encounter it later in the book. Despite the reason for it being so compelling,
many law books do not have a table of abbreviations.
Bibliography
A book or article should have a comprehensive bibliography.
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This should
include works cited in the text and works consulted by the author when writing
the text. A bibliography performs several functions. In this context the relevant
function is that the bibliography assists the reader to interpret the information
in the text. However, it performs three other functions that are discussed here
for the sake of completeness. It stores information, it assists a reader to verify
information in the text and it may assist citation.
Storing Information
A bibliography stores information because it consists of a list of texts on a
subject. This is a resource because it can assist someone who is researching a
field to ascertain a good deal of published literature that deals with the subject.
Some readers may well consult a work solely to find references to relevant
books and articles. For these readers, references to these texts are easily
accessible in the bibliography.
Verifying Information
A bibliography enables a reader to verify information in the text. Since a
bibliography gives the full and correct citation of the works that it lists a reader
can check a reference to ensure that it has been properly understood and the
content accurately depicted.
Interpreting Information
A bibliography indicates the sources that were considered by the author when
writing the text. This assists a reader to interpret the text by indicating two
things. It indicates by their inclusion what sources were considered by and
relied on by the author in writing the text. It indicates by their omission from
the bibliography what other sources were not considered by the author in
writing the text. By this means it helps to interpret the text – it has drawn on
the theories, facts and ideas contained in one set of publications, while it has
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Sometimes a writer includes a list of work entitled References. According to
strict usage, which may not always apply, References list only those works to which
the text actually refers while Bibliography
lists all those works which the author
considered, which would inevitably include those which are cited. There is a
good reason to prefer a bibliography to a list of references – those who read the
text may be interested in the range of theories, ideas, facts and so on which the
author considered. By utilising a bibliography the author makes clear the full
range of material from which the theories, ideas and facts came.
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