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How to Make a Bibliography Card on an Encyclopedia

Writing a research paper often requires using a wide variety of sources. It is easy to mix those sources up if you don't have a strong organizational system. One way to organize your information is to make bibliography cards as you discover new facts. The bibliography cards help you keep track of your information, check sources, and write your bibliography at the end of your paper. A bibliography card for an encyclopedia includes basic information about the article as well as publication data for the encyclopedia itself.

Things You'll Need

  • Index cards
  • Pen
  • Encyclopedia
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Instructions

    • 1

      Enter the name of the author of the encyclopedia article, if it is signed. Last name should be first, followed by comma then first name. For example: Doe, Jane. If the article is written anonymously, write Unsigned.

    • 2

      Enter the title of the article or subject area in quotations after the author information. Follow the title by a period inside the closing quotation mark. Now your entry will look like this: Doe, Jane. "Border Collies."

    • 3

      Write the name of the encyclopedia in italics and put a period after the title. You should have the following: Doe, Jane. "Border Collies." New Encyclopedia. (Note: it is customary to underline a book title when hand-writing it, to indicate that the title should be italicized when in print. In this case the words "New" and "Encyclopedia" should be underlined on your card.)

    • 4

      Enter the edition number, if applicable, using ordinal numbers. Put the name of the editor after the title, preceded by the word Ed. (the abbreviation for editor). Put a period after the name. For example: Doe, Jane. "Border Collies." New Encyclopedia, 4th ed. Ed. John Doe.

    • 5

      Add the volume used after the edition number. Abbreviate volume as "Vol." and put a period after. If you are using more than one volume, put the number of volumes available (5 vols.). If you are only using one volume, enter the volume used (Vol. 5). Now your entry should show: Doe, Jane. "Border Collies." New Encyclopedia. Ed. John Doe. 4th ed. Vol. 5.

    • 6

      Write the city of publication, publisher, year it was published, and how you accessed it. Follow the city of publication with a colon, the publisher with a common and a period after the edition date and medium of publication. Your entire entry should look like this: Doe, Jane. "Border Collies." New Encyclopedia. Ed. John Doe. 4th ed. Vol. 5. New York City: Smart Publisher, 2005. Print.

    • 7

      Put your initials on the bottom of the card and number the cards in the order you find the information. Putting your initial will identify the cards as yours if they are lost. The numbers on the cards can be used to put them in proper sequence.

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