Bibliography or References

The Australian National University have got it wrong. If you would like clarification I can recommend Turabian’s ‘Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.’

Basically, a reference list is given if the Harvard or Chicago reference style is used in the text and it can bear the title: References, Works Cited, Literature Cited or some variation as appropriate.

A bibliography is used mainly in nonscientific writing, especially in the humanities. It lists the sources used in writing the paper. Since a bibliography can never be inclusive of everything consulted in the writing it can more accurately be title: Selected Bibliography, Works Cited, or Sources Consulted. The MHRA Style Guide, which is used in the humanities, advises that ‘works not specifically referred to should not be included; if necessary, important items not cited in the main text could be mentioned in the introduction and therefore qualify for inclusion.’ You could also mention works for inclusion in the bibliography in a reasonable footnote.

So, basically, the difference is that ‘bibliographies’ are used in the humanities while ‘references’ are used in the sciences. Why? Because they use different referencing systems.