A bibliography is a list of books, articles, and other sources that a writer used when researching a topic. When you write a research paper about, say, the American Revolution, your bibliography shows all the books you read, websites you visited, and documents you examined to learn the information.

Think of a bibliography as giving credit where credit is due. If you learned that Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride from a particular history book, that book belongs in your bibliography. If you found details about colonial life from a museum website, that source goes in too. Scientists, historians, and students all use bibliographies to show where their facts came from.

The bibliography usually appears at the end of a report or book, with each source listed in a specific format that includes the author's name, the title, and publication information. This system lets readers find and check the same sources you used. Teachers often require bibliographies for research projects because they want to see that you actually did the research and didn't just make things up.