Definition of Bibliographic Reference

If we read a test, a monograph or an academic work and we want to know what are the sources of information used in them, we should consult the bibliographic references. This information allows the reader to know the exact origin of some specific data or ideas.

Bibliographic references are normally presented at the end of the work and following an alphabetical order of the authors mentioned. The purpose of this informational element is threefold. On the one hand, it is done so as not to confuse the reader, since an idea of ​​your own is not the same as an idea of ​​another author. Second, by honesty intellectual who writes a text You must communicate precisely where you have extracted the information from, otherwise you could be accused of plagiarism. On the other hand, the bibliographic reference is a very useful source of information (for example, so that the reader can expand their knowledge of it).

What information to include

Bibliographic references must include very specific data and ordered according to parameters shared, as it would not make much sense for each author to use their own criteria to detail the references.

Usually the reference works that are cited are of three types: books, magazines or web pages. In all three cases, the bibliographic reference must include the following information: name of the author or authors, title of the work, year and place of publication, and publisher. However, there are differences in Format for each bibliographic reference (for example, the title of a book is written in italics but not when it is the title of an article that appeared in a journal). The most important thing in any bibliographic reference is the rigor of the information and describe it according to the established convention (about punctuation, use of parentheses, order to follow, use of italics, etc).

An aspect directly related to bibliographic references is the procedure to be followed in relation to citations (while citations appear in the content of the text, the bibliographic reference is indicated at the end of a job).

Not all the information obtained should be cited in the bibliographic references. Thus, if the original source is a letter, a email or an informal conversation, all these references should not be part of the bibliography.

While each country has its own tradition Y methodology on the elaboration of bibliographic references, in recent years the international ISO standard for publishing has been generalized. It is a logical and reasonable process, since this is how a standardization that facilitates access to information and knowledge.

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