Building a Works-Cited List or Bibliography

At the end of the essay, a complete list of references gathers every source in one place. This list is where the reader confirms the range and quality of your research and locates the sources behind your citations. This lesson explains what the reference list is for, how to build it accurately, and how it relates to the in-text citations that point to it.

The purpose of the reference list

The list of references, sometimes called a works-cited list or bibliography depending on the style, records the full details of the sources you have used. Its purpose is twofold: to give proper credit and to allow any reader to find and check your sources. A complete, accurate reference list demonstrates the scope of your reading and the seriousness of your scholarship. An incomplete or careless one raise