Easy and free bibliography generation sites

March 30, 1:00 PMGenealogy and Technology ExaminerThomas MacEntee

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Easy and free bibliography generation sites

One of the chores of genealogy research is to cite your sources and this may be one reason why new genealogists often neglect this vital step.  There are several free website-based applications which make the chore much easier to complete.

BibMe

Like all of the bibliography website applications I'm highlighting, BibMe's main focus is on books and allows you to look-up a book using its ISBN number.  In addition, you can type the title or the keywords of the title.

Using the ISBN Number 0806317817 and the MLA format, the follow appears using BibMe:

BibMe allows you to edit the information returned from the look-up and then add it to a bibliography that you can later download to a Microsoft Word file or save to an account.  BibMe also offers formatting for sources cited from websites, magazine articles, newspapers and even interviews and lectures.

EasyBib

EasyBib bills itself as "the free bibliography composer" and while it can generate a citation based on a book's 10-digit or 13-digit ISBN number, it also offers a list of over 50 other source formats including journal and magazine articles, web sites, online databases, family bibles, even live performances. 

Using the ISBN Number 0806317817 and the MLA format, the follow appears using EasyBib:

Once the citation has been built, you can easily switch from MLA to APA or Chicago/Turabian formats.  And like BibMe, you can build a bibliography by adding the citation to a Word document.

OttoBib

New on the scene, OttoBib uses the ISBN number for books to generate a bibliography.  Formatting options include MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, BibTex, Wikipedia.  The premise of OttoBib:

1.    A bibliography based on looking up the data online.

2.    Webpage that would allow the reader/teacher to see the books, their covers, links to Amazon or other online references.

Using the ISBN Number 0806317817 and the MLA format, the follow appears using OttoBib:

One serious drawback with OttoBib is the focus on ISBN numbers – there are no allowances for citing magazine articles, newspapers, etc.  Also, OttoBib assumes you will then copy and paste the citation into a document unlike EasyBib and BibMe which can actually generate the document for you.

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