9.02 Bibliographies, General

Bibliographies are indispensable research tools that list books and articles related to a general or highly specialized field of study in order to help the reader locate and consult a particular book or article. Reference works should always be listed in the same manner within a single bibliography, for reasons of precision, uniformity and clarity. Bibliographic standards have been established for the translation of a reference work listing from one language to another. The bibliographic style presented here is based on International Standard ISO 690 entitled Documentation—Bibliographic References—Content, Form and Structure and on ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) protocols.

9.03 Types of bibliography

Various types of bibliography are possible, depending on the nature of the book or document in which they are to appear. A bibliography may list all the works consulted by a writer, as well as others the writer believes readers will find useful, or it may be restricted to a listing of works actually cited in the text. An annotated bibliography contains comments made by the author concerning the scope, usefulness or other features of the works listed. A bibliography may appear at the end of a book, report or other document (before the index, if any), at the end of a chapter, or as a separate document.

9.04 Bibliographies, Arrangement

If a book covers a broad subject, or if each chapter in it is devoted to a different topic, it may be more practical to break the source material down into a general bibliography of works covering the subject as a whole and a number of separate listings of works referring to specific chapter topics or fields. The Canada Year Book, for example, contains a listing of general reference works as well as separate listings, at the end of each chapter, on such topics as geography, health, the legal system, art and culture, banking and finance, and transportation. Other arrangements are possible—separate listings for books and articles, for example. In most cases, however, a straightforward, alphabetical, letter-by-letter arrangement (see 9.42 Alphabetical arrangement) will suffice. Choose an arrangement that presents the source works in as clear, orderly and logical a manner as possible.

9.05 Romanization

Romanization is the transcription of characters of another alphabet into Roman characters so as to make a text, and specifically a bibliographic entry, readable. The Library of Congress and the International Organization for Standardization have published conversion tables to facilitate transcription.

9.06 Translation

If the translated (English) title appears on the title page of a publication in another language, it follows the primary title in the bibliographic entry and is italicized, with a period separating the two elements:

• Von Keitz, S., and W. von Keitz. Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft. Library and Information Science. Weinheim, Germany: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989.

If you yourself must provide a translation, insert the English version of the title (no italics) in brackets after the primary title, capitalize the initial word, and place a period after the closing bracket:

• Chang-Rodríguez, Eugenio. Latinoamérica: su civilización y su cultura [Latin America: its culture and civilization]. Boston: Heinle and Heinle, 1991.

For a publication in which French and English titles are given, both languages should be included:

• Canada. Department of Canadian Heritage. Convention on the Rights of the Child. First Report of Canada / Convention relative aux droits de l’enfant. Premier rapport du Canada. Ottawa, May 1994.

Note the space on each side of the oblique.

The publisher’s name should not be translated, but for the benefit of the unilingual reader the place of publication may be:

• L’Europa mediterranea: Spagna, Portogallo, Francia. Arnoldo Mondadori, ed. Milano (Milan): Panorama, 1990.

When no translation is given on the title page, check whether translations of the work are already on record at the National Library of Canada, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) or elsewhere before translating the primary title. Accuracy of translation is essential.

9.07 Principal source of information

The principal source of information when listing a work should be the work itself. In the case of a monograph (book, pamphlet), the title page and overleaf are the sources of information, whereas for a work published in a series (periodical), the main source is the title page or, in the absence of a title page, the cover, the running title or the copyright page. In the case of a computerized document, information for the bibliographic entry is found on the sticker on the disk, diskette or packaging. For films and videotapes, the main sources of information are the credits and the packaging. If any bibliographic details are missing and cannot be found in the principal source of information, scan the document itself or check library records.

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.

9.09 Author’s name

List a maximum of three names of people or groups of people responsible for the content of the work. Give the author’s name exactly as it appears on the title page of the work. Do not abbreviate a name that has been given in full.

Omit an author’s titles, affiliations or degrees.

See 9.42 Alphabetical arrangement and 9.45 Personal names on how to alphabetize names in a list.

(a) One author

The author’s name may be that of a person or persons or of a corporate body. A person’s surname precedes a given name or initials. The article (A, An or The) at the beginning of a corporate author’s name is usually omitted, as is any term identifying the nature of the enterprise, such as Inc. or Co.:

• Carpenter, Thomas. Profiles in Canadian Genius. Camden East, Ont.:
• Camden, 1990.
• Canada. Public Service Commission of Canada. Selection Standards.
• Ottawa, 1989.

If there are multiple entries by the same author, begin the second and subsequent entries with a 3-em dash and a period:

• Atwood, Margaret. Wilderness Tips. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1991.

  ———. The Robber Bride. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993.

(b) Two or three authors

Open the entry with the first name mentioned in the document. Only the first name listed is inverted; the rest are transcribed as they appear in the document, separated by a comma:

• Eagleson, Alan, and Scott Young. Powerplay: The Memoirs of Hockey Czar Alan Eagleson. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1991.

(c) More than three authors

When there are four or more authors responsible for a single work, the entry should begin with the name of the first author, inverted, followed by a comma, a space and "et al." (short for et alii), meaning "and others":

• Klassen, Paul, et al. The Butterflies of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Manitoba Museum, 1989.

(d) Editor

An editor may have primary responsibility for a work or may share it with a writer. In the former case, the editor’s name is placed first in the bibliographic entry, followed by a comma and the abbreviation ed. (eds. for more than one editor). In the latter case, the editor’s name, preceded by "Edited by," follows the title of the work:

• Tortelli, Anthony B., ed. Sociology Approaching the Twenty-first Century. Los Angeles: Peter and Sons, 1991.
• Moodie, Susannah. Roughing It in the Bush, Or, Life in Canada. Edited by Carl Ballstadt. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1990.

(e) Corporate author

List documents lacking a specified author or editor under the title of the sponsoring body, which may be a country or its government; a department, board, agency or commission; an association, company, institution or firm; or even a sporting event or exhibition.

In the interest of clarity, cite the full name of the corporate author, not its abbreviated form. If the organization is better known by its acronym or by some other shortened version of its name, choose the more familiar, reduced form, as in "Unesco" instead of "United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization."

The name of a superior governing authority is usually listed first in a bibliographic entry, unless the corporate author’s name includes a term indicating the organization’s dependence. Therefore, list

• Unesco. Adult Education Section.

not

• United Nations. Unesco.

In the case of government publications, begin the entry with the name of the country, province, state or municipality issuing the document:

• Canada. Department of the Environment. Trademarks on Base-Metal Software. Ottawa: Canada Communication Group, 1991.

When listing a court of law, indicate the political entity under which it exercises its power, as in "Canada. Supreme Court" or "Manitoba. Court of Queen’s Bench."

(f) Pseudonyms and anonymous works

Authors better known by a pseudonym than by their real name should be listed under that pseudonym. Where required, give the author’s real name or place "pseud." in brackets after the pseudonym. In the case of anonymous works for which the author’s identity has been established, place the author’s real name in square brackets. Otherwise, list the work by its title followed by the rest of the bibliographic information. Do not use "anonymous" or "anon." unless the author really is unknown:

• Carroll, Lewis [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]. Through the Looking Glass. New York: Random House, 1946.
• Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W.W. Norton, 1977.
• [Horsley, Samuel]. On the Prosodies of the Greek and Latin Languages. 1796.
• "Summer is Icumen In." In Immortal Poems of the English Language. Edited by Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket Books, 1954.

9.10 Order of precedence

Note the following conventions for the order of bibliographic entries:

• A single-author entry precedes a multiple-author entry beginning with the same name.
• An author’s own volume precedes one that he or she has edited or compiled.
• Corporate authors are alphabetized according to the first key word in the name (not A, An or The).
• A list of works by the same author is presented in chronological order.

The rules given in 9.42 Alphabetical arrangement for alphabetizing index entries also apply to bibliographies.

9.11 Title

Transcribe the title as it appears on the title page; the original capitalization and punctuation need not be retained. Italicize titles of published works such as books or periodicals. If the work being listed is published within another document, such as an article in a periodical, set the title off in quotation marks:

• Horsman, Jenny. "Something in My Mind Besides the Everyday": Women and Literacy in Nova Scotia. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1990.
• Clement, Lesley D. "Artistry in Mavis Gallant’s ‘Green Water, Green Sky’: The Composition of Structure, Pattern, and Gyre." Canadian
  Literature 129 (Summer 1991), pp. 57–73.

If the title is in two or more languages, transcribe the titles as they appear, separating them with an oblique (/) and a space on each side of the oblique:

• The Future of Canadian Programming and the Role of Private Television: Keeping Canada on the Information Highway / L’avenir des émissions canadiennes et le rôle de la télévision privée : Maintien du Canada sur l’autoroute électronique. Report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. March 1995.

See 9.06 Translation for information on translated titles.

Any subtitle should follow the title after a colon and a space. If the title and subtitle are italicized, so is the colon:

• Schwartz, Ellen. Born A Woman: Seven Canadian Singer-Songwriters. Vancouver: Polestar Press, 1988.

9.12 Secondary responsibility

Mention the name of the writer of the preface, foreword or introduction only if there is specific reference to that part of the book and if the writer is not the same as the author of the rest of the work. List the author of the cited preface, foreword or introduction, then the title of the book, followed by the name of the author of the book itself:

• Atwood, Margaret. Afterword to A Jest of God, by Margaret Laurence.
  Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993.

Place the name of a person or group who is not primarily responsible for the work itself, such as a compiler, editor, translator or illustrator, after the title, using the appropriate term or abbreviation ("Comp. by," "Edited by," Trans. by," "Illus. by"):

• Wood, A. J. Errata: A Book of Historical Errors. Illus. by Hemesh Alles. Stewart House, 1992.
• Laferrière, Dany. Eroshima. Trans. by David Homel. Toronto: Coach House, 1991.

If no author is mentioned, the name of the editor, translator or compiler takes the place of the author:

• Bryden, Philip, Steven Davis and John Russell, eds. Protecting Rights and Freedoms: Essays on the Charter’s Place in Canada’s Political, Legal, and Intellectual Life. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.

9.13 Edition

When citing an edition other than the first one, indicate the edition used in Arabic numerals and abbreviate the word "edition" as "ed.":

• Werther, William B., et al. Canadian Human Resource Management. 3rd ed. Whitby, Ont.: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1990.

The words "reprint," "printing" and "impression" do not indicate a new edition.

9.14 Place, publisher and date

(a) Place of publication

If a document has more than one place of publication, choose the Canadian city, if any, or the first city mentioned. When it is necessary to differentiate a place of publication from others with the same name or to identify one that is not well known, add a geographic identifier (name of country, province or state), in an abbreviated form:

• Willmot, Elizabeth. When Anytime Was Train Time. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills, 1992.

If the place of publication is not given, insert "N.p." for "no place of publication," in square brackets.

(b) Publisher

Listed after the place of publication, the publisher’s name is preceded by a colon and a space, and followed by a comma. The publisher’s name should be transcribed as it appears in the document, but articles and abbreviations such as Co., Ltd. and Inc. are usually dropped:

• Harris, R. Cole, and John Warkentin. Canada Before Confederation: A Study in Historical Geography. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1991.

The publisher’s name may be given in full or in an acceptable abbreviated form. For abbreviations of publishers’ names, consult Canadian Books in Print and Books in Print.

If the name of the publisher is not provided, insert "n.p." for "no publisher," in square brackets.

(c) Date of publication

The date of publication is preceded by a comma and is always written in Arabic numerals. If the date of publication is not provided, add the copyright date instead.

If neither the date of publication nor the copyright date can be ascertained, check library records for the missing information. You can either give an estimated date of publication followed by a question mark, enclosing both in square brackets, or add "n.d." for "no date of publication." Give inclusive dates for a multivolume work:

• Banicek, Edward. A History of Indonesia. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Ross and Kittredge, 1988–93.

If a multivolume work has yet to be completed and all the volumes in print are listed, indicate the date of the first volume, followed by an en dash:

• Skelton, Margaret. A Critical History of Modern Dance. 2 vols. to date. Chicago: Terpsichore Press, 1987–.

9.15 Series

This item is reserved for works that are a part of a special collection. Include any number that has been assigned to the document cited. The name of the collection, followed by a comma, the abbreviation "No." and the number of the document are placed after the title:

• Martin, Robert, and G. Stuart Adam. A Sourcebook of Canadian Media Law. Carleton Library Series, No. 51. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1989.

9.16 Examples of specific entries

(a) Conference proceedings

Conference proceedings are identified by the title of the conference:

• Cultural Economics 88: A Canadian Perspective. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cultural Economics, Ottawa, September 27–30, 1988. 3 vols. Edited by Harry Hillman-Chartrand, et al. Akron, Ohio: Association for Cultural Economics, 1989.

(b) Lectures

Give the speaker’s name, the title of the lecture in quotation marks, followed by a descriptive identifier (seminar, address, lecture, etc.), the sponsoring organization, the location and the date:

• Massé, Marcel. "Partners in the Management of Canada: The Changing Roles of Government and the Public Service." John L. Manion Lecture, Canadian Centre for Management Development. Ottawa, February 18, 1993.

(c) Dissertations

List a published dissertation in the same way as other books, but identify the work as a dissertation and mention the academic institution:

• Collard, Janice. The Theme of Rebirth in Canadian Drama. Master’s thesis. McGill University, 1989. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992.

Leave the title of an unpublished dissertation in roman type and enclose it in quotation marks:

• Monks, Ashley Andrew. "Gypsy Wanderings: Dialectal Differentiations in the Romany Language." Master’s thesis. University of British Columbia, 1995.

(d) Electronic documents

Documents stored on a CD-ROM, computer disk or database are generally listed by title. The citation must specify, in square brackets, the type of document being listed and include information needed to identify and retrieve the work:

• "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome." In MESH vocabulary file [database on-line]. Bethesda, Md.: National Library of Medicine, 1990 [cited October 3, 1990]. Identifier No. D000163. [49 lines.]

For further information regarding the listing of electronic sources, refer to International Standard ISO 690-2 Information and Documentation—Bibliographic References—Electronic Documents or Parts Thereof.

(e) Film and videotape

Depending on the focus of your study, a film or videotape can be listed under its title or the name of the director, producer, screenwriter or principal actor. Whatever the first component of the bibliographic entry may be, specify the medium of the work in square brackets at the end of the entry:

• Borsos, Phillip, dir. Dr. Bethune. With Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren. 1990. [Film.]

(f) Musical recordings

Give the name of the composer, title of the recording (or works on the recording), artist’s name (where applicable), manufacturer, catalogue number (if known), year of issue, and any other pertinent information:

• Prokofiev, Sergei. Romeo and Juliet (excerpts). Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Cond. Charles Dutoit. London: Decca Records, 1991.
• Somers, Harry. The Fool. With Roxolana Roslak, Patricia Rideout, David Astor and Maurice Brown. Cond. Victor Feldbrill, RCA, LSC 3094 (CBC, 272), n.d.

Bibliographic entries for published musical scores are similar to those for books.

(g) Interviews

Enter the name of the interviewee, the type of interview (personal, telephone, etc.), and the date:

• Egoyan, Atom. Personal interview. November 27, 1994.

(h) Radio and television programs

List the entry under the title of the program and include the network or local station, the city, the broadcast date, together with other pertinent information. Note that titles of television and radio shows are italicized and that segments and episodes are set off in quotation marks:

• You Be the Doctor. "The Lifestyle Crisis." With Valerie Pringle. Prod. by Jack McGraw. CTV Toronto Film Production. August 1, 1995.

(i) Theatrical performances

In addition to the title of the play, the playwright, director and principal actor, give the name of the theatre, the city and the date of performance, along with any other pertinent information:

• Caird, John, and Trevor Nunn. Les Misérables. By Victor Hugo. With William Solo. Royal Shakespeare Company. National Arts Centre, Ottawa, 1994.

(j) Legislative documents

Acts, regulations and legal notices are published in federal and provincial government gazettes, which should be listed as follows:

• The Canada Gazette. Part II. Vol. 125, No. 1 (2 January 1991)–Vol. 125, No. 17 (14 August 1991).

Note that the title of the gazette is italicized and that the jurisdiction and legislative body need not be mentioned.

Adopt the following order for order papers and notices: name of government; name of department, agency or institution; title of document; legislature and session numbers; volume and issue numbers (if any); issue date; and publication data:

• Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Order Paper and Notices. 33rd Parliament, 1st Session. No. 134 (28 June 1985). Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1985.

9.17 Secondary source citations

When referring to a work that has been cited within another, list as the first component of your entry the work that is the focus of your text: either the work that has been quoted or the work in which it is quoted. The first-mentioned work, or primary reference, should be listed in the standard fashion. For the second document, or secondary source, the bibliographic data should be separated by commas. If the secondary source is a book, enclose the publication data in parentheses:

• Burns, Robert. Epistle to a Young Friend. 1786. Quoted in Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy: The Manticore (Toronto: Macmillan, 1987).

or

• Davies, Robertson. The Deptford Trilogy: The Manticore. Toronto: Macmillan, 1987. Quoting Robert Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend, 1786.

© Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2013
TERMIUM Plus^®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
Writing Tools – The Canadian Style
A product of the Translation Bureau