Your coursework bibliography is a key part of your submission to the exam board. It's also good experience for the demands of your degree course if you're heading that way. Let's get yours sorted ...

What is a bibliography?

Simply, a bibliography is a record of everything that you read, watched, or listened to during the ‘formative’ process for your coursework, when you were developing your argument. It should include sources you accessed even if you think you didn’t explicitly use them.

Why do I need a bibliography?

I think there are four reasons:

One, the most successful students do the ‘reading round’ the subject. Their essays are better informed; their arguments are more mature and plausible (AO1). Further, I wonder how successful a student can be in terms of context (AO3), or alternative interpretations of a text (AO5) if they haven’t done their ‘reading round’. It’s one of the reasons why English Literature is so often cited as one of the hardest A-Levels on Reddit and other platforms: it really isn't an easy option for students who don't much enjoy reading.

Secondly, and perhaps especially important in 2025, it helps you defend yourself against any potential accusations of unintended plagiarism. Intended plagiarism (passing off someone / something else’s ideas as your own) is the work of the devil, and is just a fancy euphemism for something very unpleasant: cheating.

Next, at A-Level, and then at degree level, we are not expecting you to come up with something startlingly new about a text, especially if it is 300-400 years old. But you DO get value (marks) by engaging with what others have said. That doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with them - it's about taking their ideas into account in your journey towards creating your argument. Times change, and it would be unusual for you to agree completely with something someone said a century ago, for example.

Finally, I’ll be completely honest, it helps game the system in your favour. A decent bibliography is the kind of nudge which could get your work across a borderline decision, especially if your argument is a little unconventional. Thin bibliographies aren’t a good signal to your marker if you are after a top grade …

When should I do my bibliography (and any footnotes)?

People tend to fall into two camps.

Some want to do the ‘paperwork’ at the end, reasoning that constant interruptions to their ‘creative flow’ make their writing more difficult.

That's about as useful as saying you won't study for your mocks 'so you can see what you need to revise', sigh ...

Do it, broadly, as you go along. Experience tells me that there’s nothing worse than trying to hunt something down days or weeks after you read it. Keep a ‘swipe file’ if you are gathering ideas, so that when you get writing, the referencing is easy. I genuinely have things I reference over a decade after I read the source material. It is only having the reference that keeps that information valid.

How should I structure my bibliography?

First, check with your teacher, who may have their own requirements. But I don't think you can go wrong with how I did mine at university, separating the list into primary and secondary texts.

Primary texts: the definition was loose, even at uni, but I’ll suggest it is original works of art which anyone can access, eg books, films.

Secondary texts: simply, this covers anything which is related to or about those original works. Think literary criticism, reviews, author interviews, radio shows, journal articles, etc.

How do I format my bibliography?

A bibliography should allow a reader to access exactly the same ‘texts’ and versions as you did. As I said above, there are a few accepted referencing formats; the best thing you can do is check with your teacher which one they expect. But if you aren’t getting much advice, this is what I used at uni, what I usually ask my A-Level students to use, and shouldn’t be too far out:

Books:

Author Name (surname, forename), full title in italics (publisher city: publisher, date of edition you looked at)

Films:

Director (surname, forename) (dir.), full title in italics ( studio, date of release)

Websites:

URL address, eg www.xxxxxxxxx.xxx​

(Your teacher might ask you to use the exact link, so anyone can access the same page you did, and the date you accessed the webpage)

Audio:

Slightly more tricky, but I would adapt the film / website depending on how you accessed it.

Journal article:

Author Name (surname, forename), ‘article title’, journaltitle in italics, issue number (year), pages

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OK, ok, I know you want an example. Here's one from my first year Uni days. Notice that I have a) added eds. (editors) where applicable, and b) for completeness, given a name to the websites I accessed.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Works

Shakespeare, William, King Richard II, ed. Charles R. Forker (London: Thomson Learning, 2005)

Williams, Tennessee, A Streetcar Named Desire, (London: Methuen London Limited, 2009)

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Secondary Works

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Cottrell, Richard, and Robertson, Tony (dirs.) King Richard II (BBC TV, 1970)

Marlowe, Christopher, Edward The Second, eds. Martin Wiggins and Robert Lindsey (London: A&C Black, 1997)

Shakespeare, William, Twelfth Night, eds. Roger Warren and Stanley Wells (Oxford: OUP, 2008)

Warner, Deborah, (dir.) King Richard II (BBC TV, 1997)

www.dictionary.oed.com Oxford English Dictionary

www.opensourceshakespeare.org Open Source Shakespeare

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About Abel Guerrero: I'm the 'upstart' in Upstart Tuition. I qualified as a teacher in 2013, and worked in the classroom until December 2024, when I decided my interests and skills were better fulfilled by 1-2-1 and small group tuition, resources, and courses. Of course I'm on a mission to help you smash your exams, but also I hope you'll fall in love with literature. It's the best subject for learning about who we are, about the world about us, and how to navigate it.

I specialise in Shakespeare, poetry, and the Victorian / Dystopian literary genres. If I'm not reading, I'll probably be trying to grow chillies, with varying degrees of success. 🌶️

Need help? you can book a free, no-obligation chat with me via this link. Let's get together and discuss how I can help you.

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