How to Format an APA Bibliography

APA style is most commonly used within the social sciences.

Citing sources according to the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines can be a quite the headache, especially if you are used to using a different style, but all you really have to do is follow directions. Although different types of sources require slightly different pieces of information to be cited, the basic format of each of these entries is very similar.

Instructions

1. Write "references" (not bibliography or works cited) at the top of your reference page. Center this title.

2. Write the last name of the author of your source followed by their first and middle (if given) initials. Always arrange your sources alphabetically by last name of the authors. If there is more than one author, list them alphabetically separated by commas. The last author is set apart by an ampersand, not a comma.

3. Write the date the resource was last edited after the names of the authors. The date is written inside parenthesis, year first, followed by month (spelled out) followed by day. If any information in your bibliography runs onto a second line, indent that line.

4. Write the title of the article followed by the name of the periodical or website you retrieved the article from. If you are using a book, write the name of the book here. The title of the book, periodical or website from which you retrieved your information should be italicized.

5. Write the volume and pages of an encyclopedia inside parentheses if you are using an encyclopedia. Follow this by the name of the city in which the encyclopedia was published, and the name of the company that published the book. The city of publication and publication company is also used when citing a book.

6. Write the volume number and the pages for any academic journals that you have used. These are not written inside parentheses like encyclopedia volume and page numbers.

7. Write the date retrieved for Internet sources. This is the last date that took information from the website. This date is not included in parentheses. Write the word "retrieved," followed by the month spelled out, the day and the year.

8. Copy and paste the URL from any web sources that you are using. At this point, every type of source will be cited properly.

Tips & Warnings

• Abbreviate volume Vol. and pages p. or pp. and put the abbreviation before the page numbers.

• If a resource doesn't have an author, list it alphabetically according to the first word in the title.

• Many writing handbooks explain APA style in depth, and if you find yourself often writing in APA style, it might be a good idea to buy the APA style guide to help you with all of the specifics for writing a paper in APA.

References

• Science Buddies: Writing a Bibliography---APA Format
• Purdue Owl: APA Formatting and Style Guide