How to Write a Bibliography Using APA Style

Are you enrolled in psychology courses? You will inevitably need to write research papers, and cite a list of books you have read to complete the paper. Follow these tips to write a bibliography using APA style.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Books in psychology that you need to cite

1. A bibliography in APA format needs to be titled "References." Capitalize the word and center it on the page.

2. You will be listing the author, publication date, publisher, and city that you use for your paper. In addition, some journals will need additional information, such as page numbers and the volume number. Keep track of all these things when you are writing. It will cause you undue grief if you give a book back only to learn you've forgotten to write the volume.

3. List the authors in alphabetical order by last name. After the last name of an author, type a comma, and the author's first initial with a period, and their middle initial (if they have one) with a comma.

4. Enter the year. Put it in parentheses, and put a period after it.

5. Write the title. ONLY the first word in the title should be capitalized. This differs from other citation systems such as MLA! Also, italicize the title.

6. Put the city where a book was published, a colon, and the publishing company in capitals. Enter a period at the end.

7. That's all there is to citing a book in APA format. For more information about how to format journals and online articles, check out the official APA handbook. Good luck!

Resources

• APA format

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on 1/17/2009 Great tips. I hate doing bibliographies!