18. Bibliography and Styles

To maintain academic integrity, a reference list allows readers to locate and utilize the exact sources cited during the study. Reference formatting is incredibly strict and follows established style manuals, the most prominent being the American Psychological Association (APA) Style.

Reference List vs. Bibliography

• Reference List: Imperatively strict. It only includes sources that you have specifically read and actively cited inside your report.
• Bibliography: A broader list that includes all works you perused or consulted while studying the topic, even if they aren't cited in your text. (Usually, research reports strictly demand an APA Reference List, not a broad bibliography).

Formatting Rules (APA Style)

Bibliographical software programs (EndNote, Zotero) can quickly format references, but standard APA elements include:

1. Author: Surname first, followed by initials. Multiple authors are separated by commas, with an ampersand (&) before the last name. (For biological sciences, up to six authors are listed before using an ellipses...).
2. Date of Publication: Placed in parentheses immediately after the author (2010). If an author has multiple publications in the same year, lowercase letters are used to specify (2001a).
3. Title of the Work:

- Books, Presentations, & Dissertations: Italicized. Only the first word (or the word following a colon) is capitalized.

- Journal Articles: Not italicized. However, the Journal Name housing the article IS italicized, and all major words match standard capitalization.

1. Publication Information: Includes publisher location, agency, and for journals, the specific volume number (italicized) and page ranges. Redundant words like "Publishing Company" or "Pages" are entirely eliminated to save space and printing costs.

Referencing Internet Sources

Sources on the web constantly shift, requiring specific anchors.

• URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The standard internet address. If a URL must be split to fit on a page, the split should happen before a period, forward slash, or hyphen.
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier): Highly preferred over URLs for scholarly works. A DOI is a permanent, unchanging serial lock for digital documents. If a website dies, the DOI still routes to the article's new resting place.

Endnotes and Footnotes

Used sparingly, either at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or the end of the text (endnotes). They serve three purposes:

1. To indicate sources of ideas.
2. To publicly acknowledge permission to reprint copyrighted tables, graphics, or extensive quotes (e.g., "Reprinted by permission").
3. To vaguely supplement information that strengthens discussion, though they should not be overloaded with heavy concept analysis (which belongs in the body).

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