It takes time envisioning, planning, designing, and creating assignment work. Regardless of its type, it all takes more or less the same effort to complete. So, no matter if you’ve finished a dissertation or a research paper, we know about the hard work. But then, are you looking for Bibliography Vs Works Cited? Well, you must be wondering how did we know about that? 

You see, it’s quite easy to figure that out for us. After all, no sane student will leave his assignment work without checking for plagiarism. And yes, plagiarism is something not likeable to professors in US colleges and universities. Coming back to what we were talking about – proper citation of sources prevents plagiarism. Probably, because it helps your professor fact-check your work for accuracy and authenticity. 

Besides, it can also aid you in finding relevant information in the future about the same topic. You can just click on the citations to return to a particular source at any time. Therefore, learning the importance of citing sources is important for every student to learn. Well, it is important mostly because at your college or university life, it is a prerequisite.

However, it is tough for students to handle the overwhelming bombardment of information. When your assignment is crowded with various terminologies, it can be really challenging. 

Now, if you are looking for the difference between Bibliography and Works-cited, you should first know about them.

Bibliography Vs Works Cited – Understanding the Terms

It is quite normal to get confusion because in-between ‘Bibliography’ and ‘Works Cited’. Especially in higher education, it is a real challenge for students to do things in the correct way. Citing every possible source that they have used or referred for the research paper is very difficult. Not just that, they also need to post about the ‘compare’ and ‘contrast’ parts too. 

So, let’s just talk about their whereabouts individually. In that way, you can get an idea about what similarities and differences they have.

What are Works Cited?

‘Works Cited’ is also known as the “Works Cited Page”. It is a separate page that you need to attach at the end of your assignment project. The Works Cited page lists the sources which students used in gathering info and completing their assignment. The page also includes relevant information in the form of quotations, rephrased parts, etc. It also shows the incorporation of generic data information.

Whenever a student lends existing information from any prevailing source, it needs citation. Therefore, everything that isn’t common knowledge has to be cited. 

The list must have the names of the authors, editors, or translators. Works Cited is used using MLA format (Modern Language Association) style. Also, it should have a properly mentioned part of ‘Works Cited’. Well, it helps in formatting any academic paper like formatting college essay, assignments, and more.

Many times, professors go through the Works Cited page first. Reading the Works Cited page gives them a clear idea of the amount of effort that you have given to the work.

The Works Cited page is very essential because –

• To show your college or university professor that you have done proper research in your assignment work. You need to show the list of Works Cited by listing the details of the sources that you used.
• You can show your professor that you are a responsible student. The way you give credit to the original writer of other researchers is something praiseworthy. In this way, you are showing that you respect other’s works by acknowledging them. 
• Of course, the Works Cited page helps you escape from plagiarism issues. You can quote the words and ideas of other authors.
• The Works Cited page also helps in tracking down the sources. So, if you want to make a change to something, you can just check the list. 

What Should be Cited?

Students searching on the net – ‘Bibliography Vs Works Cited’ want to know what to cite. Often, students ask this question because they are clueless about it. 

So, here are some of the things that you should cite if they come into your work –

• Any type of facts, figures, ideas, etc that isn’t common knowledge needs to be cited. 
• Sometimes, you use different ideas, words, and theories that some other person has already published somewhere. 
• Even in the case of an exact language or words that someone used in other publications, a citation is necessary. 
• Also, there are different publications that you should include on the Works Cited page. It includes books, articles. Chapters, theses, web pages, and other documents as well. 

Even beyond these words, there are still many chances of citation. Whatever you use in your work that has already been used by someone else, requires it. 

So, whenever you have any doubt, it’s better to cite it. Citing whatever you write also helps you in being far away from plagiarism. 

What is Bibliography?

Just like Works Cited, a ‘Bibliography’ is a list of all the references that students take. These lists of references are what students use while researching and writing on a topic. From books, articles, speeches, interviews, letters, websites to private records and diaries – everything should come inside it. 

Even beyond these, if there are other sources that you used, you need to mention them. The bibliography should be present at the end of the assignment work. Its main purpose is quite the same as that of Works Cited. All that it does is to give the authors credit, who helped you in your work.

In the academic world, one can’t write assignments in a vacuum. If we talk about academic journals, they have a unique way of researching and writing. Their research starts circulating on top of the last journal. 

Therefore, the Bibliography part is essential for your readers to trace back the sources. 

A bibliography is of different styles viz. –

• MLA (Modern Language Association)
• APA (American Psychological Association) 
• Chicago style 
• Turabian style

Components of Bibliography in a Content

Are you looking for a possible difference between Bibliography and Works Cited? Well, in that case, you should know about the application of Bibliography in any content. 

So, Bibliography entries will have –

• The names of authors, editors, or translators whose content you have used in your works. 
• The bibliography should also be there for the title of your source content. You need to mention all the associated information related to the edition, volume, and also the book title. In the case of multiple authors or editors, every information should be there in the Bibliography.
• Details about the publication of the source content should be there. In connection to that, you may need to mention the city name, publisher name, date, etc. 
• For online sources, there should be mention of the URL in detail and the date of access.

Bibliography Vs Works Cited: Is There Any Major Difference?

Well, we are talking about two such things that are connected closely to each other. Bibliography and Works Cited are pretty much the same thing if you look at their functions. 

• Works Cited is an alphabetical list of the sources that you have used in your project. It can be anything – from quoted parts to paraphrased parts. 
• On the other hand, Bibliography is slightly different. Here, you do not need to mention paraphrased parts but the parts that you actually cited. Bibliography includes everything that you have used to complete your research.

Thus, as far as functionality is concerned, both are the same to some extent. Both of these terms help you in escaping plagiarism. 

However, the real difference comes evident when you look at their applications.