BIBLIOGRAPHY

By
Ranjan Kumar Nayak
Pre. Ph.D course work
Roll No. 16 AIHC&A 008
P.G Dept of AIHC&A
Utkal University
Vani Vihar

The second job of the scholar, after the choice of the subject is the preparation of a
bibliography. This gives him an idea of the range of materials on the subject. It is very important
to prepare a very exhaustive bibliography both of primary and secondary sources. Primary
sources are unpublished original material, contemporary records, journals, official transactions,
minutes, proceedings, private letters, inscriptions, coins and literary sources. Secondary sources
are published material, books, records, journals and later works. The bibliography work is a
continuous process. It requires periodic addition. As and when fresh material comes to light, it
enters the bibliography, but a rough idea is essential in the initial stages to know the volume of
literature available on the subject. A bibliography is prepared by using the card catalogues,
indexes to periodicals and reference books available in libraries, museums, archives and other
repositories. Here also the scholar should use the card system. Copy each title on a separate card
generally 35 inches, keep these cards in alphabetical order, and add useful titles s you find
them. The final bibliography, to be used at the end of the thesis will most often include only the
works that help in the actual writing- usually those cited in the footnotes. But the preparation of a
good bibliography is a important job, for historical sources are wide-spread, and their nature
differs in accordance with the subject. For pre-history and proto history a different kind of
bibliography would be required from that of modern history; art history would require a different
type of material from that of political history and so on.