you choose, this is a list of books, articles, web sites or other sources that have been consulted in the creation of the book. A bibliography can be alphabetized or organized by theme, topic, or order of appearance.

A bibliography provides credibility to your non-fiction (or occasionally fiction) book. It shows that you didn’t just pull this information out of the air. It also gives readers a place to start if they want to do more research on their own. 

An annotated bibliography gives additional publishing information about the article or book, a text description of the source, and how it is relevant to the book. 

For each article, excerpt or book used in your book you should list the title, subtitle, author, publisher or website, year and page number. This information is listed in MLA or APA style. Whichever source you choose, you need to be consistent in using it for every entry. Print and online sources are written slightly differently. 

Bibliography entries are typically formatted using a hanging indent. The first line of the citation is not indented, but if the entry continues to a second or even third line, those are indented. Formatting in this way makes the list easier to skim. 

If you need help formatting your MLA or APA citation for your bibliography, EasyBib has a tool to assist you that you can access here.

Assignment: Create your bibliography.