Formatting references and bibliography in a thesis

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A diploma thesis is an integral part of the life of a student who is completing his/her studies at a higher educational institution. Therefore, it is obvious that students need to independently go through the difficult path of writing a diploma, collect the necessary information, carefully study all aspects, and familiarize themselves with all the nuances of writing their own diploma project.
But after the main text of the diploma has been written, it is too early to breathe a sigh of relief, because it is time to draw up a list of references and links. The rules that should always be followed will help you do this correctly.

How to draw up a list of references in a diploma thesis

A bibliographic list of references is a mandatory structural element of diploma projects. Its compilation brings enough trouble to each student, but if you do everything correctly and know all the intricacies of writing such a list, you will not have any problems.

General rules of formatting:

• Only those sources that are referenced in the main text of the work should be indicated in the list of references;
• The golden “age” of the information is important, therefore the relevance of the materials should be within the last 4 years;
• Diversify the list of sources, these can be books, textbooks, monographs, articles and other sources of various types and categories;
• The standard range in the list for diplomas is 50-70 titles. For technical disciplines, there may be fewer items in the list;
• Reality and reliability are the most important conditions for the list of sources, so you should not provide inaccurate information.

As we already understood, there are no trifles in writing a diploma thesis, so there is no place for mistakes here.
Since all theoretical parts of the student’s work must be interconnected. The next rule for formatting a list of sources is sequence.

The correct order of placing sources: laws, decrees, orders and regulations are listed first. Next comes scientific and educational material in the state language, these can be books, monographs, manuals and reference books, and then come scientific articles and publications. Literature in a foreign language should be in last place, if there is any in the work.

Grouping order. The most difficult thing for students in preparing a bibliographic list is the correct arrangement of sources, because there are three options for placement: alphabetical, chronological and in order of importance in the text, but each bibliographic information must reflect the following elements:

• The author’s first and last name, if there are several, are indicated in alphabetical order;
• The main name of the source;
• Information that explains the title;
• Information about the subjects who took part in the creation of the source;
• Place and year of publication;
• Information about the volume – the total number of pages.

Example: Tikhonov V.N., Yakovleva A.K. Personnel management in times of crisis: teaching aid. pos. 3rd ed., revised and add. Kyiv, 2011. 345 p.
Remember, teachers like to look at the list of references no less than the introduction and other structural parts of the diploma project. Therefore, it is worth taking the design of such a list seriously enough so that it does not cause additional comments from the commission during the defense.

How to format references in a diploma thesis

The design of references and the list of references in a diploma thesis must comply with certain rules. Below we provide general instructions on this issue:

• References in the text of the diploma thesis must be indicated in square brackets with the source number in the list of references. For example: [1], [2], [3], etc.;
• The list of references must indicate all sources referenced in the diploma thesis;
• References to specific pages should be given after the source number, separated by a comma and starting with a small letter “c.”, for example: [1, p. 5];
• In the bibliography, indicate each primary source that you refer to in the text;
• The Microsoft Word program is used for competent and quick insertion of references. To do this, go to the “References” page, namely to the top line of this page. Then the algorithm of actions is as follows: the necessary paragraph, phrase or word is selected, through the “insert footnote” section, which is located in the window with references, the window is clicked, after which the italics are automatically transferred to the end of the page, where the necessary information is written, then an explanation is entered into the reference, which must comply with the rules for the design of the bibliographic list.

If you use these tips, then the references in your thesis will be formatted correctly, because, as we have already said, there is no place for mistakes in a diploma project.