Meaning & use
bibliography
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Meanings
nouncountable
A list of the books, articles and other sources that a writer used or consulted, usually placed at the end of the work.
Grammar: Countable: a bibliography, several bibliographies.
Patterns
- a bibliography of something
- include something in the bibliography
Please add this article to your bibliography.
The thesis ends with a thirty-page bibliography.
My teacher checked that every source in the bibliography was real.
nouncountable
A list of all the works written by an author or about a subject.
Grammar: Often followed by 'of' or the author's name: a Tolkien bibliography.
Patterns
- a bibliography of someone
- a bibliography on something
The library published a bibliography of local history.
She compiled a bibliography of every poem the author wrote.
The subject bibliography helped researchers find recent studies.
noununcountablespecialist
The study of books as physical objects, including their history, production and description.
Grammar: Specialist academic sense.
Patterns
- the field of bibliography
Analytical bibliography examines paper and printing methods.
He teaches bibliography at a rare book library.
Bibliography helps date old manuscripts.
Word forms
| plural | bibliographies |
|---|
Common combinations
- annotated bibliography
- The class had to hand in an annotated bibliography.
- compile a bibliography
- She spent a week compiling a bibliography.
- select bibliography
- The book includes a select bibliography.
- working bibliography
- A working bibliography grows as you research.
- in the bibliography
- The source is listed in the bibliography.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reference list
- A reference list includes only works actually cited, while a bibliography may include all sources consulted.
- works cited
- Works cited is the term in some style guides for sources quoted in the text, where bibliography is broader.
- source list
- A source list is a plainer, informal phrase for the same idea.
- further reading
- Further reading suggests extra material for the reader, rather than sources the author used.
Word family
- bibliographic adjective
- relating to books and their lists
- bibliographer noun
- a person who compiles or studies bibliographies
- bibliographical adjective
- relating to the description of books
- biography noun
- the story of a person's life
Commonly confused: bibliography or biography?
bibliography vs biography
A biography is an account of someone's life, while a bibliography is a list of sources.
Practice
Add the book by Okonkwo to your ___ at the end of the essay.
Choose one answer.
A bibliography is the list of sources. A biography tells a life story, an autobiography is one's own life story and a glossary explains terms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bibliography”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.