AIM The aim of this exercise is to promote a critical understanding of the principles involved in the compilation and arrangement of a subject bibliography. More specifically, the exercise will provide you with experience in - identifying appropriate bibliographic sources for the compilation and arrangement of a subject bibliography; analysing the literature of a subject into an effective arrangement; and presenting the information in the manner likely to be of optimum benefit to the user. Using bibliographies, guides to reference material and abstracting and indexing services in both print and electronic formats, you should compile a subject bibliography of approximately 60 items on a subject of your choice. The bibliography should include books, reference works and journal articles. You are allowed to also include five or six authoritative websites. METHODOLOGY You should imagine that you are updating a bibliography published five years ago. The search strategy to be employed will clearly vary depending on the topic and should be determined in consultation with tutors. In general, efforts should be made to cover both a variety of aspects of the topic and as wide a range as possible of relevant forms of material. You should remember that depending on your topic, it may well be necessary to use the bibliographic resources of libraries outside the services provided by the Robert Gordon University. Consistency of citation is very important and you should ensure that you are clear from the outset precisely what elements are required in the bibliographic description (To help you, you should use the guide on How to Cite References, which is available from the library). Take care also to make brief notes about the subject of the item in order to avoid the time consuming process of having to retrace your steps. As part of the exercise you will be required to write a short report on your search strategy and comment on the sources consulted; it will, therefore, also be necessary to make notes as you go along on the usefulness (or otherwise) of the sources you have consulted. DATA COLLECTION Records of potential entries for your bibliography should be gathered (perhaps using cards - or individual sheets of paper). The relevant details should be written on these records and subject/keyword headings assigned as you go along. The subject headings you assign should have an indication of the specific aspect of the subject covered by the particular work you have cited. Most bibliographies you will use in libraries have subject headings and these can be used to assist you in assigning subject headings to your citations. The following is an example and explanation of what you need to note down about the items you find for inclusion in your bibliography. Citation - also called the reference. It will be necessary for you to note all of the key elements (given below); taken together these elements form the citation e.g. for a book, the author, the title, the place of publication, the publisher and the date. Format - The format of the document, e.g. monograph, journal, audio-visual. Each format had a different method of citation (see library guide). Subject Heading - A word of phrase which identifies the subject of the document. This will be used to help you to arrange the items in an appropriate subject order. For example, if your topic was films, you may have a subject heading for ‘westerns’. Author(s) - The name of the author(s) of the document, surname first. Title - The title of the book, article, video etc. Imprint - For a book, the place of publication, publisher and date; for a journal article, the title of the journal, the volume and part number, in brackets, the date and the inclusive page numbers; for other types see the library guide. Source - The bibliographic source of the information. ARRANGEMENT OF BIBLIOGRAPHY Entries should be arranged in a logical order. This should be a subject arrangement (with headings). PRESENTATION OF BIBLIOGRAPHY The bibliography should be word processed and produced in a user-friendly and professional format. The main sequence of entries, with subject headings, should be preceded by a title page, a list of contents, and a brief introduction, addressed to the user, indicating clearly the parameters of the bibliography, its arrangement and listing the sources used to compile it. You should use the font Verdana, point size 11 and 1.5 line spacing. COMPILATION OF THE SEARCH REPORT As a separate part of your submission, you should provide a report addressed to your tutor of the work you have undertaken. This report should be in the region of 2,500 words in length, and should include the following sections: 1. An explanation of your search strategy, in which you give a description and justification of your selection of bibliographic and information sources and services. This should evaluate the information resources, in the particular area of your bibliography. • the criteria you used in the identification both of candidate reference and of your final list • your decisions about subject headings and arrangement of references. This should be related to the specific needs of your intended audience. 2. An examination of the content of your bibliography including comment on the types of users for which it is likely to be relevant, and the uses to which the bibliography might be put. 3. An assessment, formulated in the light of the examination described above, of the general quality and appropriateness of your chosen search strategy. Given its results, how might your methods be improved? SUBMISSION Your submission for this exercise should therefore consist of two parts. 1. A bibliography (comprising a title page, an introduction and a list of 60 references) 2. A search report (2,500 words) The last date for submission is as indicated in the Academic Calendar. RE-SUBMISSION In the event that a student will have to resubmit the work, you will be expected to undertake the same exercise but with a new topic. CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT Your submission will be assessed on the basis of the following marking schedule: Bibliography (40%) • introduction directed at an appropriate user • relevance and range of documents included • precision, completeness and consistency of references • appropriateness of chosen arrangement Search report (50%) Perceptive, analytical and concise - • suitability and range of bibliographic services consulted • quality of search strategy • explanation of search strategy • examination of content • assessment of quality and appropriateness of search strategy Overall presentation (10%)

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