Last week I was writing an article where I was quoting some of other great ministry leaders’ books and web articles. In my work, I had to cite my sources. It’s been a long time since I’ve created a bibliography. I wrote hundreds of pages of papers in college and almost as many in grad school. Referencing my sources was always a painful last step. In college it was just dreadful. However, in grad school I found an inexpensive membership website where I just filled in the blanks and it created the bibliography for me. The thought of creating a bibliography for last week’s writing project didn’t thrill me, so I got online and found a newer and free bibliography creator called BibMe. Not only is it free, but it also cites sources in Turabian (all you theology majors know what I’m talking about).

Not in school or not into writing research papers for fun? Don’t click away yet? You too might have a use for this.

I offer a handful of classes to parents and volunteers and plan to develop more. I often use multiple resources, quotes and ideas for material. In addition, I always provide a detailed outline of the information I cover. On a few occasions, I’ve had people ask about where I got my facts.

I’d highly recommend including a bibliography on your handouts as I’m going back to change mine.

Not only does it provide a great source of information for your audience, it also just looks sharp and professional. It communicates, “hey, listen to me, I do know what I’m talking about.”

So the next time you’re teaching your paretns about how they can be involved in your ministry and you share a bunch of George Barna quotes, be sure to give George the credit!