Research Discussions

Format for bibliography as per APA

Bibliography and its formatting are integral to a good research paper following APA style. The steps for formatting bibliography as per APA style are as mentioned below –

1. Always start from a new page which is separate from the thesis text for the bibliography. The only difference between reference and bibliography is that in the bibliography, the research scholars can also include the sources that are irrelevant or outdated, but they have read them and are related to the thesis.
2. Titling the page as “Bibliography” comes next, but it should be done without an underline, italicized, quotation marks and period.
3. Then the scholars should prepare lists of the sources in alphabetical order based upon the author’s last name. The APA manual also directs for listing 7 authors. For 8 or more authors, the first 6 should be listed followed by a comma and an ellipsis or 3 periods and then the author’s name. In case the author’s name is not available then the editor’s name followed by Ed. is mentioned.
4. Each source must have author’s last name and first initials separated by comma and a period after the initial.
5. The author’s name is followed by the date of the publication in parentheses followed by a period. Example – (1998). The date format must be consistent with all the entries.
6. The first word of the title comes next in capital letters unless the subsequent words are proper nouns ending in a period.
7. The APA styles a book or journal will have the title italicized followed by a period.
8. Then the place of the publication and the name of the publisher, separated by a colon are cited.

Except the first line in the entry all will be in the indent.