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1.3.2 Origin, Meaning and Definition

The word 'bibliography' has originated from two Greek
terms, 'biblion' and 'graphien'. The meaning of 'biblion' is 'a
book', and 'graphien' is 'to write'. Bibliography, thus, means
'writing of books', which later on changed to 'writing about
books'. Earlier, the meaning of bibliography was the study
of books as physical entities. Over the passage of time, it
‘Biblion’ and has shifted to the identification of the thought content in
‘Graphien’ books. Presently, a bibliography means the art of preparing a
systematic list of books and the name of the list itself. There
are several definitions available for the term bibliography. A
popular definition of bibliography is given below:

"A bibliography is a list of the sources you used to get
information for your report. It is included at the end of your
report, on the last page (or last few pages)."

Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel (2012)

In simple terms, a bibliography is a list of all the books,
journals, websites, or other sources that someone uses when
doing research or writing something. It is like a list of all
the places they got their information from. More precisely, a
bibliography refers to a list of sources referred to or cited in
the research process or a written work, such as an academic
paper, book, or article. It is a vital component of scholarly
Lists research writing as it allows readers to locate and verify the information
sources used by the author. A bibliography generally entails the
transparently listing of books, articles, journals, cultural objects and other
study materials used to compose a piece of academic writing
or literary work. It is essentially a list of sources used in
writing a research paper. A bibliography aims to show where
the information in a written work comes from, so that other
people can check and ensure that the author used reliable
sources. It is also helpful because if someone wants to learn
more about a topic, they can look at the bibliography and
find the books or articles that the author used.

In their survey report in 1950, UNESCO and the Library
of Congress stated the following aims and functions of
bibliography:

Aims and functions 1. Enable intellectual workers to learn about publications
by UNESCO that record developments in their fields of interest not
only in their own countries but also worldwide.

2. Enhance the effectiveness of specific research
projects.

SGOU - SLM - Foundational Skills for Research and Writing 57