How to Cite a Bibliography in APA Style

How to Cite a Bibliography in APA Style thumbnail
Find the most recent version of the APA publication guidelines to make your writing conform to the style readers expect.

The American Psychological Association (APA), has created a standard for writing --- especially in peer-reviewed publications --- that is read by students and professionals all over the world. The APA's publication manual provides instructions for editorial style, research and all aspects of writing. A bibliography is inserted at the end of a paper to cite the references that support facts throughout a document. The APA has specified formatting rules for creating a bibliography.

Things You'll Need

  • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed.
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Collect and organize all of your research data.

    • 2

      Find the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual and use it to reference your bibliography formatting.

    • 3

      Set up your bibliography by starting a new page with the word "References" (do not use quotation marks) centered at the top. List each reference alphabetically by the last name of the author.

    • 4

      Format each reference according to APA rules for indentation, capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, etc. The rule of thumb is that all individual references begin flush left and are hanging-indented by three to five spaces. References that end with a website address do not have closing punctuation. Here are some examples:

      Books (italicize book title): Austin, J. H. (1998). Zen and the brain: Toward an understanding of meditation and consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

      Newspaper Article (italicize name of newspaper): Young, J. (2003, February 14). Prozac campus: More students seek counseling and take psychiatric medication. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A37-38.

      Website: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). 2009 H1N1 Flu ("Swine Flu") and You. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

      Blog Post: McAdoo, T. (2009, September 10). Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/

Related Searches:

References

Resources

  • Photo Credit Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images

Comments

You May Also Like

Related Ads

Featured