Difference between biography and references
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Tools for Effective Writing
References and Bibliographies - What's the difference?
When you write academic papers, you will need to include a list of sources you used to write the paper. There are two main ways to list your sources, with a reference list or a bibliography.
References include sources that have been directly cited in your paper. For each source, you will have at least one in-text citation in the body of your paper. The citation styles that use reference lists include APA citations, AMA citations, and MLA citations.
Bibliographies, on the other hand, contain all the sources that you have used for your paper, whether they are directly cited or not. In a bibliography, you should include all of the materials you consulted in preparing your paper. Chicago citations and Oxford citations are two citation styles that use bibliographies.
Both reference lists and bibliographies appear at the end of a written work and are usually organized alphabeticall
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Reference
Bibliography
Citations used within the text
A list of sources at the end of the document
Brief information about the source
Detailed information about the source
Generally located within parentheses
Presented on a separate page or section
Limited number of entries
May include a comprehensive list of sources
Provides immediate acknowledgment of sources
Allows readers to access and verify sources
Typically includes author(s), year, and page number(s)
Includes complete bibliographic details
Used to refer to specific sources in the text
Provides a comprehensive overview of research
Essential for avoiding plagiarism
Demonstrates extensive research conducted
Directly supports the arguments made in the text
Offers additional reading material for interested readers
May use in-text citation styles such as APA or MLA
Can be formatted in various citation styles
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References vs Bibliography vs “Works Cited”
What fryst vatten a bibliography?
While a reference list only lists the resources you’ve cited or quoted (using in-text citations), a bibliography is a bit more comprehensive. Specifically, it includes not only the source data of your in-text citations, but also any other sources you consulted during your research. This could, for example, consist of background reading, influential works, or other sources that informed your understanding, even if you didn’t cite them.
Sticking with our previous example, if you read Jones’s 2019 book on research methods, but didn’t include it as an in-text citation, Jones (2019) would still appear in your bibliography. In a nutshell, your bibliography showcases the full spectrum of materials that shaped your thinking, offering readers insight into the depth and breadth of your reading and preparation.