Referencing is part and parcel of all academic writings at every level. It is necessary to give any writing the finish that it requires and will give your writing the support to add legit to your writing in the estimation of your Instructor.
This is referred to as the series of conventions that are used in pointing readers towards all the sources that you used to arrive at your point of argument. There are several referencing approaches and it is left for the student to choose one and stick with it.
The three major referencing styles include:
You must think about your bibliography as something separate from your research work. If you are to include all your sources here, you are going to have things muddled up at the end of the day. You are not expected to include every source; it is best to employ the use of reference management software.
The use of the software will save you time. However, this style will not be 100% accurate at the end of the day because it is auto-generated. You have to revise and fill in the missing gaps before it can be acceptable. All the same, it is an efficient time-saving device at the end of the day.
In the majority of cases, the school will let you know the type of referencing that they want their students to use. It is important in such instances to make sure that you know about the usage of the reference before you set out to work.
However, if you are given the free room to choose a style of your choice; make sure you read the usage section of any style that catches your attention. You can then go on and ask yourself the following questions:
How will your approach to engagement with your sources be? Are you going to have direct contact with them or barely cite them?
Are you going to paraphrase the quotation or use a direct quotation?
The answers to the above questions will help point to the direction that you will use in order to achieve the best results in the bibliography.
Plagiarism is a serious offense. When you reference your paper, it will save you the embarrassment of using the work of others that you incorporate into your work.
The readers of your work might want to engage with it directly. Referencing will help them trace where your ideas came from.
It will go to prove to your readers that you carry out enough research into the subject. It will confer on you the status of an expert in the field.
The above are the tricks that you needed to have a well-coordinated bibliography.