How to Do an APA Style Bibliography

American Psychological Association (APA) style is the primary format for research papers in the social sciences. The final page of every paper in APA style should be the bibliography, or reference list, which compiles all the sources used in the essay and provides an overview of research. Though completing a reference list isn’t hard, it’s very technical and specific, so accuracy is key. According to the APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition, there are 77 different ways to format a reference, depending on the type of source. The four most common types are outlined here.

Things You'll Need

  • Research sources information
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Instructions

    • 1

      Format a new document page. Double space lines, set 1-inch margins, use Times New Roman (or a similar font), size 12. Write “References,” centered, on the first line (don’t bold, underline, or use quotes).

    • 2

      Compile information about each of the sources. List the author’s name, the title of the source, the publisher, the date published, the city in which it was published, and the page numbers of the source.

    • 3

      Compose entries for articles in the following format: Author’s last name, first initial. (Year published). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

      Capitalize all important words in the periodical title but only the first letter of the article title. Italicize the title of the periodical and the volume number. Separate page numbers with an en-dash (e.g., 123–135).

    • 4

      Compose entries for books in the following format: Author’s last name, first initial. (Year published). Title of book. City published: Publisher.

      Only capitalize the first letter of the title and any subtitles. Italicize the title of the book.

    • 5

      Compose entries for online articles: Author’s last name, first initial. (Date published). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number). Retrieved from [list the entire URL]

      Use a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) instead of a URL when possible. DOIs are alphanumeric codes that usually appear on the first page of a document. Capitalize all important words in the periodical title, but only the first letter of the article title. Italicize the title of the periodical and the volume number.

    • 6

      Compose entries for books or articles with more than one author by using the same format that you use for single authors, but separate multiple authors' names with commas and the final author's name with an ampersand: Author 1's last name, first initial, Author 2's last name, first initial, & Author 3's last name, first initial.

      Arrange the names of the authors the same way they are provided by the publication.

    • 7

      Arrange all the entries alphabetically by the (first) author’s last name. If an entry takes up more than one line, indent all lines except the first.

    • 8

      Check your formatting so that each entry is capitalized and italicized as necessary and all punctuation is in its place.

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