The quality and usefulness of your bibliography will depend on your selection of sources. Define the scope and limits of your research carefully so that you can make good judgments about what to include and exclude:
- What problem am I investigating? What question(s) am I trying to pursue? If your bibliography is part of a research project, this project will probably be governed by a research question. If your bibliography is an independent project on a general topic (e.g. Aboriginal women and Canadian law), try formulating your topic as a question or a series of questions in order to define your search more precisely (e.g. how has Canadian law affecting Aboriginal women changed as a result of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? How have these changes affected Aboriginal women? How have Aboriginal women influenced and responded to these legal developments?).
- What kind of material am I looking for? Academic books and journal articles? Government reports or policy statements? Articles from the popular press? Primary historical sources, etc.?
- Am I finding essential studies on my topic? (Read footnotes in useful articles carefully to see what sources they use and why. Keep an eye out for studies that are referred to by several of your sources).
