What is the Difference between References, Bibliography and Works Cited
When we talk about essays, articles, thesis, research papers and other literary material, we have to provide a proper source of our information. We cannot write anything without any proof. References, bibliography and works cited are very important in this regard. However, usually these terms are used interchangeably and it is a misconception that they all are same. Here we are discussing the differences between these terms.
References
In literary terms a reference is a citation of text that an author has used in his own creation. This could be an essay, article or a report. References are important because of many reasons, as the express the source of the material. They show the validity of a report and if someone is interested to know more about the topic, he can read the referred material. So, we can see a section with the name “References” at the end of every scientific report or article.
Bibliography
When an author writes something, he consults a lot of other books and other information. All these books and other reading material which he uses as background information for his creation is called as Bibliography. This list is useful for the reader, if he wants some additional information about the topic.
Works cited
Work cited and references are one and the same thing, i.e. they describe the source of material which author has used in writing his literary piece. Works cited differs in its expression only. When we cite sources in Modern Language Association or MLA style, we use the term work cited.
References vs Bibliography vs Works Cited
All these terms are slightly different. Theoretically, reference and works cited are one and same thing, the only difference is the style. When we cite our source of information in MLA style we call it works cited and when the same sources are written in APA (American Psychological Association) Style, we call it references. Bibliography is the list of all the literary material which author has used as background information.
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