Skip to Main Content

Libraries & Cultural Resources

Research Guides

Guide to Research and Writing for the Academic Study of Religion

List of Works Cited

A list of Works Cited should be attached to the end of your research paper. It contains a list of all the sources that you have used in your research. These could include:

 

  • Books
  • Parts of books
  • Scholarly periodical articles
  • Newspaper or magazine articles
  • Letters
  • Diaries
  • Documents
  • Web pages
  • Graphics
  • Web postings
  • Art
  • Illustrations
  • Cartoons
  • Tables
  • Charts
  • Graphs
  • Films
  • Television
  • Conversations
  • Lectures

Consult  the Chicago Manual of Style for the correct format of citations and remember to list your sources alphabetically.

There is some debate as to what should or should not be included in your list of Works Cited. Works Cited implies that only works that you actually have cited in your paper should be included. Some professors, however, will want to see all the material that you have used in developing your ideas. However, this should rarely, if ever, include the preliminary research done while developing your question (e.g. dictionaries and encyclopedias normally are not cited or included). Remember, this research is invisible and should stay invisible except for its contribution to your background knowledge.

Citation Tools

There are a number of tools to help you format your references.  These include:

  • Bibliographic Software such as RefWorks and EndNote
  • Free Citation Tools such as Noodlebib Express - handy tool for formatting in APA, Chicago and MLA format  and  eTurablan - citation generator as well as Zotero  and Mendeley - great resources for capturing references (and pdfs) and formatting
  • Databases will often allow you to output selected records in proper format.  ATLA  Religion Database provides the option to print, email, save or export records in MLA, APA or Chicago citation styles.  NOTE review the ATLA generated record as it  incorrectly cites print only works as an electronic source with ATLA as the Database.  If you have used a print copy of the article, delete everything after the page information.  If  you used a digital version of the article you will need to indicate the database name and vendor for that source.

 

Libraries & Cultural Resources