Works Cited vs Works Consulted
 

Citation and bibliography are words that hold great significance for all those writing academic essays and papers. Academic writing necessitates mentioning the sources that have been consulted or made use of in one or the other way. This is why we see extra pages at the list of the essay or journal that are variously called works cited and works consulted. Many students remain confused between these two categories of sources as there are often same sources contained in both of these lists. This article attempts to highlight the subtle differences between works cited and works consulted to remove all confusion from the minds of students engaged in academic writing.

What is Works Cited?

The works or sources that you mention in your essay or writing are mentioned in a list at the end of the essay that is called works cited. These are also called as references as the sources that find mention in your work while stressing a point or to corroborate a fact. It is required by professors from their students, to mention all the sources that are talked about in the text by the writer. The list of works cited is always in alphabetical order and is placed at the end of the research paper or an essay. This is a list that contains the names of all sources that have been mentioned in the text under parenthesis where the author’s last name is mentioned.

Citation of works serves the purpose of intellectual honesty as the author gives credit to the original source when presenting a fact and not taking any credit for himself. Citation also lends credibility to the paper or essay by mentioning the names of authorities or known personalities.

What is Works Consulted?

There is often a list of works consulted at the end of the text of an essay or research paper. This is a list of works that have been read and consulted by the writer of the paper before he presented his own ideas. This list often contains sources that get omitted in the works cited list. This happens as the student wishes to accord a source a much more important place than merely listing it in the works cited. Thus, there are cases where you may not see a work consulted in the list of works cited.

What is the difference between Works Cited and Works Consulted?

• While writing a research paper or an essay, it is expected and required by professors from their students, to mention the names of authors or sources of works mentioned in some way, in the text. This is a list that is called works cited, and it contains all the names and sources in alphabetical order. In the text, these sources are mentioned by taking the last name of the author and inside parenthesis.

• Works consulted list contains the names of authors or sources that have actually been consulted while writing the paper. This list actually shows intellectual honesty as it tries to give credit to the sources that have been read and investigated before writing the paper.

The works that have been referred but not cited are found in the list of works consulted. So one find works that do not find mention inside parenthesis inside the text in the list of works consulted.

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