Primary Source Archives
Gale Primary Sources offers collections that include bibliography periodicals, journals, and articles that provide researchers with firsthand material.
Bibliography
Examine the function of the bibliography, which is a complete or selective list of works compiled upon some common principle, generally including information such as the title of the work, place of publication, publisher, volume number, and author first name and last name. A bibliography can either be a list of writings by a particular author, such as a bibliography of Stephen King, or a list of works consulted by a writer as part of their research. Bibliographies are made up of citations; each citation is an individual title and its publication information.
There are three main types of citation styles, which defines the formatting of the citations (such as the order of the publication elements). The APA (American Psychological Association) style is used primarily for publishing in the education, psychology, and sciences fields; the MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used primarily for publishing in the humanities; and the Chicago Manual of Style is used primarily for publishing in the business, history, and fine arts fields.
Scholars include bibliographies at the end of their articles or books to show the reader what sources they used in the creation of their own work; these include both works the scholar cited as well as sources the scholar consulted. Some bibliographies are annotated, which means the citations include notes explaining the significance of the cited source. Bibliographies can serve as a guide to further research.
The word “bibliography” comes from the Greek words biblio, meaning “book,” and graphos, meaning “something written or drawn.” Given that many modern bibliographies contain nonbook references such as internet sources, articles from magazines and newspapers, and even unpublished scholarly papers produced at the university level, some prefer to use the term “works cited” instead of “bibliography.”
