Reading lists

Large sized subject bibliographies are important, especially when they have a wide coverage. But they are not enough as anyone wishing to study a particular subject, at whatever level, needs a carefully prepared select bibliography of it. Such a bibliography must be appropriate in scale and cautious in its inclusion of out-of-print publications. It must be helpfully arranged and annotated and reasonably up to date.

The more suitable, the more usual name for this kind of bibliography is `reading list'. The reading lists are quite common and produced by people who know or should know the literature they suggested. The reading lists are usually prepared by teachers for distribution to students. At the end of textbooks, under the heading `Further Reading' is a common sight for all of us. This is also a kind of reading list though, these may not be of good quality.

A bibliography or a reading list supporting a research article or a review article is usually very valuable for reference purpose as lot of effort goes into preparation of such lists.