9.08 Compiling a bibliographic entry

(a) Books

A bibliographic entry for a book should generally comprise the following:

• Author’s name (one or several authors; corporate author; editor or compiler, if there is no author; translator or illustrator, if either is the focus of the study)
• Title (includes title and subtitle)
• Secondary responsibility (includes editor, translator, compiler, preface writer, etc.)
• Edition (other than the first)
• Publication data (place of publication, publisher, date)

These components are separated by periods and a space, and the second and subsequent lines of an entry are indented.

(b) Articles

An entry for an article in a periodical should contain the following:

• Author’s name
• Title of the article
• Name of the periodical
• Volume and issue number (if any)
• Date
• Page number(s) (inclusive)

The article title is enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a period inside the closing quotation marks. Note that the date is placed in parentheses and no comma separates it from the volume or issue number. In accordance with International Standard ISO 690: 1987, the abbreviation p. or pp. may be omitted, and a colon then precedes the page number(s). However, if the volume number has not been given, the abbreviation is used and is preceded by a comma:

• Moore, Jason. "Understanding Old Age." Popular Medicine 7, 3 (August 1991): 210–14.
• Luna, James. "Allow Me to Introduce Myself: The Performance Art of James Luna." Canadian Theatre Review 68 (Fall 1991), pp. 46–7.

(c) Specialized periodicals

Bibliographic, footnote and endnote entries for articles in specialized periodicals in the natural, applied and social sciences are generally presented as follows:

• Only the first word in the article title and proper nouns and their derivatives are capitalized.
• Since most scientific publications use the author-date system in references, the date of publication is placed directly after or below the author’s name.
• No quotation marks are used for the title of the article.
• The title of the publication is invariably abbreviated and in most cases not italicized.
• The volume or issue number is followed by a colon, and p. or pp. is not used.

  Ivanovic, M., and K. Higita. 1991. Advances in cellular and development biology. Can. J. Biochem. 125: 539–41.

Note the use of periods with the abbreviations.

See 9.25 In-text notes for the author-date system and 9.29 Common abbreviations in notes and bibliographies for title abbreviations.

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