Bibliography vs Citation
Bibliography and Citation are two terms that are used in research methodology, and it is important to know the difference between them. Bibliography refers to the list of books and journals referred to by the researcher in writing his or her thesis or dissertation. It contains the list of the books in an alphabetical order either showing the titles of the books or the names of the authors of the books. On the other hand, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source. A citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression that is included within the body of a work, to denote an entry in the bibliographic reference. This is done in a bid to acknowledge the relevance of the work of the other writer to the topic of discussion at the particular area or location where the citation appears. This is the main difference between bibliography and citation.
What is a Bibliography?
Bibliography is very easy to understand. It stands out from the other contents of the thesis or the dissertation as it appears as a list towards the end of the paper. The main purpose of compiling the bibliography is to let the reader know the books and journals you have referred to as a researcher in writing your thesis or dissertation. A bibliography is a list that contains all the sources the writer has used when he or she was writing the paper. When we say all the sources, the sources that were actually quoted or paraphrased in the body of the paper and the ones that were just consulted but not used in the body of the paper are both included. So, bibliography is not just a list of sources the writer has used. It is a complete list of sources as it even includes the ones that the writer only read to have an idea of his or her topic. A bibliography is in the alphabetical order. That is usually decided by the writer’s surname. The format of the bibliography is as same as the formal of the paper. Say that you are writing the paper in APA format. Then, the bibliography is also in the APA format. If the format is MLA, then, the bibliography is also MLA. Here are some examples.
APA:
MLA:
What is a Citation?
A citation is how you quote the source of the ideas within the body of the research paper. A citation is usually put at the end of the sentence within brackets. Generally, this citation includes information such as the author’s surname, date of publication or the page number in which the part you have taken the idea appears in the original book. This citation method also changes according to the format you are following. See the following examples.
APA – ‘Her past would not let her be at peace (Martin, 2014).’
MLA – ‘Her past would not let her be at peace (Martin 251).’
The purpose of citation is intellectual honesty. You want to give due credit to a particular author for the quotation you have picked from his work in support of your work. Citation occurs at various places wherever there are relevant quotations.
What is the difference between Bibliography and Citation?
• A bibliography is a list of all the sources the writer has used when writing the paper. This includes the sources that were actually cited or paraphrased in the text as well as the ones that the writer just read to have an idea of the topic.
• A citation is how you quote the source of the ideas within the body of the research paper.
• Both bibliography and citation differ from each other in terms of their purpose too. The main purpose of compiling the bibliography is to let the reader know the books and journals you have referred to as a researcher in writing your thesis or dissertation. On the other hand, the purpose of citation is intellectual honesty. That is why you include the citation wherever you have quoted someone directly or paraphrased their ideas. This is another main difference between bibliography and citation.
• It is very important to know that both bibliography and citation jointly contribute to the formation of a thesis or a well-written dissertation.
• Bibliography usually appears towards the end of the thesis. On the other hand, citation occurs at various places wherever there are relevant quotations. Normally, the citation is placed at the end of the sentence.
These are the very important differences between bibliography and citation that a researcher has to know. As you can see, all the citations that you used in the body of the paper appear at the end of the paper, under the name bibliography, together with the sources that were not cited.