Introduction

Introduction

The final bibliography in an APA paper is called a reference list. The reference list includes only those sources that have been cited in the text and that support the argument. Background studies and works of general interest are not included.

In addition, sources cited in the reference list should be recoverable. The reader should be able to locate and access them. For that reason, personal documents (e.g., emails, letters) that are not publicly accessible should be cited only in the body of your essay, and not in the reference list.

Component Parts

Every entry in the reference list has four parts:

Author | Year of Publication | Title | Source

Each section usually ends with a period. However, don’t put any punctuation after a URL or DOI. Otherwise the link might not work.

Check out the rest of our APA guide to learn more about each individual element.