How to Write an APA Reference List for a Thesis

A reference list is a formatted list of the sources cited within a thesis or a dissertation. It is intended to enable the readers access to all the sources in case they need to read further about one’s thesis. For every information that is quoted, paraphrased, or read from an external source, its sources must be correctly included and formatted in an APA reference list. When creating an APA reference list, one must always remember to include only the sources that were cited in the text of the thesis and arrange them alphabetically using the name of the author. This article contains information on how to write a reference list for a thesis.

Advantages APA Citation for References

Understanding the importance of citing references is fundamental for scholars because it is hardly possible to graduate from college without at least an essay or thesis that requires them to cite sources. The APA style, designed to regulate scientific writing is the most used across most scientific research works. Advantages of using this style include but not limited to the following:

• Through citing, we give credit where it is due. It is considered cheating to use other people’s ideas without acknowledging them. Citation helps in avoiding plagiarism and its consequences.
• Citation enhances credibility and reliability of one’s work by the professional virtue of acknowledging what others have done in the same field. This way, the arguments presented in the research are coherent and substantial.
• Consistently using the APA style of referencing enhances readability and understandability of the thesis even when presenting a composite topic.
• It helps the scholar in organizing their thesis in a manner that eases the reader’s work when they want to evaluate the research by retrieving important cited information.
• APA writing style inspires direct explanation of one’s research and empasizes on reporting of original ideas.
• Using APA style makes it easier for other scholars who would like to refer from the same sources or track the evolution of an academic idea.
• This writing style improves uniformity by ensuring that the general structure of the thesis aligns well with the format throughout the paper.
• APA referencing saves the reader the effects of distraction from unfamiliar formatting.

Elements of an APA Reference List

An APA reference list entry comprises of various basic elements including the author, date, title, and source as discussed below:

1. The Author

In this context, the author generally refers to the individual(s), group(s), or a combination of both accountable for the sources.

How to Format the Author Names for Individuals in the Reference List

Below is a guide on how to format this element in an APA reference list.

• All names for individual authors are inverted, with the surname coming before a comma, and the initials of the author.
• A comma should be used to separate the initials of an author from the names of additional authors. An ampersand should be written before the name of the final author.
• When the number of authors is between two to twenty, all their surnames followed by initials must be provided.
• If the authors are more than 20 in number, one should write down the names of the first 19 authors, an ellipsis, then the name of the final author.
• A single space between initials should be used.
• The name of the author should appear exactly as it is on the published works.
• The preferred authors capitalization must be retained.

Formatting Names for Group Authors

In most cases, group authors are made up of task forces, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. Below are the strategies to use in formatting group author names in an APA reference list.

• The first step here is to confirm from the tittle page or cover whether the source is authored by a group or an individual.
• Even if individuals are acknowledged elsewhere in the thesis, if only the group name appears on cover or title page, then the work is deemed to be authored by a group.
• When making an entry in the reference list, the group author’s full name is written down, then a period follows.
• The organization or government agency is considered the author for a page from its website.
• Although an abbreviation for the group author is not included in a reference list entry, it can be factored in the text of the thesis.

2. The Date

This implies the date on which the work was published. It can be formatted using the following strategies.

• Only the year format is used for most references. The year of publication is enclosed in parentheses with a full stop at the end.
• When the reference category contains the year, month, day, and season, the year comes first, followed by a comma. The month and the date/season appears last.
• In case the works are yet to be published or publishing in progress, one should indicate the year of its production. However, the term “in press” instead of the year, is used for works that were accepted for publication but yet to be published.
• The abbreviation “ca” is used for sources whose original publication dates are approximate.
• Under circumstances where the date the source was last updated are available, they are used in the reference list entry.

3. The Title

This denotes the title of the sources being quoted and can be divided into two categories as follows:

• Stand-alone or independent sources, where the title of the work is written at the title component of the reference in a thesis. Examples of such sources include complete books, films, social media, and website works among others.
• Sources or works that are a section of a larger source. In this type of work, the article or chapter title is written in the title component, while the larger source title comes in the source component of the reference.

Formatting the Title in a Reference List

The title component can be formatted following the following guidelines:

• The title for sources that are a section of a larger whole, sentence case capitalization is used without italicizing or using quotation marks around the title.
• If the work stands alone, the title is italicized and uses sentence case to capitalize it.
• Parentheses are used to encircle information on edition, report and volume numbers after the title; for book and report references.
• When the volume has its own title, the main title should contain the volume number and title, rather than enclosing them in parentheses.
• At the end of the title component there should be a period unless it ends in a punctuation mark.

4. The Source

The source refers to where the readers can recover the cited material and are categorized the same as the sources: stand-alone works or those that are a section of a larger source. Most works do not need the inclusion of the publisher locations to be included in the source component, and incase such works are not retrievable, then they are viewed as having no source.

How to Format the Source Element in a Reference List Entry

How to format the sources differs from one reference to material to another, below are the guidelines for most scenarios.

• Journal Articles

When the source is a journal article, the components featuring on the reference list include the periodic title, volume, issue, page range, and DOI or URL. The components should appear in that order respectively. However, not all sources will require the DOI or URL to be included.

• For journal Articles with Article Number

For journal article references with article numbers, the order of the components in the entry should be; periodic title, volume, issue, article number, and DOI or URL.

• Authored or Whole Edited Books

In this scenario, one should include the name of the publisher and the URI or DOI.

• Chapter of an Edited Book

When the reference is a chapter of an edited book, one should indicate the whole book’s information and the DOI or URL. The whole books information here implies details such as the name of the editor, book title, volume number/edition, page range, and the name of the publisher.

• Webpage on a Website

There are two situations to consider when referencing from a webpage on a website. These include: where the authors are not the same as the name of the site, and when the authors are the same as the site. In the first scenario, the entry should comprise of the website name and the URL, while the second one requires the input of the URL only.

General Guidelines for Creating and Formatting the Reference List

The following are some of the general guidelines that can help scholars in formatting their list of references for their theses.

• The reference page should begin on a new page before writing the appendices.
• By using the name of the author, the list of references is arranged in an alphabetical order.
• The first significant word of the title is used to enter those references that do not have an author in the reference list.
• A chronological listing of items from the earliest publication is used for cases where different sources have the same author.
• Every reference should start on a new line on the page and they should not be numbered.
• A hanging indent is a requirement for each item in the reference list.
• The abbreviation, n.d. may be used for references without a publication date.
• For journal sources, one should use the name of the full journal rather than abbreviations.
• All titles, except for journals use sentence case, with each title or subtitle beginning with a capital letter.

How to Correctly Use Punctuation Marks in Reference List Entries

Punctuation marks plays a very important role in reference list entries, especially when it comes to grouping of the information. It is important to keep the following in mind so as to use these marks correctly and not interfere with the meaning of the reference entries.

• A period should be put after the author, date, title, and source elements of a reference, with an exception of a DOI or URL. The reason for excepting these two is because putting a full stop after either of them can interfere with the functionality of the link and the data may become irretrievable.
• Between parts of the same component of a reference are punctuation marks such as commas and parentheses.
• There should be no use of commas between the volume and issue numbers of a journal. Instead, a parenthesis should be written directly after the volume number.
• Punctuation marks that are written within an italicized cited component should as well be italicized, with an exception of those appearing between the components.

The list of references should always be written at the end of one’s thesis to equip the reader with the necessary information that they might require in order to retrieve the sources used as reference throughout the thesis. It is a rule and a requirement that, each source entered in the reference list must have been cited somewhere within the thesis. Likewise, all the references cited within the text must appear in the list of references. This list must begin on a fresh sheet, that does not have anything written, and separate from the thesis body. The term “References” should be bolded and centered at the page top without being underlined or quoted. Double spacing should apply for all the text in the reference list, same as it appears in the rest of the essay.  Alphabetical listing of references should be remembered, using the author’s last name. the general order in which to make entries in the reference list comprises of the name of the author(s), publication date, title, volume, pages, place of publication, and the publisher appropriately.

Many scholars may find it difficult to arrange a list of references for their academic writings even after being guided by their supervisors or reading online articles over the same. Should any one find themselves in such a situation, they should consider seeking thesis APA reference list writing services from professional reference list writers. At a reasonable fee that is negotiated between the scholar and the writer, the APA reference list writing experts are able to help in writing the list. Depending on the time frames available, other scholars may opt to hire a person to hire a person to write an APA reference list for a thesis on their behalf. This happens when one wants their document to be given enough attention by the professional. The document owner needs assurance of getting the best APA reference list writing service. It is also possible to buy an APA reference list for a thesis, that is already written and matches one’s needs. All these choices are available and at the scholar’s disposal. However, factors such as the cost implications and availability of experienced professionals with excellent and proven record of APA reference list writing must be considered before making a choice.

Having completed every other process associated with writing APA references, it is important to remember not to submit the first draft of the document. One should edit and proof their own document, or hire a professional who can thoroughly edit APA reference list for a thesis. This is very important in detecting and correcting any types of errors that could degrade their thesis.