Because of frequent questions, several clarifications of APA style for a paper's bibliography (or "reference list") might be helpful.
Annotations describing the content of an item cited in a bibliography
can add a great deal to the value of that list.
Here are two guides to preparing an annotated bibliography, one from
Cornell University and one from
Carleton College.
Masters' and doctoral theses and dissertations present an unusual citation
challenge because they are not "published" materials.
Both the Diana Hacker guides and the Fifth Edition of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (pages 260-262) differentiate between those dissertations which were found
through the commercial supplier University Microfilms and those dissertations which were not.
See the following example:
Rush, M.E. (1990). Redistricting: The Supreme Court and American elections.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Johns Hopkins University.
(University Microfilms No. AAI9030244)
If information about the University Microfilms number is not readily
available, omit that information from the citation.
Some word-processing programs automatically underline a Web page's URL when you type it, a practice
that can cause trouble when you are trying to format and print a bibliography.
You can "turn off" that underlining function before typing a paper, if you wish.
If you are using Microsoft Word, choose the
"Tools" option, click on "AutoCorrect," and then choose "AutoFormat As
You Type." Make sure that the option "Internet and network paths with
hyperlinks" does NOT have a check-mark in the box next to it.