How to Write a Bibliography for a Research Paper

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Do not try to “wow” your instructor with a long bibliography when your instructor requests only a works cited page. It is tempting, after doing a lot of work to research a paper, to try to include summaries on each source as you write your paper so that your instructor appreciates how much work you did. That is a trap you want to avoid. MLA style, the one that is most commonly followed in high schools and university writing courses, dictates that you include only the works you actually cited in your paper—not all those that you used.

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  • If your assignment calls for a bibliography, list all the sources you consulted in your research.
  • If your assignment calls for a works cited or references page, include only the sources you quote, summarize, paraphrase, or mention in your paper.
  • If your works cited page includes a source that you did not cite in your paper, delete it.
  • All in-text citations that you used at the end of quotations, summaries, and paraphrases to credit others for their ideas,words, and work must be accompanied by a cited reference in the bibliography or works cited. These references must include specific information about the source so that your readers can identify precisely where the information came from.The citation entries on a works cited page typically include the author’s name, the name of the article, the name of the publication, the name of the publisher (for books), where it was published (for books), and when it was published.

The good news is that you do not have to memorize all the many ways the works cited entries should be written. Numerous helpful style guides are available to show you the information that should be included, in what order it should appear, and how to format it. The format often differs according to the style guide you are using. The Modern Language Association (MLA) follows a particular style that is a bit different from APA (American Psychological Association) style, and both are somewhat different from the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Always ask your teacher which style you should use.

A bibliography usually appears at the end of a paper on its own separate page. All bibliography entries—books, periodicals, Web sites, and nontext sources such radio broadcasts—are listed together in alphabetical order. Books and articles are alphabetized by the author’s last name.

Most teachers suggest that you follow a standard style for listing different types of sources. If your teacher asks you to use a different form, however, follow his or her instructions. Take pride in your bibliography. It represents some of the most important work you’ve done for your research paper—and using proper form shows that you are a serious and careful researcher.

Bibliography Entry for a Book

A bibliography entry for a book begins with the author’s name, which is written in this order: last name, comma, first name, period. After the author’s name comes the title of the book. If you are handwriting your bibliography, underline each title. If you are working on a computer, put the book title in italicized type. Be sure to capitalize the words in the title correctly, exactly as they are written in the book itself. Following the title is the city where the book was published, followed by a colon, the name of the publisher, a comma, the date published, and a period. Here is an example:

Format : Author’s last name, first name. Book Title. Place of publication: publisher, date of publication.

  • A book with one author : Hartz, Paula.  Abortion: A Doctor’s Perspective, a Woman’s Dilemma . New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1992.
  • A book with two or more authors : Landis, Jean M. and Rita J. Simon.  Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?  New York: HarperCollins, 1998.

Bibliography Entry for a Periodical

A bibliography entry for a periodical differs slightly in form from a bibliography entry for a book. For a magazine article, start with the author’s last name first, followed by a comma, then the first name and a period. Next, write the title of the article in quotation marks, and include a period (or other closing punctuation) inside the closing quotation mark. The title of the magazine is next, underlined or in italic type, depending on whether you are handwriting or using a computer, followed by a period. The date and year, followed by a colon and the pages on which the article appeared, come last. Here is an example:

Format:  Author’s last name, first name. “Title of the Article.” Magazine. Month and year of publication: page numbers.

  • Article in a monthly magazine : Crowley, J.E.,T.E. Levitan and R.P. Quinn.“Seven Deadly Half-Truths About Women.”  Psychology Today  March 1978: 94–106.
  • Article in a weekly magazine : Schwartz, Felice N.“Management,Women, and the New Facts of Life.”  Newsweek  20 July 2006: 21–22.
  • Signed newspaper article : Ferraro, Susan. “In-law and Order: Finding Relative Calm.”  The Daily News  30 June 1998: 73.
  • Unsigned newspaper article : “Beanie Babies May Be a Rotten Nest Egg.”  Chicago Tribune  21 June 2004: 12.

Bibliography Entry for a Web Site

For sources such as Web sites include the information a reader needs to find the source or to know where and when you found it. Always begin with the last name of the author, broadcaster, person you interviewed, and so on. Here is an example of a bibliography for a Web site:

Format : Author.“Document Title.” Publication or Web site title. Date of publication. Date of access.

Example : Dodman, Dr. Nicholas. “Dog-Human Communication.”  Pet Place . 10 November 2006.  23 January 2014 < http://www.petplace.com/dogs/dog-human-communication-2/page1.aspx >

After completing the bibliography you can breathe a huge sigh of relief and pat yourself on the back. You probably plan to turn in your work in printed or handwritten form, but you also may be making an oral presentation. However you plan to present your paper, do your best to show it in its best light. You’ve put a great deal of work and thought into this assignment, so you want your paper to look and sound its best. You’ve completed your research paper!

Back to  How To Write A Research Paper .

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If you are using Chicago style footnotes or endnotes, you should include a bibliography at the end of your paper that provides complete citation information for all of the sources you cite in your paper. Bibliography entries are formatted differently from notes. For bibliography entries, you list the sources alphabetically by last name, so you will list the last name of the author or creator first in each entry. You should single-space within a bibliography entry and double-space between them. When an entry goes longer than one line, use a hanging indent of .5 inches for subsequent lines. Here’s a link to a sample bibliography that shows layout and spacing . You can find a sample of note format here .

Complete note vs. shortened note

Here’s an example of a complete note and a shortened version of a note for a book:

1. Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 27-35.

1. Karen Ho, Liquidated , 27-35.

Note vs. Bibliography entry

The bibliography entry that corresponds with each note is very similar to the longer version of the note, except that the author’s last and first name are reversed in the bibliography entry. To see differences between note and bibliography entries for different types of sources, check this section of the Chicago Manual of Style .

For Liquidated , the bibliography entry would look like this:

Ho, Karen, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street . Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.

Citing a source with two or three authors

If you are citing a source with two or three authors, list their names in your note in the order they appear in the original source. In the bibliography, invert only the name of the first author and use “and” before the last named author.

1. Melissa Borja and Jacob Gibson, “Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 17, no. 3 (2019): 80-81, https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2019.1643983 .

Shortened note:

1. Borja and Gibson, “Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics,” 80-81.

Bibliography:

Borja, Melissa, and Jacob Gibson. “Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees.” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 17. no. 3 (2019): 80–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2019.1643983 .

Citing a source with more than three authors

If you are citing a source with more than three authors, include all of them in the bibliography, but only include the first one in the note, followed by et al. ( et al. is the shortened form of the Latin et alia , which means “and others”).

1. Justine M. Nagurney, et al., “Risk Factors for Disability After Emergency Department Discharge in Older Adults,” Academic Emergency Medicine 27, no. 12 (2020): 1271.

Short version of note:

1. Justine M. Nagurney, et al., “Risk Factors for Disability,” 1271.

Nagurney, Justine M., Ling Han, Linda Leo‐Summers, Heather G. Allore, Thomas M. Gill, and Ula Hwang. “Risk Factors for Disability After Emergency Department Discharge in Older Adults.” Academic Emergency Medicine 27, no. 12 (2020): 1270–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.14088 .

Citing a book consulted online

If you are citing a book you consulted online, you should include a URL, DOI, or the name of the database where you found the book.

1. Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 27-35, https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1215/9780822391371 .

Bibliography entry:

Ho, Karen. Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street . Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1215/9780822391371 .

Citing an e-book consulted outside of a database

If you are citing an e-book that you accessed outside of a database, you should indicate the format. If you read the book in a format without fixed page numbers (like Kindle, for example), you should not include the page numbers that you saw as you read. Instead, include chapter or section numbers, if possible.

1. Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), chap. 2, Kindle.

Ho, Karen. Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street . Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. Kindle.

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Library & Information Science Education Network

What is Bibliography?: Meaning, Types, and Importance

Md. Ashikuzzaman

A bibliography is a fundamental component of academic research and writing that serves as a comprehensive list of sources consulted and referenced in a particular work. It plays a crucial role in validating the credibility and reliability of the information presented by providing readers with the necessary information to locate and explore the cited sources. A well-constructed bibliography not only demonstrates the depth and breadth of research undertaken but also acknowledges the intellectual contributions of others, ensuring transparency and promoting the integrity of scholarly work. By including a bibliography, writers enable readers to delve further into the subject matter, engage in critical analysis, and build upon existing knowledge.

1.1 What is a Bibliography?

A bibliography is a compilation of sources that have been utilized in the process of researching and writing a piece of work. It serves as a comprehensive list of references, providing information about the various sources consulted, such as books, articles, websites, and other materials. The purpose of a bibliography is twofold: to give credit to the original authors or creators of the sources used and to allow readers to locate and access those sources for further study or verification. A well-crafted bibliography includes essential details about each source, including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication date, and publication information. By having a bibliography, writers demonstrate the extent of their research, provide a foundation for their arguments, and enhance the credibility and reliability of their work.

1.2 Types of Bibliography.

The bibliography is a multifaceted discipline encompassing different types, each designed to serve specific research purposes and requirements. These various types of bibliographies provide valuable tools for researchers, scholars, and readers to navigate the vast realm of literature and sources available. From comprehensive overviews to specialized focuses, the types of bibliographies offer distinct approaches to organizing, categorizing, and presenting information. Whether compiling an exhaustive list of sources, providing critical evaluations, or focusing on specific subjects or industries, these types of bibliographies play a vital role in facilitating the exploration, understanding, and dissemination of knowledge in diverse academic and intellectual domains.

As a discipline, a bibliography encompasses various types that cater to different research needs and contexts. The two main categories of bibliographies are

1. General bibliography, and 2. Special bibliography.

1.2.1. General Bibliography:

A general bibliography is a comprehensive compilation of sources covering a wide range of subjects, disciplines, and formats. It aims to provide a broad overview of published materials, encompassing books, articles, journals, websites, and other relevant resources. A general bibliography typically includes works from various authors, covering diverse topics and spanning different periods. It is a valuable tool for researchers, students, and readers seeking a comprehensive collection of literature within a specific field or across multiple disciplines. General bibliographies play a crucial role in guiding individuals in exploring a subject, facilitating the discovery of relevant sources, and establishing a foundation for further research and academic pursuits.

The general bibliography encompasses various subcategories that comprehensively cover global, linguistic, national, and regional sources. These subcategories are as follows:

  • Universal Bibliography: Universal bibliography aims to compile a comprehensive list of all published works worldwide, regardless of subject or language. It seeks to encompass human knowledge and includes sources from diverse fields, cultures, and periods. Universal bibliography is a monumental effort to create a comprehensive record of the world’s published works, making it a valuable resource for scholars, librarians, and researchers interested in exploring the breadth of human intellectual output.
  • Language Bibliography: Language bibliography focuses on compiling sources specific to a particular language or group of languages. It encompasses publications written in a specific language, regardless of the subject matter. Language bibliographies are essential for language scholars, linguists, and researchers interested in exploring the literature and resources available in a particular language or linguistic group.
  • National Bibliography: The national bibliography documents and catalogs all published materials within a specific country. It serves as a comprehensive record of books, journals, periodicals, government publications, and other sources published within a nation’s borders. National bibliographies are essential for preserving a country’s cultural heritage, facilitating research within specific national contexts, and providing a comprehensive overview of a nation’s intellectual output.
  • Regional Bibliography: A regional bibliography compiles sources specific to a particular geographic region or area. It aims to capture the literature, publications, and resources related to a specific region, such as a state, province, or local area. Regional bibliographies are valuable for researchers interested in exploring a specific geographic region’s literature, history, culture, and unique aspects.

1.2.2. Special Bibliography:

Special bibliography refers to a type of bibliography that focuses on specific subjects, themes, or niche areas within a broader field of study. It aims to provide a comprehensive and in-depth compilation of sources specifically relevant to the chosen topic. Special bibliographies are tailored to meet the research needs of scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts seeking specialized information and resources.

Special bibliographies can cover a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to specific disciplines, subfields, historical periods, geographical regions, industries, or even specific authors or works. They are designed to gather and present a curated selection of sources considered important, authoritative, or influential within the chosen subject area.

Special bibliography encompasses several subcategories that focus on specific subjects, authors, forms of literature, periods, categories of literature, and types of materials. These subcategories include:

  • Subject Bibliography: Subject bibliography compiles sources related to a specific subject or topic. It aims to provide a comprehensive list of resources within a particular field. Subject bibliographies are valuable for researchers seeking in-depth information on a specific subject area, as they gather relevant sources and materials to facilitate focused research.
  • Author and Bio-bibliographies: Author and bio-bibliographies focus on compiling sources specific to individual authors. They provide comprehensive lists of an author’s works, including their books, articles, essays, and other publications. Bio-bibliographies include biographical information about the author, such as their background, career, and contributions to their respective fields.
  • Bibliography of Forms of Literature: This bibliography focuses on specific forms or genres of literature, such as poetry, drama, fiction, or non-fiction. It provides a compilation of works within a particular literary form, enabling researchers to explore the literature specific to their interests or to gain a comprehensive understanding of a particular genre.
  • Bibliography of Materials of Particular Periods: Bibliographies of materials of particular periods compile sources specific to a particular historical period or time frame. They include works published or created during that period, offering valuable insights into the era’s literature, art, culture, and historical context.
  • Bibliographies of Special Categories of Literature: This category compiles sources related to special categories or themes. Examples include bibliographies of children’s literature, feminist literature, postcolonial literature, or science fiction literature. These bibliographies cater to specific interests or perspectives within the broader field of literature.
  • Bibliographies of Specific Types of Materials: Bibliographies of specific materials focus on compiling sources within a particular format or medium. Examples include bibliographies of manuscripts, rare books, visual art, films, or musical compositions. These bibliographies provide valuable resources for researchers interested in exploring a specific medium or format.

1.3 Functions of Bibliography

A bibliography serves several important functions in academic research, writing, and knowledge dissemination. Here are some key functions:

  • Documentation: One of the primary functions of a bibliography is to document and record the sources consulted during the research process. By providing accurate and detailed citations for each source, it can ensure transparency, traceability, and accountability in scholarly work. It allows readers and other researchers to verify the information, trace the origins of ideas, and locate the original sources for further study.
  • Attribution and Credit: The bibliography plays a crucial role in giving credit to the original authors and creators of the ideas, information, and materials used in research work. By citing the sources, the authors acknowledge the intellectual contributions of others and demonstrate academic integrity. This enables proper attribution and prevents plagiarism, ensuring ethical research practices and upholding the principles of academic honesty.
  • Verification and Quality Control: It acts as a means of verification and quality control in academic research. Readers and reviewers can assess the information’s reliability, credibility, and accuracy by including a list of sources. This allows others to evaluate the strength of the evidence, assess the validity of the arguments, and determine the scholarly rigor of a work.
  • Further Reading and Exploration: The bibliography is valuable for readers who wish to delve deeper into a particular subject or topic. By providing a list of cited sources, the bibliography offers a starting point for further reading and exploration. It guides readers to related works, seminal texts, and authoritative materials, facilitating their intellectual growth and expanding their knowledge base.
  • Preservation of Knowledge: The bibliography contributes to the preservation of knowledge by cataloguing and documenting published works. It records the intellectual output within various fields, ensuring that valuable information is not lost over time. A bibliography facilitates the organization and accessibility of literature, making it possible to locate and retrieve sources for future reference and research.
  • Intellectual Dialogue and Scholarship: The bibliography fosters intellectual dialogue and scholarship by facilitating the exchange of ideas and enabling researchers to build upon existing knowledge. By citing relevant sources, researchers enter into conversations with other scholars, engaging in a scholarly discourse that advances knowledge within their field of study.

A bibliography serves the important functions of documenting sources, crediting original authors, verifying information, guiding further reading, preserving knowledge, and fostering intellectual dialogue. It plays a crucial role in maintaining academic research’s integrity, transparency, and quality and ensures that scholarly work is built upon a solid foundation of evidence and ideas.

1.4 Importance of Bibliographic Services

Bibliographic services are crucial in academia, research, and information management. They are a fundamental tool for organizing, accessing, and preserving knowledge . From facilitating efficient research to ensuring the integrity and credibility of scholarly work, bibliographic services hold immense importance in various domains.

Bibliographic services are vital for researchers and scholars. These services provide comprehensive and reliable access to various resources, such as books, journals, articles, and other scholarly materials. By organizing these resources in a structured manner, bibliographic services make it easier for researchers to locate relevant information for their studies. Researchers can explore bibliographic databases, catalogues, and indexes to identify appropriate sources, saving them valuable time and effort. This accessibility enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of research, enabling scholars to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields.

Bibliographic services also aid in the process of citation and referencing. Proper citation is an essential aspect of academic integrity and intellectual honesty. Bibliographic services assist researchers in accurately citing the sources they have used in their work, ensuring that credit is given where it is due. This not only acknowledges the original authors and their contributions but also strengthens the credibility and authenticity of the research. By providing citation guidelines, formatting styles, and citation management tools, bibliographic services simplify the citation process, making it more manageable for researchers.

Another crucial aspect of bibliographic services is their role in preserving and archiving knowledge. Libraries and institutions that provide bibliographic services serve as custodians of valuable information. They collect, organize, and preserve various physical and digital resources for future generations. This preservation ensures that knowledge is not lost or forgotten over time. Bibliographic services enable researchers, students, and the general public to access historical and scholarly materials, fostering continuous learning and intellectual growth.

Bibliographic services contribute to the dissemination of research and scholarly works. They provide platforms and databases for publishing and sharing academic outputs. By cataloguing and indexing research articles, journals, and conference proceedings, bibliographic services enhance the discoverability and visibility of scholarly work. This facilitates knowledge exchange, collaboration, and innovation within academic communities. Researchers can rely on bibliographic services to share their findings with a broader audience, fostering intellectual dialogue and advancing their respective fields.

In Summary, bibliographic services are immensely important in academia, research, and information management. They facilitate efficient analysis, aid in proper citation and referencing, preserve knowledge for future generations, and contribute to the dissemination of research. These services form the backbone of scholarly pursuits, enabling researchers, students, and professionals to access, utilize, and contribute to the vast wealth of knowledge available. As we continue to rely on information and research to drive progress and innovation, the significance of bibliographic services will only grow, making them indispensable resources in pursuing knowledge.

References:

  • Reddy, P. V. G. (1999). Bio bibliography of the faculty in social sciences departments of Sri Krishnadevaraya university Anantapur A P India.
  • Sharma, J.S. Fundamentals of Bibliography, New Delhi : S. Chand & Co.. Ltd.. 1977.  p.5.
  • Quoted in George Schneider, Theory of History of Bibliography. Ralph Robert Shaw, trans., New York : Scare Crow Press, 1934, p.13.
  • Funk Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English language – International ed – Vol. I – New York : Funku Wagnalls Co., C 1965, p. 135.
  • Shores, Louis. Basic reference sources. Chicago : American Library Association, 1954. p. 11-12.
  • Ranganathan, S.R., Documentation and its facts. Bombay : Asia Publishing House. 1963. p.49.
  • Katz, William A. Introduction to reference work. 4th ed. New York : McGraw Hill, 1982. V. 1, p.42.
  • Robinson, A.M.L. Systematic Bibliography. Bombay : Asia Publishing House, 1966. p.12.
  • Chakraborthi, M.L. Bibliography : In Theory and practice, Calcutta : The World press (P) Ltd.. 1975. p.343.

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National bibliography, bibliographic services.

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How to Write a Bibliography in APA Format

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

bibliography means in research

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

bibliography means in research

  • APA Bibliography
  • How to Create One
  • Why You Need It

Sample Bibliography

An APA format bibliography lists all of the sources that might be used in a paper. A bibliography can be a great tool to help you keep track of information during the research and writing process. In some cases, your instructor may require you to include a bibliography as part of your assignment.

At a Glance

A well-written APA format bibliography can help you keep track of information and sources as you research and write your psychology paper. To create a bibliography, gather up all of the sources that you might use in your paper. Create an APA format reference for each source and then write a brief annotation. Your annotation should be a brief summary of what each reference is about. You can quickly refer to these annotations When writing your paper and determine which to include.

What Is an APA Format Bibliography?

An APA format bibliography is an alphabetical listing of all sources that might be used to write an academic paper, essay, article, or research paper—particularly work that is covering psychology or psychology-related topics. APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association (APA). This format is used by many psychology professors, students, and researchers.

Even if it is not a required part of your assignment, writing a bibliography can help you keep track of your sources and make it much easier to create your final reference page in proper APA format.

Creating an APA Bibliography

A bibliography is similar in many ways to a reference section , but there are some important differences. While a reference section includes every source that was actually used in your paper, a bibliography may include sources that you considered using but may have dismissed because they were irrelevant or outdated.

Bibliographies can be a great way to keep track of information you might want to use in your paper and to organize the information that you find in different sources. The following are four steps you can follow to create your APA format bibliography.

Start on a New Page

Your working bibliography should be kept separate from the rest of your paper. Start it on a new page, with the title "Bibliography" centered at the top and in bold text. Some people use the title "References" instead, so it's best to check with your professor or instructor about which they prefer you to use.

Gather Your Sources

Compile all the sources you might possibly use in your paper. While you might not use all of these sources in your paper, having a complete list will make it easier later on when you prepare your reference section.

Gathering your sources can be particularly helpful when outlining and writing your paper.

By quickly glancing through your working bibliography, you will be able to get a better idea of which sources will be the most appropriate to support your thesis and main points.

Reference Each Source

Your references should be listed alphabetically by the author’s last name, and they should be double-spaced. The first line of each reference should be flush left, while each additional line of a single reference should be a few spaces to the right of the left margin, which is known as a hanging indent.

The format of each source is as follows for academic journals:

  • Last name of first author (followed by their first initial)
  • The year the source was published in parentheses
  • The title of the source
  • The journal that published the source (in italics)
  • The volume number, if applicable (in italics)
  • The issue number, if applicable
  • Page numbers (in parentheses)
  • The URL or "doi" in lowercase letters followed by a colon and the doi number, if applicable

The following examples are scholarly articles in academic journals, cited in APA format:

  • Kulacaoglu, F., & Kose, S. (2018). Borderline personality disorder (BPD): In the midst of vulnerability, chaos, and awe.  Brain sciences ,  8 (11), 201. doi:10.3390/brainsci8110201
  • Cattane, N., Rossi, R., & Lanfredi, M. (2017). Borderline personality disorder and childhood trauma: exploring the affected biological systems and mechanisms.  BMC Psychiatry,   18 (221). doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1383-2

Visit the American Psychological Association's website for more information on citing other types of sources including online media, audiovisual media, and more.

Create an Annotation for Each Source

Normally a bibliography contains only references' information, but in some cases you might decide to create an annotated bibliography. An annotation is a summary or evaluation of the source.

An annotation is a brief description of approximately 150 words describing the information in the source, your evaluation of its credibility, and how it pertains to your topic. Writing one of these for each piece of research will make your writing process faster and easier.

This step helpful in determining which sources to ultimately use in your paper. Your instructor may also require it as part of the assignment so they can assess your thought process and understanding of your topic.

Reasons to Write a Bibliography

One of the biggest reasons to create an APA format bibliography is simply to make the research and writing process easier.

If you do not have a comprehensive list of all of your references, you might find yourself scrambling to figure out where you found certain bits of information that you included in your paper.

A bibliography is also an important tool that your readers can use to access your sources.

While writing an annotated bibliography might not be required for your assignment, it can be a very useful step. The process of writing an annotation helps you learn more about your topic, develop a deeper understanding of the subject, and become better at evaluating various sources of information.

The following is an example of an APA format bibliography by the website EasyBib:

There are many online resources that demonstrate different formats of bibliographies, including the American Psychological Association website . Purdue University's Online Writing Lab also has examples of formatting an APA format bibliography.

Check out this video on their YouTube channel which provides detailed instructions on formatting an APA style bibliography in Microsoft Word.

You can check out the Purdue site for more information on writing an annotated APA bibliography as well.

What This Means For You

If you are taking a psychology class, you may be asked to create a bibliography as part of the research paper writing process. Even if your instructor does not expressly require a bibliography, creating one can be a helpful way to help structure your research and make the writing process more manageable.

For psychology majors , it can be helpful to save any bibliographies you have written throughout your studies so that you can refer back to them later when studying for exams or writing papers for other psychology courses.

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . 7th Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2020.

Masic I. The importance of proper citation of references in biomedical articles.   Acta Inform Med . 2013;21(3):148–155. doi:10.5455/aim.2013.21.148-155

American Psychological Association. How do you format a bibliography in APA Style?

Cornell University Library. How to prepare an annotated bibliography: The annotated bibliography .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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  • Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples

Published on 1 May 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 7 November 2022.

In Harvard style , the bibliography or reference list provides full references for the sources you used in your writing.

  • A reference list consists of entries corresponding to your in-text citations .
  • A bibliography sometimes also lists sources that you consulted for background research, but did not cite in your text.

The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. If in doubt about which to include, check with your instructor or department.

The information you include in a reference varies depending on the type of source, but it usually includes the author, date, and title of the work, followed by details of where it was published. You can automatically generate accurate references using our free reference generator:

Harvard Reference Generator

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Formatting a harvard style bibliography, harvard reference examples, referencing sources with multiple authors, referencing sources with missing information, frequently asked questions about harvard bibliographies.

Sources are alphabetised by author last name. The heading ‘Reference list’ or ‘Bibliography’ appears at the top.

Each new source appears on a new line, and when an entry for a single source extends onto a second line, a hanging indent is used:

Harvard bibliography

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Reference list or bibliography entries always start with the author’s last name and initial, the publication date and the title of the source. The other information required varies depending on the source type. Formats and examples for the most common source types are given below.

  • Entire book
  • Book chapter
  • Translated book
  • Edition of a book

Journal articles

  • Print journal
  • Online-only journal with DOI
  • Online-only journal without DOI
  • General web page
  • Online article or blog
  • Social media post

Newspapers and magazines

  • Newspaper article
  • Magazine article

When a source has up to three authors, list all of them in the order their names appear on the source. If there are four or more, give only the first name followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Sometimes a source won’t list all the information you need for your reference. Here’s what to do when you don’t know the publication date or author of a source.

Some online sources, as well as historical documents, may lack a clear publication date. In these cases, you can replace the date in the reference list entry with the words ‘no date’. With online sources, you still include an access date at the end:

When a source doesn’t list an author, you can often list a corporate source as an author instead, as with ‘Scribbr’ in the above example. When that’s not possible, begin the entry with the title instead of the author:

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Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

  • A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
  • A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

In Harvard style referencing , to distinguish between two sources by the same author that were published in the same year, you add a different letter after the year for each source:

  • (Smith, 2019a)
  • (Smith, 2019b)

Add ‘a’ to the first one you cite, ‘b’ to the second, and so on. Do the same in your bibliography or reference list .

To create a hanging indent for your bibliography or reference list :

  • Highlight all the entries
  • Click on the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the ‘Paragraph’ tab in the top menu.
  • In the pop-up window, under ‘Special’ in the ‘Indentation’ section, use the drop-down menu to select ‘Hanging’.
  • Then close the window with ‘OK’.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, November 07). Harvard Style Bibliography | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 18 March 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-bibliography/

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31 Bibliography

Annotated bibliography.

A  bibliography  is an alphabetized list of sources showing the author, date, and publication information for each source.

An  annotation  is like a note; it’s a brief paragraph that explains what the writer learned from the source.

Annotated bibliographies combine bibliographies and brief notes about the sources.

Writers often create annotated bibliographies as a part of a research project, as a means of recording their thoughts and deciding which sources to actually use to support the purpose of their research. Some writers include annotated bibliographies at the end of a research paper as a way of offering their insights about the source’s usability to their readers.

Instructors in college often assign annotated bibliographies as a means of helping students think through their source’s quality and appropriateness to their research question or topic.  (23)

Formatting the Annotated Bibliography

The  citations  (bibliographic information – title, date, author, publisher, etc.) in the annotated bibliography are formatted using the particular style manual (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) that your discipline requires.

Annotations  are written in paragraph form, usually 3-7 sentences (or 80-200 words). Depending on your assignment your annotations will generally include the following:

  • Summary:  Summarize the information given in the source. Note the intended audience. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?
  • Evaluate/Assess:  Is this source credible? Who wrote it? What are their credentials? Who is the publisher? Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?
  • Reflect/React:  Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. State your reaction and any additional questions you have about the information in your source. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic? Compare each source to other sources in your annotated bibliography in terms of its usefulness and thoroughness in helping answer your research question.  (24)

Annotated Bibliography Examples

In the following examples, the bold font indicates the reflection component of the annotation that is sometimes required in an assignment.

APA style 6  th  edition for the journal citation:

Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults.  American Sociological Review  , 51, 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families.  In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.  (25)

MLA 8 style for a website citation:

Anderson, L.V. “Can You Libel Someone on Twitter?” Slate.com, The Slate Group, A Graham Holdings. Company, 26 Nov. 2012, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/explainer/2012/11/libel_on_twitter_you_can_be_sued_for_libel_for_what_you_write_on_facebook.html . Accessed 2 Apr. 2018.

This article provides an overview of defamation law in the United States compared to the United Kingdom, in layman’s terms. It also explains how defamation law applies to social media platforms and individuals who use social media. Libelous comments posted on social media can be subject to lawsuit, depending on the content of the statement, and whether the person is a public or private figure. The article is found on the website, Slate.com, which is a web-based daily magazine that focuses on general interest topics. While the writer’s credentials are unavailable, she does thank Sandra S. Baron, Executive Director of the Media Law Resource Center and Jeff Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project for providing information. She also links to the United States laws that she cites.  I would use the article to compare United States law to United Kingdom law and for background information.  (1)

Information creation is a process. Scholars produce information in the forms of peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and conference presentations, to name a few. As a student researcher, you will be expected to create research projects such as essays, reports, visual presentations, and annotated bibliographies. Most scholarly writing makes an argument—whether it is to persuade your readers that your claim is true or to act on it. In order to create a sound argument, you must gather sources that will argue and counter-argue your claims.

When creating an argument, the researcher typically organizes their report or presentation with the claim/thesis at the beginning, which answers their research question. Then they provide reasons and supporting evidence to validate their claim. They acknowledge and respond to counter-arguments by citing sources that disagree with them, and refuting or conceding those counter-claims. Their conclusion restates their thesis and discusses why their research is important to the scholarly conversation, as well as potential areas for further research.

A Roman numeral outline is one way to organize your argument before you begin writing. It helps to identify sources for each section of your outline, so you know if you need further research to support your argument.

An annotated bibliography is one way to present research, and can be used as a cumulative assignment, or a precursor to your actual research paper. A good annotated bibliography will provide a variety of sources that met all your research needs—background, evidence, argument, and method. In other words, you should be able to take your annotated bibliography and write a complete research report based on those sources.  (1)

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This chapter describes the fundamental principles and practices of referencing sources in scientific writing and publishing. Understanding plagiarism and improper referencing of the source material is paramount to producing original work that contains an authentic voice. Citing references helps authors to avoid plagiarism, give credit to the original author, and allow potential readers to refer to the legitimate sources and learn more information. Furthermore, quality references serve as an invaluable resource that can enlighten future research in a field. This chapter outlines fundamental aspects of referencing as well as how these sources are formatted as per recommended citation styles. Appropriate referencing is an important tool that can be utilized to develop the credibility of the author and the arguments presented. Additionally, online software can be useful in helping the author organize their sources and promote proper collaboration in scientific writing.

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A guide to database and catalog searching: bibliographic elements. Northwestern State University. https://libguides.nsula.edu/howtosearch/bibelements . Updated 5 Aug 2021; Accessed 28 Dec 2022

Research process: step 7: citing and keeping track of sources. University of Rio Grande. https://libguides.rio.edu/c.php?g=620382&p=4320145 . Updated 12 Dec 2022; Accessed 28 Dec 2022

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Citation Guide

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What is a Bibliography?

What is an annotated bibliography, introduction to the annotated bibliography.

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  • the authors' names
  • the titles of the works
  • the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources
  • the dates your copies were published
  • the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-source volumes)

Ok, so what's an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is the same as a bibliography with one important difference: in an annotated bibliography, the bibliographic information is followed by a brief description of the content, quality, and usefulness of the source. For more, see the section at the bottom of this page.

What are Footnotes?

Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page. They cite references or comment on a designated part of the text above it. For example, say you want to add an interesting comment to a sentence you have written, but the comment is not directly related to the argument of your paragraph. In this case, you could add the symbol for a footnote. Then, at the bottom of the page you could reprint the symbol and insert your comment. Here is an example:

This is an illustration of a footnote. 1 The number “1” at the end of the previous sentence corresponds with the note below. See how it fits in the body of the text? 1 At the bottom of the page you can insert your comments about the sentence preceding the footnote.

When your reader comes across the footnote in the main text of your paper, he or she could look down at your comments right away, or else continue reading the paragraph and read your comments at the end. Because this makes it convenient for your reader, most citation styles require that you use either footnotes or endnotes in your paper. Some, however, allow you to make parenthetical references (author, date) in the body of your work.

Footnotes are not just for interesting comments, however. Sometimes they simply refer to relevant sources -- they let your reader know where certain material came from, or where they can look for other sources on the subject. To decide whether you should cite your sources in footnotes or in the body of your paper, you should ask your instructor or see our section on citation styles.

Where does the little footnote mark go?

Whenever possible, put the footnote at the end of a sentence, immediately following the period or whatever punctuation mark completes that sentence. Skip two spaces after the footnote before you begin the next sentence. If you must include the footnote in the middle of a sentence for the sake of clarity, or because the sentence has more than one footnote (try to avoid this!), try to put it at the end of the most relevant phrase, after a comma or other punctuation mark. Otherwise, put it right at the end of the most relevant word. If the footnote is not at the end of a sentence, skip only one space after it.

What's the difference between Footnotes and Endnotes?

The only real difference is placement -- footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page, while endnotes all appear at the end of your document. If you want your reader to read your notes right away, footnotes are more likely to get your reader's attention. Endnotes, on the other hand, are less intrusive and will not interrupt the flow of your paper.

If I cite sources in the Footnotes (or Endnotes), how's that different from a Bibliography?

Sometimes you may be asked to include these -- especially if you have used a parenthetical style of citation. A "works cited" page is a list of all the works from which you have borrowed material. Your reader may find this more convenient than footnotes or endnotes because he or she will not have to wade through all of the comments and other information in order to see the sources from which you drew your material. A "works consulted" page is a complement to a "works cited" page, listing all of the works you used, whether they were useful or not.

Isn't a "works consulted" page the same as a "bibliography," then?

Well, yes. The title is different because "works consulted" pages are meant to complement "works cited" pages, and bibliographies may list other relevant sources in addition to those mentioned in footnotes or endnotes. Choosing to title your bibliography "Works Consulted" or "Selected Bibliography" may help specify the relevance of the sources listed.

This information has been freely provided by plagiarism.org and can be reproduced without the need to obtain any further permission as long as the URL of the original article/information is cited. 

How Do I Cite Sources? (n.d.) Retrieved October 19, 2009, from http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_how_do_i_cite_sources.html

The Importance of an Annotated Bibliography

An Annotated Bibliography is a collection of annotated citations. These annotations contain your executive notes on a source. Use the annotated bibliography to help remind you of later of the important parts of an article or book. Putting the effort into making good notes will pay dividends when it comes to writing a paper!

Good Summary

Being an executive summary, the annotated citation should be fairly brief, usually no more than one page, double spaced.

  • Focus on summarizing the source in your own words.
  • Avoid direct quotations from the source, at least those longer than a few words. However, if you do quote, remember to use quotation marks. You don't want to forget later on what is your own summary and what is a direct quotation!
  • If an author uses a particular term or phrase that is important to the article, use that phrase within quotation marks. Remember that whenever you quote, you must explain the meaning and context of the quoted word or text. 

Common Elements of an Annotated Citation

  • Summary of an Article or Book's thesis or most important points (Usually two to four sentences)
  • Summary of a source's methodological approach. That is, what is the source? How does it go about proving its point(s)? Is it mostly opinion based? If it is a scholarly source, describe the research method (study, etc.) that the author used. (Usually two to five sentences)
  • Your own notes and observations on the source beyond the summary. Include your initial analysis here. For example, how will you use this source? Perhaps you would write something like, "I will use this source to support my point about . . . "
  • Formatting Annotated Bibliographies This guide from Purdue OWL provides examples of an annotated citation in MLA and APA formats.

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What Is a Bibliography?

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A bibliography is a list of books, scholarly  articles , speeches, private records, diaries, interviews, laws, letters, websites, and other sources you use when researching a topic and writing a paper. The bibliography appears at the end.

The main purpose of a bibliography entry is to give credit to authors whose work you've consulted in your research. It also makes it easy for a reader to find out more about your topic by delving into the research that you used to write your paper. In the academic world, papers aren't written in a vacuum; academic journals are the way new research on a topic circulates and previous work is built upon.

Bibliography entries must be written in a very specific format, but that format will depend on the particular style of writing you follow. Your teacher or publisher will tell you which style to use, and for most academic papers it will be either MLA , American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago (author-date citations or footnotes/endnotes format), or Turabian style .

The bibliography is sometimes also called the references, works cited, or works consulted page.

Components of a Bibliography Entry

Bibliography entries will compile:

  • Authors and/or editors (and translator, if applicable)
  • Title of your source (as well as edition, volume, and the book title if your source is a chapter or article in a multi-author book with an editor)
  • Publication information (the city, state, name of the publisher, date published, page numbers consulted, and URL or DOI, if applicable)
  • Access date, in the case of online sources (check with the style guide at the beginning of your research as to whether you need to track this information)

Order and Formatting

Your entries should be listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. If you are using two publications that are written by the same author, the order and format will depend on the style guide.

In MLA, Chicago, and Turabian style, you should list the duplicate-author entries in alphabetical order according to the title of the work. The author's name is written as normal for his or her first entry, but for the second entry, you will replace the author's name with three long dashes. 

In APA style, you list the duplicate-author entries in chronological order of publication, placing the earliest first. The name of the author is used for all entries.

For works with more than one author, styles vary as to whether you invert the name of any authors after the first. Whether you use title casing or sentence-style casing on titles of sources, and whether you separate elements with commas or periods also varies among different style guides. Consult the guide's manual for more detailed information.

Bibliography entries are usually formatted using a hanging indent. This means that the first line of each citation is not indented, but subsequent lines of each citation are indented. Check with your instructor or publication to see if this format is required, and look up information in your word processor's help program if you do not know how to create a hanging indent with it.

Chicago's Bibliography vs. Reference System

Chicago has two different ways of citing works consulted: using a bibliography or a references page. Use of a bibliography or a references page depends on whether you're using author-date parenthetical citations in the paper or footnotes/endnotes. If you're using parenthetical citations, then you'll follow the references page formatting. If you're using footnotes or endnotes, you'll use a bibliography. The difference in the formatting of entries between the two systems is the location of the date of the cited publication. In a bibliography, it goes at the end of an entry. In a references list in the author-date style, it goes right after the author's name, similar to APA style.

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This guide created by Geoffrey Ross, May 4, 2017.

A bibliography is a list of documents, usually published documents like books and articles. This type of bibliography is more accurately called "enumerative bibliography". An enumerative bibliography will attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, within whatever parameters established by the bibliographer.

Bibliographies will list both secondary and primary sources. They are perhaps most valuable to historians for identifying primary sources. (They are still useful for finding secondary sources, but increasingly historians rely on electronic resources, like article databases, to locate secondary sources.)

Think of a bibliography as a guide to the source base for a specific field of inquiry. A high quality bibliography will help you understand what kinds of sources are available, but also what kinds of sources are not available (either because they were never preserved, or because they were never created in the first place).

Take for example the following bibliography:

  • British Autobiographies: An Annotated Bibliography of British Autobiographies Published or Written before 1951 by William Matthews Call Number: 016.920041 M43BR Publication Date: 1955

Like many bibliographies, this one includes an introduction or prefatory essay that gives a bibliographic overview of the topic. If you were hoping to use autobiographies for a paper on medieval history, the following information from the preface would save you from wasting your time in a fruitless search:

bibliography means in research

The essay explains that autobiography does not become an important historical source until the early modern period:

bibliography means in research

Finally, the essay informs us that these early modern autobiographies are predominantly religious in nature--a useful piece of information if we were hoping to use them as evidence of, for example, the early modern textile trade:

bibliography means in research

All bibliographies are organized differently, but the best include indexes that help you pinpoint the most relevant entries.

A smart researcher will also use the index to obtain an overview of the entire source base: the index as a whole presents a broad outline of the available sources--the extent of available sources, as well as the the strengths and weaknesses of the source base. Browsing the subject index, if there is one, is often an excellent method of choosing a research topic because it enables you quickly to rule out topics that cannot be researched due to lack of primary sources.

The index to British Autobiographies , for example, tells me that I can find many autobiographies that document British social clubs (like White's and Boodle's), especially from the 19th century:

bibliography means in research

Unlike indexes you might be familiar with from non-fiction books, the indexes in bibliographies usually reference specific entries, not page numbers.

A bibliography's index will often help guide you systematically through the available sources, as in this entry which prompts you to look under related index entries for even more sources:

bibliography means in research

There are four main types of enumerative bibliography used for historical research:

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Research Process: Bibliographic Information

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  • Background Information
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  • Evaluating Articles
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Bibliographic Information

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  • Periodical Locator

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of works on a subject or by an author that were used or consulted to write a research paper, book or article. It can also be referred to as a list of works cited. It is usually found at the end of a book, article or research paper. 

Gathering Information

Regardless of what citation style is being used, there are key pieces of information that need to be collected in order to create the citation.

For books and/or journals:

  • Author name
  • Title of publication 
  • Article title (if using a journal)
  • Date of publication
  • Place of publication
  • Volume number of a journal, magazine or encyclopedia
  • Page number(s)

For websites:

  • Author and/or editor name
  • Title of the website
  • Company or organization that owns or posts to the website
  • URL (website address)
  • Date of access 

This section provides two examples of the most common cited sources: a print book and an online journal retrieved from a research database. 

Book - Print

For print books, bibliographic information can be found on the  TITLE PAGE . This page has the complete title of the book, author(s) and publication information.

The publisher information will vary according to the publisher - sometimes this page will include the name of the publisher, the place of publication and the date.

For this example :  Book title: HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible Author: Steven M. Schafer Publisher: Wiley Publications, Inc.

If you cannot find the place or date of publication on the title page, refer to the  COPYRIGHT PAGE  for this information. The copyright page is the page behind the title page, usually written in a small font, it carries the copyright notice, edition information, publication information, printing history, cataloging data, and the ISBN number.

For this example : Place of publication: Indianapolis, IN Date of publication: 2010

Article - Academic OneFile Database

In the article view:

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style.

Citations can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  SOURCE CITATION . The database does not specify which style is used in creating this citation, so be sure to double check it against the style rules for accuracy.

Article - ProQuest Database

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style. 

Bibliographic information can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  INDEXING . (Not all the information provided in this area is necessary for creating citations, refer to the rules of the style being used for what information is needed.)

Other databases have similar formats - look for bibliographic information under the article titles and below the article body, towards the bottom of the page. 

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  • Online Guide to Writing

Types of Documentation

Bibliographies and Source Lists

What is a bibliography.

A bibliography is a list of books and other source material that you have used in preparing a research paper. Sometimes these lists will include works that you consulted but did not cite specifically in your assignment. Consult the style guide required for your assignment to determine the specific title of your bibliography page as well as how to cite each source type. Bibliographies are usually placed at the end of your research paper.

What is an annotated bibliography?

A special kind of bibliography, the annotated bibliography, is often used to direct your readers to other books and resources on your topic. An instructor may ask you to prepare an annotated bibliography to help you narrow down a topic for your research assignment. Such bibliographies offer a few lines of information, typically 150-300 words, summarizing the content of the resource after the bibliographic entry.   

Example of Annotated Bibliographic Entry in MLA Style

Waddell, Marie L., Robert M. Esch, and Roberta R. Walker. The Art of Styling         Sentences: 20 Patterns for Success. 3rd ed. New York: Barron’s, 1993.         A comprehensive look at 20 sentence patterns and their variations to         teach students how to write effective sentences by imitating good style.

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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How To Write a Bibliography (Three Styles, Plus Examples)

Give credit where credit is due.

Text that says Bibliography Writing Guide with WeAreTeachers logo on dark gray background as a tool to help students understand how to write a bibliography

Writing a research paper involves a lot of work. Students need to consult a variety of sources to gather reliable information and ensure their points are well supported. Research papers include a bibliography, which can be a little tricky for students. Learn how to write a bibliography in multiple styles and find basic examples below.

IMPORTANT: Each style guide has its own very specific rules, and they often conflict with one another. Additionally, each type of reference material has many possible formats, depending on a variety of factors. The overviews shown here are meant to guide students in writing basic bibliographies, but this information is by no means complete. Students should always refer directly to the preferred style guide to ensure they’re using the most up-to-date formats and styles.

What is a bibliography?

When you’re researching a paper, you’ll likely consult a wide variety of sources. You may quote some of these directly in your work, summarize some of the points they make, or simply use them to further the knowledge you need to write your paper. Since these ideas are not your own, it’s vital to give credit to the authors who originally wrote them. This list of sources, organized alphabetically, is called a bibliography.

A bibliography should include all the materials you consulted in your research, even if you don’t quote directly from them in your paper. These resources could include (but aren’t limited to):

  • Books and e-books
  • Periodicals like magazines or newspapers
  • Online articles or websites
  • Primary source documents like letters or official records

Bibliography vs. References

These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they actually have different meanings. As noted above, a bibliography includes all the materials you used while researching your paper, whether or not you quote from them or refer to them directly in your writing.

A list of references only includes the materials you cite throughout your work. You might use direct quotes or summarize the information for the reader. Either way, you must ensure you give credit to the original author or document. This section can be titled “List of Works Cited” or simply “References.”

Your teacher may specify whether you should include a bibliography or a reference list. If they don’t, consider choosing a bibliography, to show all the works you used in researching your paper. This can help the reader see that your points are well supported, and allow them to do further reading on their own if they’re interested.

Bibliography vs. Citations

Citations refer to direct quotations from a text, woven into your own writing. There are a variety of ways to write citations, including footnotes and endnotes. These are generally shorter than the entries in a reference list or bibliography. Learn more about writing citations here.

What does a bibliography entry include?

Depending on the reference material, bibliography entries include a variety of information intended to help a reader locate the material if they want to refer to it themselves. These entries are listed in alphabetical order, and may include:

  • Author/s or creator/s
  • Publication date
  • Volume and issue numbers
  • Publisher and publication city
  • Website URL

These entries don’t generally need to include specific page numbers or locations within the work (except for print magazine or journal articles). That type of information is usually only needed in a footnote or endnote citation.

What are the different bibliography styles?

In most cases, writers use one of three major style guides: APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or The Chicago Manual of Style . There are many others as well, but these three are the most common choices for K–12 students.

Many teachers will state their preference for one style guide over another. If they don’t, you can choose your own preferred style. However, you should also use that guide for your entire paper, following their recommendations for punctuation, grammar, and more. This will ensure you are consistent throughout.

Below, you’ll learn how to write a simple bibliography using each of the three major style guides. We’ve included details for books and e-books, periodicals, and electronic sources like websites and videos. If the reference material type you need to include isn’t shown here, refer directly to the style guide you’re using.

APA Style Bibliography and Examples

APA style example of a References bibliography page

Source: Verywell Mind

Technically, APA style calls for a list of references instead of a bibliography. If your teacher requires you to use the APA style guide , you can limit your reference list only to items you cite throughout your work.

How To Write a Bibliography (References) Using APA Style

Here are some general notes on writing an APA reference list:

  • Title your bibliography section “References” and center the title on the top line of the page.
  • Do not center your references; they should be left-aligned. For longer items, subsequent lines should use a hanging indent of 1/2 inch.
  • Include all types of resources in the same list.
  • Alphabetize your list by author or creator, last name first.
  • Do not spell out the author/creator’s first or middle name; only use their initials.
  • If there are multiple authors/creators, use an ampersand (&) before the final author/creator.
  • Place the date in parentheses.
  • Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, unless the word would otherwise be capitalized (proper names, etc.).
  • Italicize the titles of books, periodicals, or videos.
  • For websites, include the full site information, including the http:// or https:// at the beginning.

Books and E-Books APA Bibliography Examples

For books, APA reference list entries use this format (only include the publisher’s website for e-books).

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Publication date). Title with only first word capitalized . Publisher. Publisher’s website

  • Wynn, S. (2020). City of London at war 1939–45 . Pen & Sword Military. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/City-of-London-at-War-193945-Paperback/p/17299

Periodical APA Bibliography Examples

For journal or magazine articles, use this format. If you viewed the article online, include the URL at the end of the citation.

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Magazine or Journal Title (Volume number) Issue number, page numbers. URL

  • Bell, A. (2009). Landscapes of fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945. Journal of British Studies (48) 1, 153–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25482966

Here’s the format for newspapers. For print editions, include the page number/s. For online articles, include the full URL.

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date) Title of article. Newspaper title. Page number/s. URL

  • Blakemore, E. (2022, November 12) Researchers track down two copies of fossil destroyed by the Nazis.  The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/

Electronic APA Bibliography Examples

For articles with a specific author on a website, use this format.

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date). Title . Site name. URL

  • Wukovits, J. (2023, January 30). A World War II survivor recalls the London Blitz . British Heritage . https://britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz

When an online article doesn’t include a specific author or date, list it like this:

Title . (Year, Month Date). Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

  • Growing up in the Second World War . (n.d.). Imperial War Museums. Retrieved May 12, 2023, from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war

When you need to list a YouTube video, use the name of the account that uploaded the video, and format it like this:

Name of Account. (Upload year, month day). Title [Video]. YouTube. URL

  • War Stories. (2023, January 15). How did London survive the Blitz during WW2? | Cities at war: London | War stories [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc

For more information on writing APA bibliographies, see the APA Style Guide website.

APA Bibliography (Reference List) Example Pages

An APA-style Reference List bibliography example page

Source: Simply Psychology

More APA example pages:

  • Western Australia Library Services APA References Example Page
  • Ancilla College APA References Page Example
  • Scribbr APA References Page Example

MLA Style Bibliography Examples

Diagram of MLA style bibliography entries

Source: PressBooks

MLA style calls for a Works Cited section, which includes all materials quoted or referred to in your paper. You may also include a Works Consulted section, including other reference sources you reviewed but didn’t directly cite. Together, these constitute a bibliography. If your teacher requests an MLA Style Guide bibliography, ask if you should include Works Consulted as well as Works Cited.

How To Write a Bibliography (Works Cited and Works Consulted) in MLA Style

For both MLA Works Cited and Works Consulted sections, use these general guidelines:

  • Start your Works Cited list on a new page. If you include a Works Consulted list, start that on its own new page after the Works Cited section.
  • Center the title (Works Cited or Works Consulted) in the middle of the line at the top of the page.
  • Align the start of each source to the left margin, and use a hanging indent (1/2 inch) for the following lines of each source.
  • Alphabetize your sources using the first word of the citation, usually the author’s last name.
  • Include the author’s full name as listed, last name first.
  • Capitalize titles using the standard MLA format.
  • Leave off the http:// or https:// at the beginning of a URL.

Books and E-Books MLA Bibliography Examples

For books, MLA reference list entries use this format. Add the URL at the end for e-books.

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. Title . Publisher, Date. URL

  • Wynn, Stephen. City of London at War 1939–45 . Pen & Sword Military, 2020. www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/City-of-London-at-War-193945-Paperback/p/17299

Periodical MLA Bibliography Examples

Here’s the style format for magazines, journals, and newspapers. For online articles, add the URL at the end of the listing.

For magazines and journals:

Last Name, First Name. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Journal , volume number, issue number, Date of Publication, First Page Number–Last Page Number.

  • Bell, Amy. “Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945.” Journal of British Studies , vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 153–175. www.jstor.org/stable/25482966

When citing newspapers, include the page number/s for print editions or the URL for online articles.

Last Name, First Name. “Title of article.” Newspaper title. Page number/s. Year, month day. Page number or URL

  • Blakemore, Erin. “Researchers Track Down Two Copies of Fossil Destroyed by the Nazis.” The Washington Post. 2022, Nov. 12. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/

Electronic MLA Bibliography Examples

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title.” Month Day, Year published. URL

  • Wukovits, John. 2023. “A World War II Survivor Recalls the London Blitz.” January 30,   2023. https://britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz

Website. n.d. “Title.” Accessed Day Month Year. URL.

  • Imperial War Museum. n.d. “Growing Up in the Second World War.” Accessed May 9, 2023. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war.

Here’s how to list YouTube and other online videos.

Creator, if available. “Title of Video.” Website. Uploaded by Username, Day Month Year. URL.

  • “How did London survive the Blitz during WW2? | Cities at war: London | War stories.” YouTube . Uploaded by War Stories, 15 Jan. 2023. youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc.

For more information on writing MLA style bibliographies, see the MLA Style website.

MLA Bibliography (Works Cited) Example Pages

A bibliography example page with notes, written in MLA style

Source: The Visual Communication Guy

More MLA example pages:

  • Writing Commons Sample Works Cited Page
  • Scribbr MLA Works Cited Sample Page
  • Montana State University MLA Works Cited Page

Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

The Chicago Manual of Style (sometimes called “Turabian”) actually has two options for citing reference material : Notes and Bibliography and Author-Date. Regardless of which you use, you’ll need a complete detailed list of reference items at the end of your paper. The examples below demonstrate how to write that list.

How To Write a Bibliography Using The Chicago Manual of Style

A diagram of a book bibliography entry for the Chicago Manual of Style

Source: South Texas College

Here are some general notes on writing a Chicago -style bibliography:

  • You may title it “Bibliography” or “References.” Center this title at the top of the page and add two blank lines before the first entry.
  • Left-align each entry, with a hanging half-inch indent for subsequent lines of each entry.
  • Single-space each entry, with a blank line between entries.
  • Include the “http://” or “https://” at the beginning of URLs.

Books and E-Books Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

For books, Chicago -style reference list entries use this format. (For print books, leave off the information about how the book was accessed.)

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. Title . City of Publication: Publisher, Date. How e-book was accessed.

  • Wynn, Stephen. City of London at War 1939–45 . Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, 2020. Kindle edition.

Periodical Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

For journal and magazine articles, use this format.

Last Name, First Name. Year of Publication. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Journal , Volume Number, issue number, First Page Number–Last Page Number. URL.

  • Bell, Amy. 2009. “Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939–1945.” Journal of British Studies, 48 no. 1, 153–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25482966.

When citing newspapers, include the URL for online articles.

Last Name, First Name. Year of Publication. “Title: Subtitle.” Name of Newspaper , Month day, year. URL.

  • Blakemore, Erin. 2022. “Researchers Track Down Two Copies of Fossil Destroyed by the Nazis.” The Washington Post , November 12, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/11/12/ichthyosaur-fossil-images-discovered/.

Electronic Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Examples

Last Name, First Name Middle Name. “Title.” Site Name . Year, Month Day. URL.

  • Wukovits, John. “A World War II Survivor Recalls the London Blitz.” British Heritage. 2023, Jan. 30. britishheritage.com/history/world-war-ii-survivor-london-blitz.

“Title.” Site Name . URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

  • “Growing Up in the Second World War.” Imperial War Museums . www.iwm.org.uk/history/growing-up-in-the-second-world-war. Accessed May 9, 2023.

Creator or Username. “Title of Video.” Website video, length. Month Day, Year. URL.

  • War Stories. “How Did London Survive the Blitz During WW2? | Cities at War: London | War Stories.” YouTube video, 51:25. January 15, 2023. https://youtu.be/uwY6JlCvbxc.

For more information on writing Chicago -style bibliographies, see the Chicago Manual of Style website.

Chicago Manual of Style Bibliography Example Pages

A page showing an example of a bibliography using the Chicago Manual of Style

Source: Chicago Manual of Style

More Chicago example pages:

  • Scribbr Chicago Style Bibliography Example
  • Purdue Online Writing Lab CMOS Bibliography Page
  • Bibcitation Sample Chicago Bibliography

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Learn how to write a bibliography using MLA, ALA, and Chicago Manual of Style, plus see examples for each style and more.

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Bibliography Research

Introduction.

  • National Bibliography
  • Personal Bibliography
  • Corporate Bibliography
  • Subject Bibliography
  • Catalog & Bibliographies
  • Other Tools for Finding Bibliographies

A bibliography is a list of documents, usually published documents like books and articles. This type of bibliography is more accurately called "enumerative bibliography". An enumerative bibliography will attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, within whatever parameters established by the bibliographer.

Bibliographies will list both secondary and primary sources. They are perhaps most valuable to historians for identifying primary sources. (They are still useful for finding secondary sources, but increasingly historians rely on electronic resources, like article databases, to locate secondary sources.)

Think of a bibliography as a guide to the source base for a specific field of inquiry. A high quality bibliography will help you understand what kinds of sources are available, but also what kinds of sources are not available (either because they were never preserved, or because they were never created in the first place).

Take for example the following bibliography:  

British autobiographies; an annotated bibliography of British autobiographies published or written before 1951 by William Matthews

Call number:  Z2027 .A9 M3 1955

Publication date: 1955

Like many bibliographies, this one includes an introduction or prefatory essay that gives a bibliographic overview of the topic. If you were hoping to use autobiographies for a paper on medieval history, the following information from the preface would save you from wasting your time in a fruitless search:

bibliography means in research

The essay explains that autobiography does not become an important historical source until the early modern period:

bibliography means in research

Finally, the essay informs us that these early modern autobiographies are predominantly religious in nature--a useful piece of information if we were hoping to use them as evidence of, for example, the early modern textile trade:

bibliography means in research

All bibliographies are organized differently, but the best include indexes that help you pinpoint the most relevant entries.

A smart researcher will also use the index to obtain an overview of the entire source base: the index as a whole presents a broad outline of the available sources--the extent of available sources, as well as the the strengths and weaknesses of the source base. Browsing the subject index, if there is one, is often an excellent method of choosing a research topic because it enables you quickly to rule out topics that cannot be researched due to lack of primary sources.

The index to  British Autobiographies , for example, tells me that I can find many autobiographies that document British social clubs (like White's and Boodle's), especially from the 19th century:

bibliography means in research

Unlike indexes you might be familiar with from non-fiction books, the indexes in bibliographies usually reference specific entries, not page numbers.

A bibliography's index will often help guide you systematically through the available sources, as in this entry which prompts you to look under related index entries for even more sources:

bibliography means in research

Types of Bibliographies

There are four main types of enumerative bibliographies used for historical research:

enumerative bibliography: 

1. Enumerative bibliography: the listing of books according to some system or reference plan, for example, by author, by subject, or by date. The implication is that the listings will be short, usually providing only the author's name, the book's title, and date and place of publication. Enumerative bibliography (sometimes called systematic bibliography) attempts to record and list, rather than to describe minutely. Little or no information is likely to be provided about physical aspects of the book such as paper, type, illustrations, or binding. A library's card catalog is an example of an enumerative bibliography, and so is the list at the back of a book of works consulted, or a book like the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, which catalogues briefly the works of English writers and the important secondary material about them. ...  (from McGill Library) 

Read more from their lecture on bibliographies from this linked Word Doc: Lecture I Discussion

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  • Citing Sources

Citing Sources: What are citations and why should I use them?

What is a citation.

Citations are a way of giving credit when certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again-- it provides an important roadmap to your research process. Whenever you use sources such as books, journals or websites in your research, you must give credit to the original author by citing the source. 

Why do researchers cite?

Scholarship is a conversation  and scholars use citations not only to  give credit  to original creators and thinkers, but also to  add strength and authority  to their own work.  By citing their sources, scholars are  placing their work in a specific context  to show where they “fit” within the larger conversation.  Citations are also a great way to  leave a trail  intended to help others who may want to explore the conversation or use the sources in their own work.

In short, citations

(1) give credit

(2) add strength and authority to your work

(3) place your work in a specific context

(4) leave a trail for other scholars

"Good citations should reveal your sources, not conceal them. They should honeslty reflect the research you conducted." (Lipson 4)

Lipson, Charles. "Why Cite?"  Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More . Chicago: U of Chicago, 2006. Print.

What does a citation look like?

Different subject disciplines call for citation information to be written in very specific order, capitalization, and punctuation. There are therefore many different style formats. Three popular citation formats are MLA Style (for humanities articles) and APA or Chicago (for social sciences articles).

MLA style (print journal article):  

Whisenant, Warren A. "How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX." Sex Roles Vol. 49.3 (2003): 179-182.

APA style (print journal article):

Whisenant, W. A. (2003) How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX. Sex Roles , 49 (3), 179-182.

Chicago style (print journal article):

Whisenant, Warren A. "How Women Have Fared as Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Since the Passage of Title IX." Sex Roles 49, no. 3 (2003): 179-182.

No matter which style you use, all citations require the same basic information:

  • Author or Creator
  • Container (e.g., Journal or magazine, website, edited book)
  • Date of creation or publication
  • Publisher 

You are most likely to have easy access to all of your citation information when you find it in the first place. Take note of this information up front, and it will be much easier to cite it effectively later.

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  • Last Updated: Oct 24, 2023 3:46 PM
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What's a Bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used (whether referenced or not) in the process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include:

  • the authors' names
  • the titles of the works
  • the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources
  • the dates your copies were published
  • the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-source volumes)

OK, So What's an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is the same as a bibliography with one important difference: in an annotated bibliography, the bibliographic information is followed by a brief description of the content, quality, and usefulness of the source.

OK, So How Is a Bibliography Different from a "Works Cited" or "References" List?

The Works Cited or References list is only comprised of references to those items actually cited in the paper.

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bibliography

Definition of bibliography

Examples of bibliography in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bibliography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

probably from New Latin bibliographia , from Greek, the copying of books, from bibli- + -graphia -graphy

1689, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Cite this Entry

“Bibliography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bibliography. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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Kids definition of bibliography, more from merriam-webster on bibliography.

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APA Citation Style 7th Edition: Annotated Bibliography

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  • Annotated Bibliography

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

Useful Links for Annotated Bibliographies

  • Annotated Bibliographies Overview of purpose and form of annotated bibliographies from the Purdue OWL.
  • Writing an Annotated Bibliography Overview and examples from the University of Guelph.
  • Writing an Annotated Bibliography Definition, tips, and examples from the University of Toronto.

Annotations

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for various books, articles, and other sources on a topic. The annotated bibliography looks like a Reference page but includes an annotation after each source cited. An annotation is a short summary and/or critical evaluation of a source. Annotated bibliographies can be part of a larger research project, or can be a stand-alone report in itself.

Types of Annotations

 A summary annotation describes the source by answering the following questions: who wrote the document, what the document discusses, when and where was the document written, why was the document produced, and how was it provided to the public. The focus is on description. 

 An evaluative annotation includes a summary as listed above but also critically assesses the work for accuracy, relevance, and quality. Evaluative annotations can help you learn about your topic, develop a thesis statement, decide if a specific source will be useful for your assignment, and determine if there is enough valid information available to complete your project. The focus is on description and evaluation.

Annotated Bibliographies: How-To Guide

  • APA Annotated Bibliography Template

Below is a sample of an Evaluative Annotation:

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  • Last Updated: Mar 13, 2024 2:21 PM
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Emory University

Emory primatologist Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes ‘a little closer to humans’

Emory University | March 16, 2024

Book cover for "Chimpanzee Politics"

40 years of publishing : From "Chimpanzee Politics" in 1982 to "Different" in 2022.

Book cover for "Different"

Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal — who pioneered studies of animal cognition while also writing best-selling books that helped popularize the field around the globe — passed away March 14, 2024, from stomach cancer.

De Waal, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of Psychology and former director of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution at the Emory National Primate Research Center, was 75.

From his groundbreaking 1982 book “Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes” to 2019’s “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves,” de Waal shattered long-held ideas about what it means to be an animal and a human.

“One thing that I’ve seen often in my career is claims of human uniqueness that fall away and are never heard from again,” de Waal said in 2014. “We always end up overestimating the complexity of what we do. That’s how you can sum up my career: I’ve brought apes a little closer to humans but I’ve also brought humans down a bit.”

“It’s difficult to sum up the enormity of Frans de Waal’s impact, both globally and here at Emory,” says Lynne Nygaard, chair of Emory’s Department of Psychology. “He was an extraordinarily deep thinker who could also think broadly, making insights that cut across disciplines. He was always ready to participate in an intellectual discussion.”

In addition to being a world-renowned scholar, beloved teacher and supportive colleague, “Frans was funny,” Nygaard says. “If a discussion became fraught, he could make just the right irreverent remark to get everyone to laugh and break the tension.”

bibliography means in research

“We may accept that we are descended from apes, but it takes the likes of Frans de Waal to remind us that we haven't traveled that far.” —TIME Magazine, Top 100 People who Shape Our World

Breaking taboos

George Romanes, a protégé of Charles Darwin, tried to connect ideas of animal consciousness and human consciousness in the late 1800s, but his theories were dismissed as anecdotal and anthropomorphic.

For nearly 100 years, the subject of the social mind of animals remained largely taboo in the scientific community. Finally, in 1976, neuroscientist Donald Griffin published his first edition of “The Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience.” That book compiled observations suggesting animals might have thoughts worthy of exploring and that it was possible to do so in a scientifically objective way.

“Donald Griffin opened the door just a little bit and then Frans pushed it wide open. The rest is history,” says Harold Gouzoules, an Emory professor of psychology who studies primate social behavior and vocal communication.

bibliography means in research

Frans de Waal as a young scholar

De Waal wrote hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles comparing primate and human behavior. He demonstrated the roots of human nature in our closest living relatives through his studies of conflict resolution, reconciliation, cooperation, empathy, fairness, morality, social learning and culture in chimpanzees, bonobos and capuchin monkeys.

A prolific writer and editor, his impact reached far beyond academia through his articles for major magazines and newspapers and his 16 popular books that have been translated into 20 languages. He was a gifted speaker who wove deadpan humor into his many public talks — usually filled to capacity — about his research. His TED Talks have been viewed millions of times.

Animal emotions: In this Emory video, watch Frans de Waal discuss his 2019 book, "Mama's Last Hug."

A young Frans de Waal holds a baby monkey

Training the next generation

Through teaching and research projects, de Waal also helped train and influence many leaders in the field of animal cognition.

“Frans was a fantastic mentor, he really believed in his students,” says Sarah Brosnan, who received a PhD in 2004 in Emory’s Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution Program. Brosnan is now Distinguished University Professor of psychology at Georgia State University where she investigates the evolution of cooperation, decision-making and economic behavior among primates.

“Frans told us the best way to come up with research questions was to watch your animals and they will tell you what’s important,” recalls Brosnan.

She took his advice to heart.

One day, while Brosnan was feeding capuchin monkeys at the primate center, she tried to distract the dominant male, Ozzie, while she slipped peanuts to the others, to keep him from grabbing them all. Ozzie caught on, however, and brought Brosnan a piece of a naval orange from his enclosure, offering it in exchange for a peanut.

Oranges are generally a choice treat to monkeys, rating even higher than peanuts. “I wondered if the reason Ozzie was willing to trade a chunk of orange for a peanut was because everyone else was eating one,” she recalls.

A master of visualization

That simple question led to Brosnan and de Waal developing the famous cucumber-grape study on fairness.

Two capuchins were situated in enclosures next to one another. A researcher would ask them to do a task and if they succeeded give them a treat. The catch was one monkey was always rewarded with a piece of cucumber while the other monkey sometimes got a piece of cucumber and sometimes got a grape — a preferred treat among capuchin monkeys.

A video de Waal filmed of one of the experiments created a media sensation.

Unequal pay for equal work:  When the first monkey gives the researcher a rock, she is rewarded with a cucumber slice. But watch what happens when the first monkey sees the second monkey hand the researcher a rock — and get a much tastier grape instead.

A monkey that received only cucumber appears perfectly happy until she sees her companion receive a grape. Then her behavior changes. She accepts the next piece of cucumber only to throw it back at the researcher, pounding the surface in front of the enclosure and shaking its Plexiglas walls.

“That video struck home with a lot of people,” Brosnan says. “Who hasn’t felt like that monkey that’s only getting cucumbers? Our research showed something about the evolution of the sense of human fairness.”

De Waal, a skilled visual artist and photographer, routinely videotaped experiments — long before that became common practice in labs.

“Both Frans and I used the cucumber-grape experiment video in our TED Talks,” Brosnan notes. “Frans taught his students how to write well and how to give a good presentation. You weren’t allowed to just read some text. Your slides always had to have images and videos.”

Image captions

Frans de Waal in classroom writing on a white board

Animal reconciliation

Franciscus Bernardus Maria “Frans” de Waal was born in 1948 in s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, where he trained as a zoologist and ethologist at three universities — Nijmegen, Groningen and Utrecht. In 1977 he received a PhD in biology from the University of Utrecht where Jan van Hooff, a Dutch biologist renowned for his research involving primates, was his mentor.

bibliography means in research

Frans de Waal as a young boy

For his dissertation, de Waal began working with the colony of chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands. That work led to his first major discovery: chimpanzees make up after fights.

“I discovered that by just seeing how the opponents would come together after fights and kiss and embrace,” de Waal later said. “I never had trouble getting primatologists interested or convincing them, but other scientists were often skeptical. This meant conducting experiments and collecting data to convince them.”

Instead of describing the behavior he observed using a clinical term, such as “post-fight, affiliative contact,” de Waal called it reconciliation — a word, up until then, reserved for humans. This research became the basis of his book “Chimpanzee Politics,” which compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians.

“There really was no history of someone studying something as complex as reconciliation in animals,” says Kim Wallen, who recently retired as an Emory professor of psychology. “Frans faced a lot of challenges because he looked at questions that were outside the mainstream of animal behavior research. He persisted and carved out an area of his own.”

In 1981 de Waal moved to the United States to join the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.

Wallen, who studied sex-related behaviors in humans and non-humans, recruited de Waal to join Emory in 1991. “His reputation preceded him,” Wallen recalls. “It was a big coup for Emory.”

A black and white photo of Frans de Waal as a child wearing a tie

Understanding our inner ape

At the field station of the Emory National Primate Research Center, de Waal kept a small office atop a tower. A windshield-like opening in the office overlooks a habitat where multi-generational groups of chimpanzees live outdoors.

De Waal supervised the construction of a building adjacent to the habitat for cognition research with the chimpanzees. A door would slide up allowing the chimpanzees to voluntarily come inside to try to solve a puzzle or perform a task.

A large part of de Waal’s research also encompassed bonobos, what he called “the forgotten ape,” including studies of bonobos in the San Diego Zoo and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both the chimpanzee and the bonobo are our genetic twins, but for 1.5% difference in DNA. And while chimpanzees rely on aggression to solve problems, the peaceable, sex-loving, female-dominated bonobos are so chill de Waal described them as “the hippies of the primate world.”

In his 2005 book, “Our Inner Ape,” a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, he used these contrasting ape societies as the context to examine some of the most fundamental, complex and intense manifestations of human nature.

“We have an enormous spectrum of behavior, so don’t believe claims that we are inherently nasty, aggressive, selfish and uncooperative,” de Waal said in a 2006 interview. “My argument is that we have the potential to be everything we want to be. Our job is to bring out what we want.”

Frans de Waal holding binoculars as he looks down from an observation tower to watch chimpanzees

Making the most of every minute

In addition to his extreme productivity as a scientist, teacher and communicator, de Waal was a social animal, especially when it came to his students.

“I think Frans came across sometimes as reserved but he wasn’t like that once you got to know him,” Brosnan says. “He was so much fun. He would hold what he called ‘simian soirees’ at his house where graduate students would gather to talk. He was a fantastic piano player and he would play for us.”

De Waal retired from Emory in 2019 but remained active. He was in demand internationally and traveled widely, attending conferences and giving public talks. “The number of talks he would give in a year was always off-the-charts impressive,” Gouzoules said. “It was almost like a rock star touring around.”

De Waal also continued writing, publishing “Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist” in 2022. In 2023, he made an appearance in New York for a public discussion with film icon Isabella Rossellini about the book, and what we may learn about sex and gender from primate studies.

bibliography means in research

Frans de Waal speaking at the Phil.Cologne international festival for philosophy in Germany in June 2023. (Photo by Ying Tang/NurPhoto via AP)

De Waal made his home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where he lived with his wife of more than 40 years, Catherine Marin. The couple also maintained an apartment in the Netherlands where he had an affiliation with the University of Utrecht.

De Waal was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion In 2010 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. Among his many awards are the E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award (2020), the Galileo Prize (2014), the Ig Nobel Prize (2012), Discover magazine’s “47 All-time Great Minds of Science” (2011), Time magazine’s 100 world’s most influential people (2007), the American Psychological Foundation Arthur W. Staats Award (2005) and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for “Peacemaking Among Primates” (1989).

Frans de Waal wearing a headset microphone for a speech

Frans de Waal: Highlights from a career exploring animal and human behavior

1948: Born in s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands 1970s: Trained as a zoologist and ethologist at three Dutch universities (Nijmegen, Groningen and Utrecht) 1975: Began working with chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo (the Netherlands) 1977: Received PhD in biology from the University of Utrecht 1981: Joined the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, focused on reconciliation behavior in monkeys  1982: Published first book, “ Chimpanzee Politics ,” which compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians 1984: Began working with bonobos (San Diego Zoo) and chimpanzees (Emory National Primate Research Center) 1989: Published “ Peacemaking Among Primates ” 1991: Joined Emory University’s Department of Psychology and National Primate Research Center, and began mentoring graduate students and post-doctoral fellows 1993: Elected to the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences 1996: Published “ Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals ” 1997: Published “ Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape ” 2001: Published “ The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections by a Primatologist ” 2004: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences 2005: Published “ Our Inner Ape .” Elected to the American Philosophical Society 2006: Published “ Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved ” 2007: Named one of TIME magazine’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World 2008: Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS) 2010: Knighted: Order of the Netherlands Lion. Published “ The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society ” 2014: Published “ The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates ” 2016: Published “ Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are? ” 2019: Published “ Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves .” Retired from Emory University.

2022: Published “ Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist ”

Story by Carol Clark. Title center portrait photo by Catherine Marin. Other photos by Emory Photo/Video or courtesy unless noted. Design by Laura Douglas-Brown.

Frans de Waal teaching a class by a white board

To learn more about Emory University:

Please visit the  emory.edu  and the  emory news center ..

bibliography means in research

This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Published on 19.3.2024 in Vol 26 (2024)

Long-Term Effectiveness of a Multi-Strategy Choice Architecture Intervention in Increasing Healthy Food Choices of High-School Students From Online Canteens (Click & Crunch High Schools): Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Long-term effectiveness of a multi-strategy choice architecture intervention in increasing healthy food choices of high-school students from online canteens (click & crunch high schools): cluster randomized controlled trial.

Authors of this article:

Author Orcid Image

Original Paper

  • Tessa Delaney 1, 2, 3 , PhD   ; 
  • Jacklyn Jackson 1, 2, 3 , PhD   ; 
  • Christophe Lecathelinais 1, 2, 3 , DESS   ; 
  • Tara Clinton-McHarg 4 , PhD   ; 
  • Hannah Lamont 1, 2, 3 , BNutrDiet (Hons)   ; 
  • Sze Lin Yoong 5 , PhD   ; 
  • Luke Wolfenden 1, 2, 3 , PhD   ; 
  • Rachel Sutherland 1, 2, 3 , PhD   ; 
  • Rebecca Wyse 1, 2, 3 , PhD  

1 School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Wallsend, Australia

2 Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Local Health District, Wallsend, Australia

3 Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, Australia

4 Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

5 Faculty of Health, School of Health and Social Development, Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Corresponding Author:

Tessa Delaney, PhD

School of Medicine and Public Health

University of Newcastle

Locked Bag 10

Wallsend, 2287

Phone: 61 294617441

Email: [email protected]

Background: School canteens are a recommended setting to influence adolescent nutrition due to their scope to improve student food choices. Online lunch ordering systems (“online canteens”) are increasingly used and represent attractive infrastructure to implement choice architecture interventions that nudge users toward healthier food choices. A recent cluster randomized controlled trial demonstrated the short-term effectiveness (2-month follow-up) of a choice architecture intervention to increase the healthiness of foods purchased by high school students from online canteens. However, there is little evidence regarding the long-term effectiveness of choice architecture interventions targeting adolescent food purchases, particularly those delivered online.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the long-term effectiveness of a multi-strategy choice architecture intervention embedded within online canteen infrastructure in high schools at a 15-month follow-up.

Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was undertaken with 1331 students (from 9 high schools) in New South Wales, Australia. Schools were randomized to receive the automated choice architecture intervention (including menu labeling, positioning, feedback, and prompting strategies) or the control (standard online ordering). The foods purchased were classified according to the New South Wales Healthy Canteen strategy as either “everyday,” “occasional,” or “should not be sold.” Primary outcomes were the average proportion of “everyday,” “occasional,” and “should not be sold” items purchased per student. Secondary outcomes were the mean energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content of purchases. Outcomes were assessed using routine data collected by the online canteen.

Results: From baseline to 15-month follow-up, on average, students in the intervention group ordered significantly more “everyday” items (+11.5%, 95% CI 7.3% to 15.6%; P <.001), and significantly fewer “occasional” (–5.4%, 95% CI –9.4% to –1.5%; P =.007) and “should not be sold” items (–6%, 95% CI –9.1% to –2.9%; P <.001), relative to controls. There were no between-group differences over time in the mean energy, saturated fat, sugar, or sodium content of lunch orders.

Conclusions: Given their longer-term effectiveness, choice architecture interventions delivered via online canteens may represent a promising option for policy makers to support healthy eating among high school students.

Trial Registration: Australian Clinical Trials ACTRN12620001338954, https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380546 ; Open Science Framework osf.io/h8zfr, https://osf.io/h8zfr/

Introduction

Adolescents internationally are prone to having poor quality diets [ 1 - 3 ], which are associated with a higher risk of obesity, poor mental health and well-being, and an increased risk of chronic diseases during adulthood [ 4 ]. In particular, data from the most recent national survey of Australian high school children (aged 12-17 years) found that on average 5.7 (SE 0.2) to 6.6 (SE 0.7) serves of discretionary food choices are consumed per day, contributing to 38%-41% of total daily energy intake [ 5 ]. Adolescence represents a transitional life stage, which often coincides with increased autonomy regarding food choices and eating behaviors. Healthy eating interventions that can reach the adolescent population during this key stage are required [ 6 ], as dietary behaviors during adolescence have been shown to track throughout the life span [ 7 ].

High schools are an ideal setting to deliver interventions to improve adolescent nutrition, as they offer ongoing and widespread access to this traditionally hard-to-reach population [ 8 ]. Students have also been shown to consume up to 40% of their daily food intake during school hours, and in Australia over 60% of high school students purchase food at least once per week from their school canteen. However, the foods most commonly purchased from this setting are “less healthy,” discretionary foods high in energy, fat, salt, and sugar [ 9 ].

Interventions that incorporate choice architecture strategies (eg, provision of information, changing default options, and using incentives) [ 10 ] are effective in improving adolescent diet-related outcomes. A recent systematic review found that out of 137 included choice architecture interventions that aimed to modify child or adolescent diet-related outcomes, 74% were effective [ 10 ]. Despite this, of the 137 studies, only 9 were conducted in high schools and while 6 of the 9 studies (67%) were shown to be effective, all of the interventions were short in duration (average 10 weeks) and none assessed long-term effectiveness [ 11 ].

Online lunch ordering systems (henceforth referred to as “online canteens”), where students select and preorder their lunch using the web or mobile apps, are common in Australian schools [ 12 ]. Online canteens represent the optimal infrastructure to implement choice architecture strategies that support students in selecting healthier foods. The research team recently conducted the “Click & Crunch High Schools” cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). The trial assessed the short-term (2-month) effectiveness of a multi-strategy choice architecture intervention embedded into an online canteen in increasing the relative healthiness of foods purchased at lunch by high school students. At a 2-month follow-up, relative to controls, intervention students purchased significantly more items classified as “everyday” (healthy +5.5%, P <.001) and significantly fewer items classified as “should not be sold” (unhealthy –4.4%, P <.001) [ 13 ]. Although these initial results are promising, evidence suggests that the effects of behavioral interventions can attenuate over time [ 14 , 15 ]. As such, an assessment of the longer-term impact of the intervention on high school students’ lunch purchases is required to better understand how it contributes to long-term behavior change.

Given digital intervention for public health nutrition is still an emerging field, limited studies have been conducted to assess the sustainability of effective interventions. For example, a 2021 umbrella review of 11 systematic reviews of digital interventions to promote healthy eating in children reported that the effectiveness of such interventions in the medium-term and long-term was not well studied [ 16 ]. The research targeting adolescents and high school students is sparser still. As this trial [ 13 ] was the first to investigate the effectiveness of embedding choice architecture strategies into online canteen ordering systems in high school students, this longer-term follow-up represents a novel contribution to the public health nutrition literature regarding the sustainability of digital health interventions for this underresearched group.

Therefore, this study aims to assess the long-term effectiveness (baseline to 15 months) of the “Click & Crunch High Schools” intervention on increasing the relative healthiness of school canteen lunch purchases by high school students.

A description of the trial methods has been previously published [ 13 ]. The original trial methods and 2-month follow-up were prospectively deposited on the Open Science Framework on October 23, 2020 [ 17 ]. The 15-month follow-up was not preregistered however it was conducted per procedures and outcomes as previously registered.

Study Design

This cohort study was conducted as a parallel-group, cluster RCT. Consenting high schools that were using an existing online canteen hosted by Flexischools (InLoop Pty Ltd; a commercial online canteen provider and partner on this research) and located in NSW Australia were randomized to receive either a multi-strategy choice architecture intervention delivered via the online canteen infrastructure or a usual practice control (ie, standard online canteen). Outcome data were collected over 8 weeks at baseline (October-December 2020), 2 months (the period immediately following intervention commencement, February-April 2021; results previously published) [ 13 ], and again at 15-months postintervention commencement (February-April 2022). This paper reports the 15-month findings.

Sample and Recruitment

School canteen managers from eligible schools were contacted by mail and telephone to invite study participation. A total of 9 (4 intervention and 5 control) government and nongovernment (ie, independent or catholic) schools located in NSW Australia that enrolled high school students (aged ~12-18 years), and used Flexischools as their online canteen provider were eligible to participate in the 15-month follow-up. Schools were ineligible for the trial if they had participated in another unrelated “online canteen” research program conducted by the team or were a catholic school located within a diocese in which ethical approval had not been obtained.

As per prespecified eligibility criteria, students were ineligible for inclusion if; they were in grade 12 at baseline data collection as they were unlikely to be still attending school at the follow-up data collection period; or if they had placed recurring lunch orders set before the intervention period as these orders would not have been exposed to the intervention.

Randomization and Blinding

Following recruitment, an independent statistician block randomized schools (in blocks of 2 and 4) using a random number function in Microsoft Excel. Randomization was stratified by school sector (eg, government vs nongovernment), as evidence suggests there are differences in the availability of healthy food between the school sectors [ 18 ]. Schools were unable to be blinded to their group allocation. However, the intervention was applied centrally, and only students at intervention schools could access the intervention strategies via the online ordering system. All student purchasing data was centrally collected by the online provider, reducing any risk of intervention contamination between the groups.

Intervention

The “Click & Crunch High Schools” intervention is described in full elsewhere [ 13 ]. The intervention was underpinned by the principals of choice architecture and sought to encourage the purchase of healthier (ie, “everyday”) items from the school’s online canteen menu. All intervention strategies were integrated into the schools’ existing online canteen and were displayed to students at the point of purchase. All student users of the online canteen at eligible high schools had access to the intervention strategies. The intervention was in place for approximately 15 months (February 2021 to April 2022) until after the 15-month follow-up data collection period. Intervention strategies (see Figure 1 ) are described in the following sections.

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Menu Labeling

All menu items were classified as either “everyday,” “occasional,” or “should not be sold” based on the criteria outlined in the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy. Menu items were labeled with a small colored symbol: a green circle was added next to “everyday” foods, an amber circle was added next to “occasional” foods, and a red circle was added next to “should not be sold” (“caution”) foods. A “menu label key” appeared at the top of the page (eg, “Everyday- best choice for healthy happy students”; “Occasional- choose in combination with Everyday”; “Caution- consider switching, low nutritional value”).

Positioning

“Everyday” menu items and healthier food categories (eg, fruit, salad, and sandwiches) were positioned prominently (ie, first) in the online menu. Research suggests items placed in the middle of menu lists are two times less likely to be purchased than those at the beginning or end [ 19 ]. Therefore, the least healthy “should not be sold” items were placed in the middle and “occasional” items were placed last in menu category lists, respectively. Further, “occasional” or “should not be sold” items with multiple flavors (eg, potato crisps) required the user to first “click” on the item before the full list of flavors appeared (eg, plain, salt and vinegar, and chicken).

Before each lunch order was finalized within the online ordering system, users were shown a personalized summary of the healthiness of their lunch order. The summary included a pie graph displaying the proportion of items in their order that was “everyday,” “occasional,” and “should not be sold,” and a tailored message based on the proportion of “everyday” items in the order (eg, if <99% of items were “everyday”: “Try adding some ‘Everyday’ items for a more balanced meal.” If 100% of items were “everyday”: “Excellent choice! 100% ‘Everyday’ items”).

When “occasional” or “should not be sold” hot food items were chosen they included a prompt to add a fruit or vegetable snack and water. Healthier menu categories (eg, fruit, salad, and sandwiches) included an appealing image and positive purchase prompt (eg, “This is a good choice”).

To support canteen managers’ understanding of the NSW Healthy School Canteen classification system which underpinned the menu labeling, each canteen manager in the intervention group received a “menu feedback report.” The report included feedback comparing the online canteen menu to the recommendations of the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy and provided suggestions on how to improve the relative availability of “everyday” items on the menu.

Intervention Fidelity

Once every term during the intervention period (approximately every 10 weeks), a member of the research team monitored each school’s online canteen menu via the Flexischools website. They checked that all menu items, including any new items, were correctly classified according to the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy, and that the intervention strategies were applied accordingly. If any menu items were found to be unlabeled or incorrectly labeled, the research team would notify Flexischools and provide instructions for how to apply the intervention strategy correctly.

Control schools did not receive any of the intervention strategies, and were only provided access to the standard online ordering system.

Data Collection and Outcomes

Student purchasing data were automatically collected and stored by Flexischools. Data were collected over 3 distinct 8-week periods, with baseline occurring from October to December 2020 and long-term follow-up occurring 15 months after the intervention commenced (February-April 2022). The 2-month follow-up was the primary trial end point (data collected immediately following intervention commencement, February-April 2021), and has been previously published [ 13 ].

Primary Trial Outcomes

The primary trial outcomes at the 15-month follow-up were identical to those at the 2-month follow-up and included the mean percentage of all online lunch items purchased per student that were classified according to the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy as (1) “everyday,” (2) “occasional,” and (3) “should not be sold.” The NSW Healthy Canteen Strategy classifies foods as “everyday” based on their alignment with the core foods groups within the Australian Dietary Guidelines (eg, fruit, vegetables, dairy and alternatives, lean meat and alternatives, and grains) [ 20 ]. Menu items classified as “occasional” or “should not be sold” are considered “noncore” or discretionary foods that are mostly high in energy, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. Further information on the NSW Healthy School Canteen strategy including the nutrition criteria underpinning the strategy are reported elsewhere [ 20 ].

Each canteen menu item was classified against the strategy by a research dietitian using detailed item information (ie, brand, product name, service size, flavor, or recipe) obtained from the canteen manager via telephone or email. Following this, a statistician was able to apply the menu item classification (eg, “everyday”) to the automatically collected purchase data supplied by Flexischools (eg, fresh fruit equaled “everyday”).

Secondary Trial Outcomes

Energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content of online lunch orders.

Secondary outcomes included the mean total energy (kJ), saturated fat (g), sugar (g), and sodium (mg) content of online lunch orders. Using previously established procedures, the dietitian generated the nutrition profile for each menu item by using data from food product databases (for commercially packaged menu items [ 13 , 21 , 22 ]) or FoodWorks (version 9; Xyris Software; for menu items requiring a recipe). The statistician then applied the nutritional profile of each menu item to the student purchasing data provided by Flexischools.

Weekly Canteen Revenue From Online Orders

Purchasing data that were automatically collected by Flexischools were used to calculate the mean weekly revenue from all student online lunch orders for the weeks that the canteen was operational at baseline and long-term follow-up. This outcome was assessed to explore any potential adverse effect of the intervention (eg, a reduction in canteen revenue due to the application of the intervention strategies).

School Characteristics

At baseline, school characteristics including the number of student enrollments, year range, sector (eg, government vs nongovernment), school type (combined primary and high school students’ vs high school only), and postcode were obtained from the government “MySchool” website. As the number of high school student enrollments for combined schools was not available on the “MySchool” website, this data was collected directly from the school.

Canteen Characteristics

Canteen characteristics including operating days per week, frequency of use, and student grade data were obtained from the student purchasing data supplied by Flexischools.

Menu Composition (Pre-Post Intervention)

Using the methods outlined above, a research dietitian assessed the proportion of items on each school’s online menus that were classified as “everyday,” “occasional,” and “should not be sold.” This is reported by intervention and control groups at baseline and 15-month follow-up.

Statistical Analysis

All outcome data were analyzed in SAS (version 9.3; SAS Institute) under an intention-to-treat (ITT) approach whereby all student lunch orders and schools were analyzed based on the groups they were originally allocated. All nutrition outcomes included data from the student cohort (grades 7-11) that had placed at least one order during the baseline period.

Primary and secondary outcomes were assessed using separate linear mixed models by comparing differences between intervention and control groups over time (baseline to 15 months) through the inclusion of a group-by-time interaction fixed effect. All models included a random intercept for schools (to account for potential school-level clustering), a nested random intercept and random time effect for students (to account for repeated measurements between time points), and fixed effects for the school sector and SEIFA (Socio-Economic Indexes for Australia). All available data (baseline, 2 months, and 15 months) were incorporated into the model.

Consistent with previous publications, the denominator for the unit of analysis for primary trial outcomes was the total number of individual items purchased for each student over the three 8-week data collection periods (baseline: October-December 2020; 2 months: February-April 2021; 15 months: February-April 2022).

Differences in the average weekly revenue (a school-level outcome) were assessed using linear mixed models and included data from all students who had placed any order during any of the data collection periods. School and canteen characteristics were previously reported in the 2-month outcome paper and are included here for context.

Given no differences were observed by subgroups (student grade, frequency of canteen use, or school sector) at the primary trial end point (2 months), no subgroup analyses were conducted at the 15-month follow-up.

Sample Size

No sample size calculation was performed for long-term follow-up, sample size estimates were calculated a priori based on the primary trial end point of 2 months [ 13 ]. The original sample size required the participation of 10 schools (222 students per school) to ensure a mean detectable difference of 13% of everyday items with 80% power, an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.05, and an α of .05 at 2-month follow-up.

Ethical Considerations

The ethical approval for the conduct of this study was provided by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Newcastle (H-2017-0402), and State Education Research Approval Process (SERAP 2018065), as well as relevant Catholic School Dioceses.

The baseline characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 1 . At baseline, on average, control schools had higher student enrollments compared with intervention schools (mean enrollments 800, SD 318 vs 496, SD 226). All other baseline characteristics were similar between groups (no significance testing was performed). For example, all school canteens operated 5 days per week, the majority of schools were located in areas of most socioeconomic advantage, and the majority of students were in grades 7 to 9. The number of participants and orders at baseline and 15-month follow-up can be seen in Figure 2 . While 1331 students from 9 schools provided data at baseline, 332 (25%) students did not place an online order at the 2-month follow-up, and an additional 268 (20%) students did not place an online order at the 15-month follow-up. Of these 268 students, 70 had completed high school (ie, students that were in grade 11 at baseline were no longer at school 15 months later). There were no statistically significant differences between intervention and control participants being lost to follow-up ( P =.08).

a NSW: New South Wales.

b Nongovernment schools were Catholic and independent schools.

c Based on publicly available school statistics (MySchool 2020) or verbally from schools (combined schools only).

d Socio-Economic Indexes for Australia 2016, based on the postcode of the school locality and dichotomized at the NSW median.

e Based on Flexischools purchasing data.

f As classified by a dietitian according to the New South Wales Healthy School Canteen Strategy.

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Primary Outcomes

The primary outcomes were the average proportion, per student, of “everyday,” “occasional,” and “should not be sold” online lunch items purchased. Relative to controls, over time from baseline to 15-month follow-up, students in the intervention group ordered on average significantly more “everyday” items (+11.5%, 95% CI 7.3% to 15.6%; P <.001), and significantly fewer “occasional” (–5.4%, 95% CI –9.4% to –1.5%; P =.007) and “should not be sold” items (–6%, 95% CI –9.1% to –2.9%; P <.001) in an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis ( Table 2 ).

a All models included a random intercept for school, a nested random intercept and random time effect for students, and fixed effects for the school sector and Socio-Economic Indexes for Australia. All available data were incorporated into the model (baseline, 2-months, and 15-months) to describe purchasing patterns over time.

b P <.05.

c All $ amounts are in Aus $. A currency exchange rate of Aus $1 = US $0.65 was applicable as of February 2024.

Secondary Outcomes

Average energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content of online lunch orders.

There were no between-group differences over time (baseline to 15-month follow-up) in the average energy (+48.8 kJ, 95% CI –34.6 to 132.2; P =.25), saturated fat (–0.0 g, 95% CI –0.5 to 0.5; P =.99), sugar (+1.7 g, 95% CI –0.1 to 3.5; P =.07), or sodium (+0.35, 95% CI –36.2 to 36.9; P =.99) content of student lunch orders.

Weekly Online Canteen Revenue (Potential Adverse Effect)

While both intervention and control groups increased in revenue (a currency exchange rate of Aus $1=US $0.65 applies) over time (intervention-group baseline: Aus $896.10; intervention-group 15-month follow-up: Aus $1243.80; control-group baseline: Aus $769.60; control-group 15-month follow-up: Aus $1798.50), the increase in the intervention group was significantly lower than the increase in the control group (differential effect –Aus $673.40, 95% CI –Aus $1252.60 to –Aus $94.20; P =.03). To further qualify this effect, a post hoc exploratory analysis was undertaken to explore if students spent more money per order between intervention and control groups over time. The exploratory analysis found no difference in the average spend per student order by intervention and control groups over time (difference Aus $0.07, 95% CI –Aus $0.14 to Aus $0.28; P =.48).

Menu Composition

While no significance testing was performed, the proportion of “everyday,” “occasional,” and “should not be sold” items available on menus at baseline and 15-month follow-up were similar for the intervention and control schools ( Table 3 ).

Of the 4 intervention schools, 3 had 99% (1256/1269 items) of their menu labeled correctly during the 15-month intervention period. The remaining school removed all of their labels in the last 12 weeks of the intervention, resulting in 81% fidelity across the 15-month intervention period.

Principal Results

This is the first study to assess the long-term effectiveness of an intervention embedded within an online lunch ordering system for high school students and is one of few studies to assess the long-term effectiveness of food choice architecture interventions more broadly [ 10 , 23 , 24 ]. The Click & Crunch High Schools cluster RCT found that intervention students, relative to control, ordered significantly more healthy “everyday” items and significantly fewer “less healthy” items from baseline to 15-month follow-up. There were no between-group differences over time in the average energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content of high school student online lunch orders. This study found that the online canteen revenue for both groups increased over 15 months, however, the revenue in the intervention group grew more slowly than the control group. These findings were surprising, given other trials in the school food setting have found no differences between groups in revenue [ 25 - 27 ].

Comparison With Prior Work

While there is limited research to draw direct comparisons of this study, systematic reviews of the school setting have found that very few studies have assessed the long-term effectiveness of nutrition interventions in high schools [ 24 , 28 ]. A systematic review by Mingay and colleagues [ 24 ] found that only 6 of 35 studies assessed the long-term effect (≥12 months) of school meal interventions on the selection or purchase of healthier foods by high school students. Similar to our study, the review found mixed evidence for studies that included multiple dietary outcomes (eg, nutrients vs food groups) in their assessment of long-term effectiveness. In contrast to our study, the review found that shorter interventions (<3 months) had a greater effect on dietary outcomes for high school students [ 24 ]. Contrary to these review findings, our study found that there was a greater magnitude of effect at 15-months compared to the 2-month follow-up (previously reported) [ 13 ]. For example, at 2 months the Click & Crunch High School intervention was effective in increasing “everyday” items (+5.5%, P <.001) and decreasing “should not be sold” (–4.4%, P <.001) items purchased by students, with no difference in the purchase of “occasional” items (–1.2%, P =.47) [ 13 ]. At the 15-month follow-up, the magnitude of effect was greater than that observed at 2 months and the decrease in “occasional” items purchased was now significant (15-months: everyday +11.5%, P <.001; occasional –5.4%, P =.007; should not be sold –6%, P <.001). The increase in effect size over time may in part be explained by the high intervention fidelity, the intervention type (choice architecture vs food provision), and the number of strategies employed in this trial. Furthermore, the greater length of time that students were exposed to the intervention may have increased the likelihood of habitual patterns in the purchasing of more healthy foods. The sustained intervention effectiveness may also be attributable to the precommitment involved with “preordering,” which may prevent impulse purchasing of “less healthy” foods due to hunger-based cues [ 10 ].

Although this is the first RCT to describe the long-term effectiveness of an online choice architecture intervention in the high school setting (enrolling students aged ~12-18 years) a similar pattern of results has been found in related food service settings [ 29 , 30 ]. For example, a longitudinal study undertaken with adults in a large hospital cafeteria found that a 2-year choice architecture intervention involving traffic light labeling, product placement, and promotion increased the sale of “healthy” items by 5% and decreased the sale of unhealthy items by 3% ( P <.001). In the primary school setting (aged 5-12 years), the same Click & Crunch intervention was found to be effective at improving healthy food purchases by primary school students at 18 months (+3.8% “everyday” and –2.6% “less healthy” items purchased) [ 29 ]. Such findings demonstrate the potential merit of the Click & Crunch intervention on improving the nutritional quality of both primary and high school student online lunch purchases over both the short and longer term and challenge the previously held notion that choice architecture interventions may attenuate over time due to their “novelty effect” or “label fatigue” experienced by end users [ 10 ].

Broader Implications of This Research

The findings of this trial may have broader relevance to the online food ordering systems more generally. The World Health Organization has identified the need to leverage online food delivery systems for public health benefits [ 31 ]. This is the first trial to embed public health nutrition strategies within online food ordering systems for adolescents. With the exponential rise in related meal delivery app use particularly by adolescents and young adults (aged >15 years) [ 32 ], these research findings are likely to be of interest to policy makers investigating how to leverage such systems for public health benefit.

Strengths and Limitations

This cluster RCT had several strengths, including the robust trial design, objectively collected purchase data, and the use of a real-world online lunch ordering system to deliver simple choice architecture strategies. Importantly, it is one of few studies assessing the long-term effects on food purchase or consumption of a choice architecture intervention and the first to do so in the high school setting. Despite this, this study had several limitations. In addition to those already discussed in the 2-month follow-up [ 13 ], this study did not assess intervention costs or acceptability which are key determinants of intervention scalability [ 33 ]. Therefore, to support public health decision-making regarding the scalability of these interventions, future research that explores the acceptability of the intervention to end users (high school canteen managers and students) and intervention costs including cost-effectiveness may be warranted. Furthermore, as this study did not find differences in nutrient outcomes (energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium), future research may be required to understand the differential effect of alternate menu labeling systems (eg, kJ labeling) on nutrient-based outcomes. Finally, as outlined in the 2-month follow-up [ 13 ], to achieve population-wide improvements in adolescent nutrition this intervention should be considered in addition to broader public health nutrition strategies that reach both users and nonusers of online canteens in the high school setting.

Conclusions

Despite the limitations, this is the first RCT to explore the long-term effectiveness of a choice architecture intervention embedded within an online canteen targeting high-school students and one of only a few choice architecture interventions delivered in the high-school setting. The findings suggest that there are long-term effects of up to 15 months after intervention commencement, including a significant increase in healthy “everyday” items and a significant reduction in less healthy “occasional” and “should not be sold” items. This provides valuable evidence about the potential long-term effect of choice architecture interventions delivered via online canteens on adolescent school lunch ordering and may be useful to policy makers interested in improving adolescent diet within the high school setting. Further research is required to determine the feasibility of disseminating such interventions to schools at scale, and if these effects transfer to other online food environments targeting different end users (ie, adults and health care workers) such as workplaces, hospital settings, and the fast food sector.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Flexischools, the research advisory group, and the participating schools, canteen managers, and canteen users. This research was funded by the National Heart Foundation of Australia (102809). RW is supported by a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (102156) and Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellowship (2021/ECF1355). LW receives salary support from a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant Fellowship (APP1197022). RS is supported by a Medical Research Future Fund Investigator Grant (APP1194768). SLY is supported by a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (106654). The funders had no role in the conduct of the trial or the analysis or interpretation of findings. The provider (Flexischools) was selected through a competitive tender process. Flexischools is a commercial organization that provided the online canteen ordering infrastructure to schools that were included in this study. Flexischools had no role in this study’s design, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of this paper.

Data Availability

The data sets generated during or analyzed for this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request, pending ethics approval.

Authors' Contributions

RW conceived this study. TD and RW developed the methodology. CL conducted the formal analysis. TD, TC-M, RW, and HL conducted research. CL, TC-M, and TD curated data. TD and JJ led the writing of this paper with all authors contributing to paper revisions. LW, SLY, RS, and RW provided supervision. RW acquired funding. All authors read and approved the final paper.

Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

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Abbreviations

Edited by A Mavragani; submitted 21.07.23; peer-reviewed by S Beresford; comments to author 25.09.23; revised version received 01.10.23; accepted 30.01.24; published 19.03.24.

©Tessa Delaney, Jacklyn Jackson, Christophe Lecathelinais, Tara Clinton-McHarg, Hannah Lamont, Sze Lin Yoong, Luke Wolfenden, Rachel Sutherland, Rebecca Wyse. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 19.03.2024.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

How universities can use blockchain to transform research

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Academic institutions are increasingly adopting blockchain technology to handle data. Image:  Getty Images/iStockphoto

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Stay up to date:, emerging technologies.

  • Academic institutions across the world are turning to technologies such as blockchain to handle large amounts of research data.
  • Blockchain is a cryptographically-secure storage technology that ensures data integrity for large research projects.
  • Here's why the authenticity and reliability of blockchain technology can be of benefit for research at higher education institutions.

Imagine a scenario where you are a professor at a research university entering the next stage of your research project. Just as you’re about to dive deeper, you find yourself in need of a large data set from last year’s research project.

Confidently, you contact your data storage provider for access, only to be blindsided by an unexpected charge called an egress fee . This was not anticipated nor budgeted for; what do you do? Depending on the size of the data set, egress fees can be prohibitively high.

This dilemma is not unique but a widespread challenge regularly confronting university professors and researchers across the globe. Recognizing these data challenges, academic institutions are starting to turn to new technologies to address them.

Have you read?

What is blockchain and what can it do.

One technology gaining traction at universities is blockchain. Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that distributes data across a network. The adoption of blockchain technology by academic institutions is increasing due to advances in decentralized storage technologies promising more cost-effective and secure data storage for large research projects.

This exploration is increasingly relevant to address the pressing need to protect critical research data. This approach also highlights the potential to mitigate vulnerabilities and inefficiencies inherent in centralized storage models including the risks of data loss, as well as constraints imposed on restricted access from expensive egress fees.

How blockchain technology can make a difference in higher education

Research universities are increasingly examining blockchain’s potential benefits.

Blockchain, recognized for its ability to provide a secure and efficient method for immutable record-keeping, introduces promising ways for enhancing efficiency, security, and credibility in higher education.

Its distributed ledger technology offers a transformative method for managing and verifying digital information. One major use case is educational credentials.

Blockchain would enhance accessibility for learners, institutions and employers alike. By breaking down geographical and institutional barriers, blockchain ensures that credentials are globally recognized and can be instantly validated by educational entities worldwide.

Educational credentials go hand in hand with the concept of data democratization. Data democratization refers to the ability to share large data sets across institutions and researchers globally.

Using distributed ledger technology, blockchain democratizes access to massive datasets, which facilitates broader participation in scientific research and education.

Beyond credentials and data democratization, implementing blockchain in higher education could also lead to significant cost savings, reducing the reliance on costly centralized systems for credential verification and data management.

By streamlining these processes through blockchain, universities can allocate resources more effectively, potentially lowering administrative costs and making education more affordable for students.

University of Utah’s blockchain solution for global data access

The University of Utah’s Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute (SCI) is pioneering the use of blockchain in academia through its participation in the National Science Data Fabric (NSDF) and National Data Platform (NDP) initiatives, to improve global and equitable access to large scientific datasets including multiple petabytes of NASA climate data.

By leveraging blockchain to enable interactive processing and exploration of massive datasets without extensive local resources, the university is overcoming traditional barriers to data access.

This effort not only broadens the scope of scientific inquiry but also fosters a more inclusive academic environment, showcasing the transformative potential of blockchain in democratizing access to information and promoting collaborative research.

Manish Parashar , Director of SCI, explained how blockchain-based storage enables data democracy: "Through blockchain-based data storage, the University of Utah is advancing data democracy by enhancing secure and decentralized data sharing. This innovation accelerates scientific discoveries and broadens access for diverse researchers, marking a significant step towards open and equitable data ecosystems."

What are the advantages of blockchain as an educational resource?

Building on this momentum, the University of Utah is further expanding its technological horizon by investing in a $100 million Responsible AI Initiative . This new endeavour, led by SCI, aims to utilize AI ethically and efficiently to address critical societal challenges, from healthcare to environmental sustainability.

By combining blockchain's capabilities with AI's advanced analytical power, the university is setting a precedent for how technology can be harnessed for good. This strategic direction underscores the university's dedication to leading by example in the responsible use of technology, ensuring that its contributions have a positive impact on society.

“We are encouraged by the potential of blockchain technology through the National Science Data Fabric and National Data Platform initiatives, to exemplify the University of Utah’s leadership and commitment to innovation and inclusivity in research and education,” said Taylor Randall, President of the University of Utah .

“By facilitating unprecedented access to large-scale scientific datasets, we are enhancing the promise of data democracy and AI data integrity to support a global community of researchers.”

MIT's blockchain approach in OpenCourseWare preservation

Another university leading the innovative use of blockchain technology in academia is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is at the forefront of integrating blockchain into education through its Open Learning initiatives .

Specifically, MIT's OpenCourseWare , recognized for providing free online access to course materials from more than 2,500 courses, has embraced blockchain-powered storage solutions. This approach is focused on cataloguing and preserving educational content, ensuring its long-term availability and integrity.

Lessons from Cambodia: how it is outgrowing its least developed status through openness

By leveraging blockchain technology, MIT guarantees that these invaluable educational resources remain accessible globally and unaltered over time, marking a significant step towards the democratization and protection of educational data.

This not only broadens educational opportunities for learners globally , but also protects the authenticity and durability of academic resources today.

Blockchain’s role in empowering scientific discovery

For research universities, blockchain adoption is driven by the need for enhanced security, improved data integrity, and the facilitation of easier sharing and collaboration across institutions.

Because of its decentralized nature, blockchain offers an immutable record of data transactions, ensuring that once information is recorded, it cannot be altered or tampered with.

This is particularly advantageous for scientific research, where the authenticity and reliability of data are paramount. Moreover, blockchain-powered data storage systems enable researchers to maintain control over their data while allowing for transparent and verifiable access to data for peer review and collaborative studies.

These use cases demonstrate that blockchain technology is not only proving to be a secure and efficient means of data storage but also creating a more inclusive and collaborative research ecosystem, where knowledge is shared freely and research is nurtured collectively.

With its promise of enhanced security, accessibility, and data integrity, blockchain technology is setting a new standard for academic research and higher education is more interconnected than ever.

By adopting blockchain-powered storage solutions, universities can lead the way towards a more secure, inclusive and collaborative future for academic research and education.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Biden’s executive order for women’s health research is ‘a monumental step forward for women’

Biden executive order for women's health research

  • Expert Viewpoint
  • Feinberg School of Medicine
  • Women’s Health

President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order to expand and improve how the U.S. federal government funds health research about women, who historically have been and currently still are underrepresented in medical research.

The move comes just after President Biden’s State of the Union address in which he called on Congress to make an investment of $12 billion to create a Fund for Women’s Health Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) .

Experts at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have published numerous studies that highlight the lack of sex inclusion in scientific and clinical research. Some have developed technology to help address the gap. 

“I’m thrilled our administration has recognized the need for dedicated and sustained investment in women’s health research,” said Nicole Woitowich, executive director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute and a research assistant professor in the department of medical social sciences at Feinberg. “This is a monumental step forward for women and for advancing our health equity.”

“I am passionate about women’s health and making sure that we consider sex in biomedical research instead of continuing along with the assumption that everything works exactly the same in men and women, despite so many very obvious differences in health and disease,” said Barbara Stranger, associate professor of pharmacology at Feinberg who appeared in November 2023 in a virtual panel, “Sex as a Biological Variable,” convened by the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Below is a brief introduction to several Northwestern experts in this area, along with some of their recent relevant work:

  • 2023 study in Lab on a Chip : Device can simulate disease and test how drugs and diseases affect people (including women) differently
  • Kim also was involved in an earlier project, EVATAR (a mini female reproductive tract in a dish) , which enables scientists to conduct much-needed testing of new drugs for safety and effectiveness on the female reproductive system.
  • June 2021 study in JAMA Network Open: Women and men are each underrepresented in clinical trials of different medical fields : “Neglecting one sex in clinical trials — the gold standard scientific exploration and discovery — excludes them from health innovation and skews medical evidence toward therapies with worse efficacy in that sex.”
  • May 2023 study in Cell: She developed a guide outlining best practices for studying and testing for sex-dependent genetic effects.
  • 2020 study in Science: Sex influences gene production in every human tissue
  • Nov. 2021 study in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health : Sex and gender bias in COVID-19 clinical case reports
  • June 2020 study in eLife, Females still an afterthought in research: A 10-year follow-up to  a 2009 groundbreaking study  that found females were left out of biomedical research because of how their hormones might skew fragile study designs, an idea that has repeatedly been proven false.

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Research News

This medieval astrolabe has both arabic and hebrew markings. here's what it means.

Ari Daniel headshot

This close-up of the Verona astrolabe shows Arabic and Hebrew markings. Federica Gigante hide caption

This close-up of the Verona astrolabe shows Arabic and Hebrew markings.

Sometimes a little modern technology can help turn up an ancient treasure — even if that technology is nothing more than a computer screen and a simple web search.

That's what happened to Federica Gigante , a historian at the University of Cambridge, who was putting together a lecture about people who collected Islamic art and artifacts. One of those collectors was a 17th-century Italian nobleman from Verona named Ludovico Moscardo.

"I simply Googled his name," recalled Gigante, "thinking, 'I'll stick his portrait on the PowerPoint.'"

Google produced a portrait — but the search also called up a picture of a room from the Museum of the Miniscalchi-Erizzo Foundation in Verona, Italy where that portrait is hanging. And something in this image snagged Gigante's eye.

"I noticed an object on the corner that looked remarkably like an astrolabe," she says.

An astrolabe is a 2D map of the universe, in vogue several hundred years ago. This one consisted of a set of round brass plates, each one not quite the size of a small pizza. Gigante says astrolabes are like the world's earliest smartphones.

bibliography means in research

Markings on the Verona astrolabe speak to a time when Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars built upon each others' work. Federica Gigante hide caption

Markings on the Verona astrolabe speak to a time when Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars built upon each others' work.

"With one simple calculation, you can tell the time," she says. "You can predict at what time sunset will be or sunrise will be." It also lets you compute distances and determine the position of the stars, which could then be used to make horoscopes. (Incidentally, they're also the reason that our watches proceed in the direction we now call 'clockwise' — instead of counter-clockwise.)

Gigante didn't know it then, but the inscriptions of this astrolabe would allow her to chart its journey across two continents during medieval times. And they would reveal an era when Muslims, Jews and Christians built upon one another's intellectual achievements. She published her discovery in the journal Nuncius .

Scientists scanning the seafloor discover a long-lost Stone Age 'megastructure'

Scientists scanning the seafloor discover a long-lost Stone Age 'megastructure'

"Astrolabes are a wonderful example demonstrating that knowledge was always in motion, already in pre-modern times," says Petra Schmidl , a historian of science at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg who wasn't involved in the research.

A summer trip to Verona

Back at her computer, Gigante tracked down other photos of the object. "And that's when I got really excited because it was a really remarkable object," she says.

It was covered in Arabic engravings. She deduced it was likely Andalusian — meaning the astrolabe would have been created in southern Spain during medieval times.

As Gigante scrutinized the photos of this astrolabe, she realized that to understand it further — to answer the question of how an astrolabe from 11th century Spain ended up in a museum in 17th century Verona — she simply had to see it up close. So she made her way to Verona last July.

It was a memorable trip: While there, Gigante went to hear opera in the outdoor arena and ate a lot of delicious gelato. But the best part, hands down, was the astrolabe, which was waiting for her at the museum.

"It turned out to be so much more than I had hoped and expected," she says.

bibliography means in research

Federica Gigante examines the Verona astrolabe. Federica Candelato hide caption

Federica Gigante examines the Verona astrolabe.

First, she saw indications it originated in the 11th century, a time when Spain was under Muslim rule and was one of the world's centers of scientific inquiry and astronomical research.

"Astrolabes were a fairly common tool for scientists besides being used in the community," Gigante explains, "probably in mosques by muezzins to calculate the time of prayer."

To operate an astrolabe, you have to know which latitude you're at. So when Gigante examined an extra brass plate that was added to this astrolabe at a later date and saw that it had a pair of more southern latitudes, it told her that the object had migrated.

"If I had to guess, they're probably Moroccan," she says. "So that means that someone at a certain point of the object's life either needed to travel to North Africa or lived there."

A flash of insight

The room where Gigante was examining the astrolabe had big windows. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating the brass.

"Suddenly as I moved it around, I could notice some scratches that looked like really intentional markings," she says. "It was only then that I realized that actually these scratches made up letters that weren't even Arabic. They were Hebrew."

These were signatures and translations inscribed by perhaps three different Jewish owners of the astrolabe, says Gigante. It's evidence that the object passed from Muslim to Jewish hands — and that the two groups were living and working alongside one another.

"It reveals the way the object kept on being used in a Jewish community," she says, "despite it being clearly a Muslim object intended for Muslims to serve someone who had to pray five times a day."

This often-overlooked sea creature may be quietly protecting the planet's coral reefs

This often-overlooked sea creature may be quietly protecting the planet's coral reefs

Additional markings suggest the astrolabe likely then fell into the hands of a Latin or Italian speaker, finding its way into Ludovico Moscardo's possession, which ultimately became a part of the museum's collection in Verona.

"We can read all of this from the object itself," says Gigante. "It is a testimony of a period of shared existence between Muslim[s] and Jews and Christians who kept on building on each other's knowledge and advancement."

Margaret Gaida , a historian of science at Caltech who wasn't involved in the study, praises Gigante's discovery.

"It's actually really exciting," she says, "because there are very, very few astrolabes that actually have such obvious evidence of cross-cultural interaction. Being able to tie one to a particular place and time is also really challenging. And so the fact that Federica has been able to do that is also really noteworthy."

According to Gaida, astrolabes like this one are important because they reveal a moment when the interactions between Muslims, Jews, and Christians were often constructive, and defined by an exchange of ideas and scholarship.

"These objects remind us that we have a very strong, shared scientific cultural heritage, for one thing," says Gaida. "And for another: that interactions between Jews and Christians and Muslims were defined by respect for each other's intellectual traditions and the authority of those traditions."

In addition, astrolabes help dispel the myth that modern science was born in Europe in isolation. "The contributions of the Islamic world to the field of astronomy are immense," explains Gaida. "And also of the Jewish astronomers working during this time. Many of those texts were then translated into Latin, eventually leading to Copernicus and the scientific revolution."

Gigante agrees. The astrolabe is a Greek invention, "but it was really the Islamic world that perfected it and made it into these extraordinary objects," she says.

Astrolabes allow us to look deeply into these different worlds and times, as we peel back their many layers of history and travel and memory.

"The more you look at one thing, sometimes the more things you see," says Gigante. "And you can read so much of an object if you know where to look."

  • medieval Spain
  • Muslim Spain

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Regions & Countries

3. christianity’s place in politics, and ‘christian nationalism’.

Most Americans express support for the principle of separation of church and state. And few say they think the federal government should declare Christianity to be the official religion of the United States.

But many Americans do think that even though the U.S. shouldn’t officially be declared a Christian country, the federal government should promote Christian moral values. And half of U.S. adults say they think the Bible should have at least some influence in U.S. laws, including 28% who say that if the Bible conflicts with the will of the people, the Bible should have more sway.

Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they have ever heard or read anything about Christian nationalism, including 5% who say they have a favorable view of it and 25% who say they have an unfavorable view.

How much influence should the Bible have on U.S. laws?

U.S. adults are divided over the amount of influence the Bible should have on the country’s laws. About half of adults (49%) say the Bible should have “a great deal” (23%) or “some” influence (26%), while 51% say it should have “not much” or “none at all.”

Table shows Republicans twice as likely as Democrats to say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws

This is the third time we’ve asked this question in the last four years, and responses have remained fairly steady over that time .

White evangelical Protestants are more likely than adults in most other groups to say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws (86%) – including 55% who say the Bible should have “a great deal” of influence. A majority of Hispanic Protestants (78%) and Black Protestants (74%) also think the Bible should hold at least some influence on the country’s laws.

By contrast, 80% of religiously unaffiliated adults, 79% of Jews and 57% of Muslims say the Bible should not have influence on the laws of the United States. This includes 84% of atheists and 78% of agnostics who say the Bible should have no influence at all.

There also are large political divides on this topic. While 67% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the Bible should influence U.S. laws at least some, only 32% of Democrats and Democratic leaners share this opinion.

Younger adults and college graduates are less likely than other adults to say that the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws.

What should happen when the Bible and the will of the people conflict?

Respondents who said the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws were asked a follow-up question: When the Bible and the will of the people conflict with each other, which should have more influence?

Overall, 28% of U.S. adults say the Bible should have influence over U.S. laws and that it should take priority over the will of the people if the two conflict, while 19% say the Bible should have influence but that the will of the people should take precedence.

White evangelical Protestants and Hispanic Protestants are more likely than those in other religious groups to say the Bible should carry more weight in U.S. laws than the will of the people – 64% and 61%, respectively, say the Bible should have more influence on laws when the Bible and the will of the people conflict. And 49% of Black Protestants voice this opinion.

Among Catholics, 24% say the Bible should have more influence than the will of the people if the two conflict, 23% say the will of the people should take precedence over the Bible, and 50% say the Bible should have little or no influence on U.S. laws.

Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say the Bible should have more influence than the will of the people when the two conflict (42% vs. 16%).

Table shows 42% of Republicans say that when they conflict, the Bible should take priority over the will of the people in U.S. laws

How much influence does the Bible have on U.S. laws today?

Distinct from their preferences on how much influence the Bible should have on U.S. laws, a majority of adults (57%) say they think the Bible currently does have at least some influence on this country’s laws.

Table shows 45% of atheists say the Bible currently has a great deal of influence on U.S. laws

Atheists (86%) and agnostics (83%) are far more likely than people in other religious groups to say the Bible has influence on U.S. laws.

And 73% of Jewish respondents say the Bible has a great deal of or some influence over today’s laws.

Black Protestants are the only group in which a clear majority says the Bible does not currently have much influence on the country’s laws.

Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to think the Bible has at least some influence on today’s laws (67% vs. 48%).

Should the government stop enforcing church-state separation?

Just over half of Americans say the federal government should enforce the separation of church and state (55%) – virtually unchanged from when we asked this question three years ago .

Table shows 16% of Americans want to stop enforcement of church-state separation

Meanwhile, 16% of U.S. adults say the government should stop enforcing church-state separation. And 28% of Americans say they have no opinion on this question or that neither option represents their views.

Almost all atheists (95%) say church-state separation should continue to be enforced by the federal government. Agnostics (89%) and Jews (84%) also are widely in favor of continued enforcement.

On the other hand, White evangelical Protestants are almost equally divided on this question: 35% say they favor federal enforcement of church-state separation, 31% say the government should stop enforcing this separation, and 32% choose neither of these options.

White evangelical Protestants are more likely than any of the other religious groups in this analysis to say the government should stop enforcing church-state separation.

Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say the federal government should stop enforcing church-state separation (23% vs. 10%). But Republicans express more support for separation of church and state than opposition to it (43% vs. 23%).

Meanwhile, a clear majority of Democrats support the government enforcing the separation of church and state (68%).

Americans with a college degree are significantly more likely than other adults to say the federal government should enforce the separation of church and state.

Should the federal government declare Christianity the country’s official religion?

Survey respondents were asked to pick which of three statements best aligns with their views:

  • The federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the United States.
  • The federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, but it should promote Christian moral values.
  • The federal government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the United States, and it should not promote Christian moral values.

Table shows Most Christians say the government should promote Christian values

An overwhelming majority of Americans – 83% – say the government should not declare Christianity the official religion of the country. Only 13% of Americans support declaring Christianity as the national religion.  (In our 2021 survey, a different question found a similar result on this topic.)

Another 44% of U.S. adults say the government should not declare the U.S. a Christian nation but should promote Christian values.

The remaining 39% do not want the government to promote Christian values or to declare a Christian nation.

A slim majority of Christians say they want the government to promote Christian values without declaring an official religion. In other religious groups, respondents most commonly say the government should neither declare a Christian nation nor promote Christian values. Atheists (90%) are particularly likely to fall in this camp.

While relatively few people say the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the U.S., this view is somewhat more common among White evangelical Protestants, Black Protestants and Hispanic Protestants. About a quarter in each group expresses this opinion.

Most Republicans (57%) say the federal government should promote Christian moral values but not declare the U.S. a Christian nation, while most Democrats (58%) say the government should not promote Christian values or declare the U.S a Christian nation.

Republicans also are more likely than Democrats to say Christianity should be declared the official national religion (21% vs. 7%).

Young adults are more likely than older adults to say that the government should neither declare Christianity the country’s official religion nor promote Christian moral values.

Do Americans know about ‘Christian nationalism’?

A slim majority of U.S. adults (54%) say they have heard or read “nothing at all” about “Christian nationalism” – the same share who said this when we asked this question two years ago .

Among the 45% who have heard anything about Christian nationalism, relatively few say they’ve heard “a great deal” (6%) or “quite a bit” (9%). More Americans say they’ve heard or read “some” (16%) or “a little” (14%) about Christian nationalism.

Table shows Slim majority of Americans have never heard of Christian nationalism

Most atheists, agnostics and Jews have heard at least a little about Christian nationalism. By contrast, 60% of Christians say they have heard or read nothing at all about it.

Views of Christian nationalism

Respondents who had heard or read anything about Christian nationalism were then asked a follow-up question: All in all, do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Christian nationalism?

Table shows Unfavorable views of Christian nationalism are more common than favorable views

Overall, 25% of U.S. adults say they have heard of Christian nationalism and have an unfavorable view of it. Far fewer adults say they have a favorable view of Christian nationalism (5%).

There are no religious groups in which more people have a favorable than unfavorable view of Christian nationalism.

And some religious groups are particularly likely to hold an unfavorable view. For instance, 49% of Jewish respondents have an unfavorable view of Christian nationalism, while 1% say they have a favorable view.

Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to have heard about Christian nationalism and to have an unfavorable view of it. Most Republicans say they have never heard of Christian nationalism.

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Table of contents, 5 facts about religion and americans’ views of donald trump, u.s. christians more likely than ‘nones’ to say situation at the border is a crisis, from businesses and banks to colleges and churches: americans’ views of u.s. institutions, most u.s. parents pass along their religion and politics to their children, growing share of americans see the supreme court as ‘friendly’ toward religion, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Top 10 remote side hustle ideas in 2024, from research.

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Jobs are outdated; side hustles are in

A job alone is an outdated means of employment and survival in 2024.

Perhaps it's a harsh reality for some, but it's essential to bear this in mind when planning for your career future. One must have other options to ensure financial and career stability.

This is due to a combination of factors, that have culminated in millions of Americans and professionals globally seeking side gigs and setting up small businesses as a means to be self-sustaining, and to make it easier to achieve financial goals such as saving, having an emergency pool of cash, or slashing debt.

Low-paying roles, inflated costs of living, and a hike in unemployment and job insecurity are making it all the harder for people to save in the long run, leading to more workers becoming increasingly dependent on their side gigs, noted CNBC in 2023.

Bearing this in mind, what are some of the best remote side hustles one can undertake in 2024?

The below side hustles have been ranked the best through a combination of research from various sources including Bankrate, FlexJobs, and Upwork, and through taking into consideration side hustle ideas that can be performed entirely from home, making them more convenient.

As Blue Beams Rain In ‘Helldivers 2,’ There’s One Player On The Cyborg Homeworld

Additional tickets released for cricket’s t20 world cup, but not india-pakistan in new york, ukraine s seven ton strike drones are back in action, 1. gmat tutoring.

Online tutoring is an in-demand side hustle, which you can offer flexibly to suit your schedule. You can provide tutoring online in the evenings and on weekends, to assist students at all levels with their homework; but why not take it a step further and become a specialist tutor for higher levels of education, thus increasing your earnings?

A GMAT (graduate management admission test) is one of those specializations you can offer to students preparing for entry into a graduate management program such as an MBA. If you consider yourself to be fluent and confident with the GMAT test, already possess an undergraduate degree, and decide to concentrate on a niche subject within the test, you can find yourself in high demand, especially when approaching admissions season.

2. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is a highly rewarding side hustle, in part because you have the potential to earn unlimited income, but most importantly because you get the opportunity to talk about what you love and are passionate about, and can write at any time of the day or night as your schedule permits. You can take on as much or as little writing projects, and depending on the writing model you opt for, your writing can help with establishing you as a a credible name and authority in your field.

Some examples of freelance writing opportunities include:

  • Guest-blogging
  • Ghost-writing
  • Copy writing
  • Copy editing
  • Contributing to magazines

3. Online Marketplaces

If you have high-quality, vintage, or rare goods sitting in storage or in your home, why not sell them instead of allowing them to fill space, cost you more money in the long run, or catch dust? Take an inventory of your home and storage and see if there are any items you can list for sale on sites such as eBay, Poshmark, or Etsy.

With any side hustle idea you choose to pursue, remember to lean into your specialization so you can ... [+] gain better credibility, trust, and clients

4. Virtual Assistance

Virtual assistants make money through offering remote support services to busy professionals and entrepreneurs, such as copy writing, social media management, customer service, and calendar and scheduling management. You and your clients can be based anywhere in the world, and this is super convenient, so long as you have a laptop and good internet connection.

And as always, choosing to specialize within a particular industry due to your previous industry knowledge or expertise, enables you to have the flexibility to charge a premium for your services.

5. Flipping Items

Did you know that you can make money from buying and reselling products ? You can purchase items for a low price, then resell them at a higher price (albeit reasonable) to make a profit. You can charge even more if the product is rare and no longer being sold, part of a sports memorabilia collection, or is designer clothing.

You might also be able to make more profit if you refurbish items such as toys or old furniture.

6. Career Coaching

Career coaching is an extremely fulfilling side hustle because you are able to reap the benefits of witnessing your clients' lives evolve and are helping them to fulfil their untapped potential in unique ways, relevant to their career goals. You will daily be giving them sessions and services which provide industry-specific, job and career-related advice and support. And even as a career coach, you still have the opportunity to narrow down a niche specialization, thereby increasing your chances of boosting your profits.

7. Teaching ESOL

There seems to never be a shortage of demand for tutors who can teach English as a foreign language. The language learning industry is booming, with estimates projecting up to $42.10 billion in revenue by 2028, and this presents an excellent opportunity to undertake a course for ESOL tutors, gain certification, and promote your services as an online English language teacher.

8. Online Course Creation

One of the best ways to take your expertise and share it with the world (which also generates passive income once it is set in place with a solid landing page) is through developing an online course. You can literally teach a course on anything, so long as you have extensively researched the topic and have established a strong market appetite for what you are teaching.

9. Developing Apps

If you consider yourself to be tech-oriented and developing apps is a passion of yours, consider taking your hobby and extending it into a profitable business. Offer your services to businesses, and set your own rates on freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr or Upwork.

10. Bookkeeping

Another excellent side hustle choice is to take up accounting or bookkeeping as a freelance service for small businesses, either running a full bookkeeping service on your own (creating a wrap-around support service bundle), or working as complementary support to existing financial teams.

If you have expertise as a bookkeeper within a specific sector or industry, or are undertaking a career pivot into bookkeeping from another industry, say entertainment, for example, you can decide to specialize and offer your services to entertainment clients as you have existing knowledge of their specific needs.

Purchasing items for ridiculously low prices and reselling them at a profit is a great way to make ... [+] passive income

Have you noticed an underlying theme here with many of the side hustles listed above? While all make for excellent side gig ideas, they only have the potential to be wildly successful if you undertake market research and specialize. Specialization is important, as that is what distinguishes you in an already saturated market of freelancers and others offering precisely the same product or service as you. If you can obtain or learn something that hardly anyone else does or knows, but at the same time is in demand, you've identified a gold opportunity for your side hustle idea.

Rachel Wells

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  1. Common Research Paper Bibliography Formats

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  1. How to write References, Citations & Bibliography in Thesis/Dissertation

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  3. How to write bibliography for a school project or Research paper

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  1. How to Write a Bibliography for a Research Paper

    Bibliographies include all the sources you consulted in your research whether or not you cite or mention them at all in your research paper. Your works cited should include only the sources that you cite. Professors will ask for bibliographies when they want to review all the research you conducted to prepare for the paper.

  2. Bibliography: Definition and Examples

    A bibliography is a list of works (such as books and articles) written on a particular subject or by a particular author. Adjective: bibliographic. Also known as a list of works cited, a bibliography may appear at the end of a book, report, online presentation, or research paper.

  3. Writing a Bibliography

    A bibliography is a detailed list of all the sources consulted and cited in a research paper or project. The bibliography structure always includes citing the author's name, the title of the...

  4. Citations, References and Bibliography in Research Papers [Beginner's

    A bibliography in research paper is a list of sources that appears at the end of a research paper or an article, and contains information that may or may not be directly mentioned in the research paper.

  5. Bibliography

    1. Melissa Borja and Jacob Gibson, "Internationalism with Evangelical Characteristics: The Case of Evangelical Responses to Southeast Asian Refugees," The Review of Faith & International Affairs 17, no. 3 (2019): 80-81, https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2019.1643983 . Shortened note: 1.

  6. What is Bibliography?: Meaning, Types, and Importance

    A bibliography is a compilation of sources that have been utilized in the process of researching and writing a piece of work. It serves as a comprehensive list of references, providing information about the various sources consulted, such as books, articles, websites, and other materials.

  7. Bibliography

    In academic writing, a bibliography is an essential part of a research paper and refers to an organized list of the sources you consulted and cited while writing a manuscript. It enhances the credibility and quality of your work by showing that your research is based on reliable and authentic sources.

  8. How to Write an APA Format Bibliography

    An APA format bibliography is an alphabetical listing of all sources that might be used to write an academic paper, essay, article, or research paper—particularly work that is covering psychology or psychology-related topics. APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association (APA).

  9. Harvard Style Bibliography

    Formatting a Harvard style bibliography. Sources are alphabetised by author last name. The heading 'Reference list' or 'Bibliography' appears at the top. Each new source appears on a new line, and when an entry for a single source extends onto a second line, a hanging indent is used: Harvard bibliography example.

  10. Bibliography

    A bibliography is an alphabetized list of sources showing the author, date, and publication information for each source. An annotation is like a note; it's a brief paragraph that explains what the writer learned from the source. Annotated bibliographies combine bibliographies and brief notes about the sources.

  11. How to Create a Bibliography

    Bibliographies are essential to scientific research, as they provide a comprehensive list of the sources that have been used in the research and writing process. Including a bibliography is important for several reasons. Citations in works submitted for publication are closely scrutinized by reviewers and publishers for the following reasons:

  12. What is a Bibliography?

    A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used in the process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include: the authors' names the titles of the works the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources the dates your copies were published

  13. What Is a Bibliography?

    A bibliography is a list of books, scholarly articles, speeches, private records, diaries, interviews, laws, letters, websites, and other sources you use when researching a topic and writing a paper. The bibliography appears at the end.

  14. LibGuides: Bibliography and Historical Research: Introduction

    A bibliography is a list of documents, usually published documents like books and articles. This type of bibliography is more accurately called "enumerative bibliography". An enumerative bibliography will attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, within whatever parameters established by the bibliographer.

  15. Bibliography

    Field of study Bibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868-1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about "the science of bibliography."

  16. LibGuides: Research Process: Bibliographic Information

    A bibliography is a list of works on a subject or by an author that were used or consulted to write a research paper, book or article. It can also be referred to as a list of works cited. It is usually found at the end of a book, article or research paper. Gathering Information

  17. Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

    A special kind of bibliography, the annotated bibliography, is often used to direct your readers to other books and resources on your topic. An instructor may ask you to prepare an annotated bibliography to help you narrow down a topic for your research assignment. Such bibliographies offer a few lines of information, typically 150-300 words ...

  18. How To Write a Bibliography Plus Examples

    Research papers include a bibliography, which can be a little tricky for students. Learn how to write a bibliography in multiple styles and find basic examples below. ... The overviews shown here are meant to guide students in writing basic bibliographies, but this information is by no means complete. Students should always refer directly to ...

  19. Introduction

    Introduction. A bibliography is a list of documents, usually published documents like books and articles. This type of bibliography is more accurately called "enumerative bibliography". An enumerative bibliography will attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, within whatever parameters established by the bibliographer.

  20. Citing Sources: What are citations and why should I use them?

    What is a citation? Citations are a way of giving credit when certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again-- it provides an important roadmap to your research process.

  21. What's a Bibliography?

    A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used (whether referenced or not) in the process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include: the authors' names the titles of the works the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources the dates your copies were published

  22. Bibliography Definition & Meaning

    : a list of works written by an author or printed by a publishing house compiled a complete bibliography of John Donne 3 : the works or a list of the works referred to in a text or consulted by the author in its production The book's bibliography contains over 400 items. bibliographic ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fik adjective or less commonly bibliographical

  23. APA Citation Style 7th Edition: Annotated Bibliography

    The annotated bibliography looks like a Reference page but includes an annotation after each source cited. An annotation is a short summary and/or critical evaluation of a source. Annotated bibliographies can be part of a larger research project, or can be a stand-alone report in itself. Types of Annotations

  24. Emory primatologist Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes 'a

    At the field station of the Emory National Primate Research Center, de Waal kept a small office atop a tower. A windshield-like opening in the office overlooks a habitat where multi-generational groups of chimpanzees live outdoors. De Waal supervised the construction of a building adjacent to the habitat for cognition research with the chimpanzees.

  25. Journal of Medical Internet Research

    There were no between-group differences over time in the mean energy, saturated fat, sugar, or sodium content of lunch orders. Conclusions: Given their longer-term effectiveness, choice architecture interventions delivered via online canteens may represent a promising option for policy makers to support healthy eating among high school students.

  26. How universities can use blockchain to transform research

    Manish Parashar, Director of SCI, explained how blockchain-based storage enables data democracy: "Through blockchain-based data storage, the University of Utah is advancing data democracy by enhancing secure and decentralized data sharing.This innovation accelerates scientific discoveries and broadens access for diverse researchers, marking a significant step towards open and equitable data ...

  27. Biden's executive order for women's health research is 'a monumental

    President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order to expand and improve how the U.S. federal government funds health research about women, who historically have been and currently still are underrepresented in medical research.. The move comes just after President Biden's State of the Union address in which he called on Congress to make an investment of $12 billion to create a Fund for ...

  28. Astrolabe's Arabic, Hebrew markings recall period of Muslim, Jewish

    Here's what it means. March 16, 2024 5:00 AM ET. Ari Daniel ... a historian of science at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg who wasn't involved in the research. ...

  29. 3. Christianity's place in politics, and 'Christian nationalism'

    About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

  30. Top 10 Remote Side Hustle Ideas In 2024, From Research

    A job alone is an outdated means of employment and survival in 2024. Try these 10 remote side hustle ideas so you can have greater career and financial stability. Subscribe To Newsletters