How to Write an APA Style Bibliography

Writing a bibliography can be tedious, but is often a prerequisite for any academic paper. Everyone from college professors to magazine editors require a bibliography so your sources can be accurately accounted for. The American Psychological Association (APA) has a specific bibliography style and it is constantly changing.

Instructions

    • 1

      Obtain a copy of the most recent version of the APA style guide before beginning to write your bibliography. Start your bibliography on a new page from the last page of your paper or article.

    • 2

      Ensure that you have used in text citations throughout your work as this is what is to be used in the APA style. When writing your paper and citing sources, you must indicate what page number you got your citation or idea from. For example, after stating that definition of a word that you got from the dictionary your statement should be followed by (Webster's, 2001), which indicates the author and year of publication.

    • 3

      Know that your in text citations will corresponds to your bibliography. Order your bibliographical citations in alphabetical order. Pay special attention to the specific format used by the APA. Books are typically cited the following way: "Jones, S. D. (2001). The History of APA. Psychology and related fields. New York, NY: Bleaker Press." The title of the book will be italicized.

    • 4

      Check your APA style guide or go online and reference the online APA updated style guide. Use proper indentation and spacing in your bibliography. Typically the second line of the citation will be indented five spaces, left justified. Make special note as to whether you are dealing with a book, journal article, magazine, anthology, reference book, website, multiple author book, or online article. Each format has a separate APA style consideration must be explicitly followed.

    • 5

      Consider using an online bibliography maker to help you make the initial format of your bibliography. However you should always go back after the website has formatted your bibliography and ensure it is correct. Title your bibliography page "Bibliography" or "Selected Bibliography" or "References." It will depend upon whether you cite every source which you should, or whether your bibliography is too long to include with the original paper.

Learnify Hub © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved