Bibliography for an Assignment

An important aspect of academic writing for a college assignment is the bibliography. A bibliography allows you to acknowledge the research material you consulted, and it demonstrates the depth and credibility of your work. Whether you need to compile a standard bibliography or an annotated bibliography, the primary purpose is to provide a clear and credible list of references that provide support for your arguments and allow the reader to access those sources in the full text.

Depending on your subject area or your professor’s application, you may need to comply with APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard citation style. All citation styles have rules for how sources must be listed. By following the proper format, you not only avoid plagiarizing, but you also add to the quality and professionalism of your assignment.

Writing a Bibliography for College Assignments

What is a bibliography in an assignment?

A bibliography in an assignment is the list of all of the sources you have referenced (and possibly other sources you consulted) while you prepared your paper. The sources may be books, journal articles, reports, websites, and other academic materials that will offer you useful information that helps develop your arguments. The bibliography formally acknowledges the work of other researchers and scholars who helped you reach your conclusions.

The bibliography (a list of references) usually appears at the end of an assignment, in specific details required by your professor or institution, following a citation style. Writing a bibliography is more than simply listing your sources.

Writing a bibliography includes

(1) listing your sources.

(2) formatting the list according to academic standards; and

(3) enabling readers to retrace the sources.

As a college student, you know how to write a bibliography for a college assignment. You should be able to know you are writing your references correctly, avoid plagiarizing, and also give credibility to your assignment.

How to Write a Bibliography for an Assignment Website

Developing a bibliography for an assignment website is a straightforward process, particularly with so many online citation tools available. While these citation tools can save valuable time, having a reference guide for how to create each type of reference will allow you to cross-check for accuracy.

Here are some guidelines on how to write/reference your bibliography for an assignment:

Gather Information for Each Source:

• Before starting to write your reference list, ensure that you have collected all the required information for every source you have used in your assignment.
• This will include all author(s) names, the title of the document, the date of publication, the publisher of your source, and any other relevant documentation, depending on the type of citation you will be required to use.

 Use the Appropriate Citation Style:

• Each academic discipline uses its citation style. Some of the more commonly used academic citation styles are APA (American Psychological Association—usually in the social sciences), MLA (Modern Language Association—typically in humanities), and Chicago/Turabian (historical reference).
• Ensure that you use the correct citation style for your assignment to ensure you make no formatting mistakes.

 Organize Sources Alphabetically:

• After you have gathered your information and chosen the citation style, put the sources in order by the author's last name.
• If there is no author, use the title of the work to order the references.

 Format by Style:

• Citation styles have certain rules for formatting bibliography pages.
• Rules for things such as punctuation, italics, capital letters, and what order to arrange the different components (e.g., order authors' last names, title, publisher, etc.) You should be sure that you are following any rules.

 Proofread and Make Corrections:

• Even if you are using an online tool to help with citations, you must double-check that your bibliography page has been formatted appropriately.
• Ensure that there are no missing components, and review punctuation and the details.

How to Write a Bibliography for a Law Assignment

Format of Bibliography for Assignment

When writing a bibliography for a law assignment, you will have to take a different approach. Much of the primary research that you will conduct in law will reference legal texts (i.e., case law, legislation, legal journal articles, government reports, etc.), and the format of a legal bibliography in a law assignment is different from the format used in most other fields, with your sources presented in a format aligned with legal citations.

An example of the format of bibliography for an assignment for legal documents, which is used in many court rulings in the U.S., is the Bluebook citation. Here is the order for citation of a case in Bluebook citation form:

• Case name (Year), Volume number, Reporter page (Court).
• Statutes and other legal texts are cited in different ways.
• Statute title, section, volume number, statute name (year).

Here is an example of a bibliography for an assignment:

• Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
• Author last name, first name. Title of legal text. Publisher, year.

When writing a bibliography for a law assignment, you need to know how to reference your citations appropriately. The legal citation method tends to be more rigid and directed to the source and citation than other disciplines. You need to know what style guide you are using for legal references (e.g., Bluebook, Harvard).

Bibliography for Assignment Sample

A bibliography sample for an assignment will help you formulate the format and structure for your bibliography. Whether it is a law, nursing, or history assignment, a sample format will ensure you do not miss any essential elements.

For example, here is a bibliography sample for an assignment regarding a law assignment:

• Smith, John. Constitutional Law: An Overview. Oxford University Press, 2021.
• Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
• Brown, George. The Development of Property Law in the 20th Century. Law Review 44, no. 2 (2023): 102-115.

Bibliography for History Assignment

Illustration of a Bibliography for a College Assignment

A history assignment typically involves reference to historical texts, articles, or primary source documents. Just as the bibliography for a history assignment provides complete reference details of books, journals, and source documents that would be appropriate to provide relevant historical context to your analysis, for example, here is a bibliography for a history assignment:

• Author Last Name, First Name.
• Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
• Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Article. Journal Name, Volume No. (Year), Page Numbers.
• Website Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Webpage. Website Name, URL. Accessed Month Day, Year.

An example:

• Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. Harper & Row, 1955.
• Brown, Susan. The Civil Rights Movement: A New Look. American History Journal 34, no. 2 (2003): 125-150.
• Green, Peter. World War II and Its Effect on Europe. History Today. www.historytoday.com/worldwar2. Accessed: July 1, 2025.

How to Write a Bibliography for a History Assignment

The challenges of creating a bibliography for a history assignment come from how you reference your primary sources and your secondary sources. Primary sources are considered to be historical documents, government documents, and firsthand accounts. Secondary sources are interpretations based on historical events, such as scholarly books and journal articles. Citation formats will change depending on your style (MLA, APA, or Chicago).

Consider primary source citations in Chicago style. The style for citing primary sources varies greatly from that of a book or journal article. In all cases, it is important to use the correct style guide and follow the style guide for citing history.

Bibliography for Nursing Assignment

Bibliography for Assignment Example

Interventions in nursing assignments are often based on academic journals in addition to research studies and/or books on medical sciences. Below you will find an example of a bibliography for a nursing assignment:

• Article: Author last name, first initial. Title of article. Journal Name, Volume Number, Issue Number (Year Published): Page Numbers.
• Book: Author last name, first initial. Title of book. Edition. Publisher, Year Published.
• Website: Author last name, first initial. Title of web page. Website name, URL. Accessed Date.

Example:

• Williams, George. The Effect of Diabetes in Aging. Journal of Geriatric Medicine, Vol. 48, No. 5 (2023): 237-245.
• Johnson, Mary. Fundamentals of Nursing. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 2020.
• Davis, Peter. Managing Diabetes in Elderly Patients. Healthline, www.healthline.com/diabetes-elderly. Accessed June 12, 2025.

Since nursing assignments will need to include current medical research, only use credible and current data and avoid outdated medical references. Just remember that anything that you include in your bibliography should be relevant and authoritative!

FAQs

Q1. How do you go about creating a bibliography for an assignment?

Ans. Creating a bibliography for an assignment means harvesting all information of your sources (e.g., author, title, publisher, year of the published source, and so on) and correctly formatting the sources under the style you are instructed to use (i.e., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). Finally, for the bibliography, all sources are organized in alphabetical order according to the author's last name.

Q2. How to create a bibliography for an assignment example?

Ans. When creating a bibliography for an assignment, you should check that every reference detail is correct and that it is formatted and aligned with the style you were instructed to use. An example of the same type of citations in APA format includes the following for a book with one author:

• Author Last Name, First Name. (Year). Title of Manuscript. Publisher.
• An example of the same types of citations comes from a journal article:
• Author Last Name, First Name. (Year). Title of Article. Title of Journal, Volume Number, Issue Number, Page Numbers.

Q3. How to Write a Bibliography for a College Assignment?

Ans. For a specific college assignment, you must conform to the citation style requested by the professor. As you write a bibliography, you will see that different citation styles have you writing in different ways, including citation styles such as APA for social science, MLA for humanities, and Chicago for history. Whatever style you are using, be sure your references are well done and contain all the information needed for each source.

Q4. What is the purpose of a bibliography in an assignment?

Ans. A bibliography is for several reasons, including to help the reader find the sources you have used, to acknowledge the original author, and to avoid plagiarism. Also, a good-looking bibliography will help legitimize your work and show that you have engaged with your topic.

Q5. Can I use these citation tools to write my bibliography?

Ans. Yes, you can use several citation tools to help you with your writing, including Zotero and EndNote, and other online citation tools that will do just that for you. Just make sure to double-check the references for correct accuracy and format, as that is your onus to verify.

Q6. What is a bibliography versus a reference list?

Ans. The bibliography includes all sources researched and cited, while the reference list includes specific sources used in the report.

Q7. How do I cite a website in a bibliography?

Ans. You would cite as you would in a normal bibliography; you would list the author, title of the webpage, name of the website, URL, and the date you accessed it. In APA citation format, it would look like the example below:

• Smith, J. (2023, June 5). Understanding current economics. Economics Today, economicstoday.com. Accessed June 12, 2025.

Q8. How do I cite multiple authors in the bibliography?

Ans. In the APA style citation, there is a specific formula that highlights authors with commas and "&" before the last author:

• Smith, J., & Brown, A. (2021). Introduction to Economics.
• In MLA style, and is listed before the last author's name, which is listed below:
• Smith, John, and Adam Brown. Introduction to Economics.