This manual is designed to provide guidelines for writers and editors in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the preparation of bibliographies and literature articles for USDA and/or agency publications, and in the preparation of reference lists for published papers. The bibliographic guidelines presented in alphabetical order in the first section cover a wide variety of specific topics including abbreviations, editorial revision, foreign language entries, government publications, serial issue identification proceedings, prefixes, and yearbooks. Specific examples are given for many entries, and entries are cross-referenced. The second section briefly discusses bibliographies from machine-readable data bases related to agriculture and allied sciences, including AGRICOLA and a number of specialized data bases maintained by the National Agriculture Library. Sample citations and recommended formats for various vendors are provided. A subject index is included, and a 27-item reference list cites existing standard and style manuals for bibliographic descriptions. (LMM)