Thesis Writing – III (Bibliography)

Bibliography is a selected list of all books, magazines, journals, newspaper articles and other source material which the researcher has consulted. All the relevant material which has been consulted, whether or not it has been cited in the text of the thesis is incorporated in bibliography.

The bibliography should always be arranged in alphabetical order. The first part of the Bibliography should contain the names of the books and the second part will contain the names of journals, magazines, newspaper articles and unpublished work.

Entries: The entries in bibliography should be made in following order: i) Name of the author (Surname first, then comma, then initials or first name); ii) Title of the book in Italics, edition; iii) Publisher, Place of Publication, Year of Publication; iv) Volume Number.

For Periodicals, Magazines, Journal and Newspapers the order will be as under: i) Name of the author (Surname first); ii) Title of Article in double inverted commas; iii) Name of the periodical in Italics; iv) Volume Number/Issue Number; v) Date of Issue; vi) Pagination (First and last page number).

Upper case Roman Number is used to indicate the number of volume of a book.

Titles of unpublished works are enclosed with quotation marks.

The method of referencing should be consistent

Do not give the bibliography a chapter number; but it must have page numbers. Bibliography is preceded by a sheet containing the word BIBLIOGRAPHY capitalised and centred on the page.
The heading BIBLIOGRAPHY is centred between the text margins, 1½" from the top of the page. The list should begin two spaces below.

Each Bibliographic entry should be single spaced with double spacing between entries.

Internet Page: If an internet page is used as a reference source, title of the page and URL address is to be mentioned. The date accessed must be mentioned at the end ( … as visited on 1.1.2009).

Purpose of Bibliography is quite different from that of a footnote. The footnote gives specific location of the source of the statement made in the text, including page number. The purpose of bibliography is to identify the whole work rather than a specific part of it. The style of citation in bibliography is quite different from a footnote. e.g. In a footnote, the author’s name is given as initials or first name followed by the surname, but in bibliography the surname precedes the initials or first name.