Many writers find that a convenient and efficient way to compile such a working bibliography is on 4-by-6-inch note cards, one source to a card. Cards are handy to work with: you can arrange and shuffle them. Other writers keep track of everything in a notebook small enough to fit in a pocket. Still others use a word processing program or a computer database to keep track of bibliographical information. Whatever method you use, the more care you take in recording your tentative sources, the more time you'll save later, when at the end of your paper you compile a list of works you actually used and cited. At that point, you'll be grateful to find all the necessary information about titles, authors, dates, and page numbers or URLs (Internet addresses) at your fingertips. Otherwise, you'll have to make a frantic, time-consuming trip back to the library or onto the Internet.
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