The development of an academic work or a scientific document requires the insertion of a systematic and structured bibliography. It must comply with the standards of academic rigor and with the legislation on copyright. The sources used must be identified through two elements: citations and bibliographic references
The selection of the style maybe suggested by the University or by the tutor (in the case of an academic work). It can also be recommended by a journal or congress, in the case of researchers publications.
There are three different concepts used to make up a bibliography:
It is the mention inside the text of the academic work or scientific document of ideas, sentences or documents, remitting the reader to the source from which the information has been extracted. The bibliographic citations are built according to the chosen style.
It is an structured description that specifies, in a detailed form, the document from which the information has been obtained, allowing its identification and telling us its main characteristics (author, title, publication date, etc.). These data form the bibliographic reference, made up following the guidelines of the chosen style.
Bibliography and / or list of references
A bibliography is the ordered list of documents consulted during the preparation of an academic work or investigation.
A list of references: it is the ordered list of documents cited in the research work.
Styles and standards to redact bibliographies
Different styles and international standards may be used to cite and list bibliographic references, depending on the scientific field.
The bibliographic styles collect the guidelines with the necessary elements for each type of document, its sequence and the typographic format.
The style or standard can be recommended by the professor, by the own institution or university, and in the case of scientific publications, by the journal or congress.
Here you have the most common styles and standards with some guides prepared by the Library staff.
The ISO standard proposes a general frame with a series of guidelines to prepare bibliographic references and citations of bibliographic resources (digital or printed).
The current edition is the ISO 690:2010, translated to the spanish: UNE-ISO 690 Información y documentación . Directrices para la redacción de referencias bibliográficas y de citas de recursos de información.
It is based in the style developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) for its databases. Examples of the different formats for bibliographic references can be found in: Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers.
The last edition of Citing Medicine is the 2nd (2007).