Bibliography vs. Reference

Main Difference

The main difference between Bibliography and Reference is that the Bibliography is a academic discipline that studies books and Reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object

• Bibliography

  Bibliography (from Ancient Greek: βιβλίον, romanized: biblion, lit. ‘book’ and -γραφία, -graphía, ‘writing’), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from Ancient Greek: -λογία, romanized: -logía). Carter and Barker (2010) describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as objects (descriptive bibliography).

• Reference

  Reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to refer to the second object. It is called a name for the second object. The second object, the one to which the first object refers, is called the referent of the first object. A name is usually a phrase or expression, or some other symbolic representation. Its referent may be anything – a material object, a person, an event, an activity, or an abstract concept.

  References can take on many forms, including: a thought, a sensory perception that is audible (onomatopoeia), visual (text), olfactory, or tactile, emotional state, relationship with other, spacetime coordinate, symbolic or alpha-numeric, a physical object or an energy projection. In some cases, methods are used that intentionally hide the reference from some observers, as in cryptography.

  References feature in many spheres of human activity and knowledge, and the term adopts shades of meaning particular to the contexts in which it is used. Some of them are described in the sections below.