What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?

Whether you need a reference list or a bibliography at the end of an assignment will depend on the referencing style used in your subject. 

• APA style requires you to produce a reference list

• Chicago Footnotes requires you to produce a bibliography

There are some similarities in the way they look but the major difference is in what they contain:

• A reference list contains only the resources you cited/referenced in the text of your assignment

• A bibliography contains all the resources cited in your assignment as well as those that were consulted but not actually cited