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HowtoWriteanAPAStyleBibliography

HowtoWriteanAPAStyleBibliography
Abibliographyprovidesanalphabetizedlistofallofthesourcesthatwereusedtocreateanarticle.It
isanecessarycomponentofanypieceofacademicresearchorwriting.APAstyleismostcommonly
usedtositesourcesinessaysthatcoversocialsciencetopics.It'seasytocompileandwriteanAPA
stylebibliographyifyouputinalittletimeandeffort.
Ad
Steps

1
Beginanewpageseparatefromthetextforyourbibliographyorreferencelist.Areference
listisdifferentfromabibliography.Findoutwhichoneyouneed.Theonlydifferenceisthata
referencelistincludeswhatyouhavecitedwithinthetext,andsourcesyouhaveused,butnothing
else.Anyothersourcesyouhavereadorseen,butlaterdiscardedbecausetheyareirrelevant,
outdated,etc.,shouldneverbeincludedinareferencelist,butcanbeincludedinthebibliography.
2.

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2
Titlethepage.Centeryourtext,andwrite"References"or"Bibliography."Don'titalicizeor
underlinethetext.Alsoleaveoutthequotationmarksandperiod.
3.

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Createanalphabetizedlistofyoursourcesbasedupontheauthorslastname.Ifthe
sourceyouareusingcontainstwoormoreauthors,usethelastnameoftheauthorlistedfirston
thetitlepage.Accordingtothe2010APAmanual,listupto7authors'names.For8ormore,list
thefirst6followedbyacomma,anellipsis(or3periods),thenthelastauthor'sname.Ifabookis
editedandthereisnoauthornamed,typetheeditor'snamefollowedby(Ed.).Ifyoursourcedoes
notlistanauthor,usethefirstwordofthetitletoalphabetizethework(notcountingwordssuchas
"An"or"The").

4
Foreachsource,listtheauthorslastnameandfirstinitials,withacommaseparatingthe
namesandinitialsandperiodsaftertheinitials.APAcallsforinitialsonlytoreducebias.For
example:Smith,M.A.
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5
Aftertheauthorsname,listthedateofpublicationinparentheses,withaperiodfollowing
theclosingparenthesis.Ex.(2005).
AbbreviateallmonthsexceptMay,JuneandJuly.January,forexample,becomesJan.
Followaconsistentdatingformat.Both"4Jan.2007"and"Jan4,2007"areacceptable,butbe
consistentinallyourentries.
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6
Listthetitleofthearticle.Capitalizeonlythefirstwordofthetitleunlesssubsequentwordsare
propernouns.Endwithaperiod.Thisstepdoesnotapplyifyouarereferringtoanentirebook.
Donotputthetitleinquotationmarksoritalics.
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Listthetitleofthework(bookorjournal)initalicizedtext,withaperiodfollowingthetitle.
Ifitisabook(oranyothersourceexceptajournal),youwillcapitalizeonlythefirstwordofthetitle
unlesssubsequentwordsarepropernounsorthefirstwordafteracolon,andenditwithaperiod.
Forexample:HowtowriteanAPAstylebibliography.Ifitisajournal,capitalizeallmajorwords,
insertacomma,addthevolumenumber,issuenumber(inparentheses,ifapplicableifthe
journalstartsthepagenumberingofeachissuewith1,thenincludethisifthejournalcontinues
pagenumberingissuetoissueforavolume,donotincludethis),anothercomma,thepage
number(s)andaperiodtoendthejournalcitation.Forexample:TheStatesmanJournal,59(4),
286295.

8
Listtheplaceofpublicationofthebook(city,stateorjustcity)andthenthenameofthe
publisher,withacolonseparatingthem.Followthepublisherwithaperiod.Forexample:
Boston,MA:RandomHouse.
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Indentallexceptthefirstlineofeveryentry.Thisisknownasahangingindent.
10.

10
SeetheAPAwebsiteormanualforotherquestions.
ExamplesBook
Morales,L.(1987).ThehistoryofCuba.NewYork:FranklinWatts.
Ellington,W.,Jr.,&Henrickson,E.B.(1995).Theelementsofdance(3rded.).NewYork:Macmillan.
OregonStateUniversitySoilEcologyCenter(1982).AdirectoryofCommunitySupportedAgriculture
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(CSA)Farms.Columbus,OH:NaturalResourcesInstitute.
BookChapter
Tizol,W.P.(1976).Brainfunctionandmemory.InJ.M.O.Corney&H.L.Center(Eds.),Aninsidelook
atwhatwethinkweknow.(pp.154184).Springfield,IL:AmericanPsychiatricPress.
JournalArticle
Bauz,R.H.(1982).Manitobanematodes.JournalofCoolNematodes,10,252264.
Gillespie,R.C.,&Tupac,R.M.(1976).Howconfidentpeopledance.AmericanDancing,225,8290.
Thelambbusiness.(11Sept.1992).WillametteValleyLamb,97,4748.
MagazineArticle
Pozo,E.R.(19Nov.2008).Thewayshelovedme.PersonalLiterature,290,11131120.
EncyclopediaArticle
Parker,S.A.(1947).Fetaldevelopment.InInternationalencyclopediaofpregnancy(Vol.7,pp.202
207).NewYork:AesculapiusPublishers.
NewspaperArticle
Amazingwomen.(12Jan.1955).TheJournalNews,pp.D11,D14.
ElectronicJournalArticleFromaDatabase
Tjader,J.W.,Coltrane,J.A.,&Taylor,A.A.(1995).Ahistoryofmockery. AmericanPsychologist,50,
750765.RetrievedfromPsycINFOdatabase.
ElectronicJournalArticle(printversion)
Rodriguez,G.,Puente,S.,&Mayfield,J.(2001).Roleofupbringinginfamilyattitudes.[Electronic
version].JournalofFamilyResearch,5,117123.
Website
Summers,M.(2007)Coolscenes.RetrievedAugust27,2007.

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Tips
APAisonlyoneofmanybibliographystylescommonlyusedforresearchpapers.Ifyourteacher,
professor,oreditorrequiresadifferentstyle,checkouttheonlineorinrelatedwikiHowarticlesfor
moreinformationondifferentcitationstyles.
Dependinguponthestyleofyourresearchpaper,youmayneedtousecitationswithinthetextof
thepapertoreferencequotationsoruniqueideas.SeeHowtoCiteSources.
Asyoucompileyourresearch,youmayuseinformationfromsourcesotherthanbooks.Toview
themodificationsyouwillneedtomakeinordertoreferenceothertypesofsources,visitAPA
Online.

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