5 Things You Should Know About A PhD Dissertation Bibliography Structure

Writing a PhD project is a complicated process. As you write, you not only have to include expert research and your findings, but you also have to make sure that you follow all of the required formats. If you make any mistakes, you will lose points and your grade will suffer. If you make mistakes on the dissertation bibliography structure, you might even have to deal with issues relating to plagiarism. Therefore, it is vital that you understand how to properly format your project from the title page to the dissertation bibliography style. Even one little mistake can be costly.

How to Format the Project

The way that you format your project will be determined by the type of degree you are seeking. If you are working on a degree in the social sciences, your project will be formatted in the APA style. If you are working on a degree in literature, you will use the MLA style. Sciences and mathematics degrees will have different formatting styles that are selected by the college you are attending and the committee that approves the phd thesis. Regardless of the style you have to use, you will need to use it for not only the bibliography page, but the dissertation bibliography citation pieces, too. This can be overwhelming for people who are new to writing papers like these.

When you are ready to start writing your project, you should know these five things:

  1. The format you are required to use
  2. The minimum number of entries required by the committee
  3. Whether or not to include sources you read, but did not cite in the paper
  4. Whether or not to include reference books like dictionaries
  5. How often to submit samples of the bibliography to your committee

Take Time to Format Correctly

Writing the actual paper and creating the bibliography list takes time and effort. The best way to reduce the amount of time that you spend on the bibliography is to use an online bibliography website to keep track of your sources. These websites will build the list of sources based on what you add to your account. You can use them to format the sources, too. But, be sure that you have the sources formatted in the style that is required.

Record the Bibliography Entry Immediately

Before you even begin to read and take notes on a source, it is a good idea to save the source in the proper format so you do not lose it. Too many students have been forced to find sources after they have completed their papers. This is a grueling task that wastes a serious amount of time and can easily be avoided by getting in the habit of recording the source as soon as you find it.