Tips for making your bibliography for your thesis

What do you put in the bibliography of your thesis?

You should include the bibliography as an appendix in your document, which should contain all the full source references that you have cited in your written text. It is important to note that only articles or books that you have referred to in the text should be included in the bibliography. Any articles or books that you have read but haven’t cited should be omitted. Additionally, there is no need to include personal conversations that you have referenced orally in your text as oral references in the bibliography. The bibliography should primarily consist of books, scientific articles, and websites that you have actually used as sources.

How do you create the bibliography?

As we indicate above, providing source references and drawing up a bibliography is quite a job. So make it easy for yourself by keeping track of the sources you consulted right from the start of your graduation. That saves loads of time. Especially because you also have to keep track of the date on which you viewed websites. If you use software to cite your sources correctly, you can often generate and update the source list automatically. You can also format your list manually in Word.

You should begin with the title. On the page where you will create the bibliography, the heading “Literature List” should be placed at the top.
The bibliography should be organized alphabetically by the last name of the first author, followed by the year. In cases where multiple sources are from the same author and same year, start with the oldest source. To differentiate them, you can include the letters “a” and “b” in both the reference and the bibliography.
Additionally, maintain double spacing for all text and remember to indent source citations from the second line with a tab.

Below we explain how to make the reference to a book or scientific article and how to do this on a website.

Source reference for a book

With a book you always mention:

author’s surname
comma (,)
initials of the first name or first names (with space, without academic titles such as “prof.”) of the author
You end with a period (.)

If the book has multiple authors, follow the same order as above and put an ampersand (&) before the last author.

publication year in round brackets, followed by a period (.)
title: subtitle is stated in italics
edition information is placed between round brackets
point (.)

In square brackets you indicate the form of the publication followed by a period (.)

publishing house
point (.)

If you use a scientific article or an e-book, you also mention the DOI or stable URL. You can find this in the source you used.

Below are two examples of a book and a publication from a magazine.

Elliot, A. J. (2008). Handbook of approach and avoidance motivation. Taylor & Francis.

D’Adderio, L. (2014). The replication dilemma unravelled: How organizations enact multiple goals in routine transfer. Organization Science, 25(5), 1325-1350.

Source reference when using a website

If you use an article from a website, you must also mention it in your bibliography. You do this as follows:

author’s surname
comma (,)
initials of the first name or first names (with space, without academic titles such as “prof.”) of the author
You end with a period (.)

Then enter the title of the article or page used. Write the source in italics. And finally, include the URL in your listing.

See below an example of an article from NU.nl.

NU.nl. (2023, April 29). Wave of explosions in Rotterdam: almost as many this year as in all of 2022. NU.nl. https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/6261507/golf-van-ontploffingen-in-rotterdam-dit-jaar-al-bijna-evenveel-als-in-heel-2022.html.

What do you not need to mention in your bibliography?

You do not need to refer to:

Sources that you have only consulted.
Personal communications (such as emails or phone calls).
General mentions of websites or magazines.

Which useful tools can you use to generate source references for your bibliography?

Of course, there are useful tools available to create your bibliography. Manually creating and inserting your source references via your word processor is a great option if you don’t use a lot of sources. You can then use the References tab in MS Word or the Extra > Citations tab in Google Docs. Please note that Word does not always use the latest version of the APA reference standards.
Another option is to use the cite function from Google Scholar, where you can find different reference styles. Additionally, you can utilize tools such as Mendeley or Zotero. Mendeley is a free citation management tool from Elsevier, which includes both a web version and a desktop version. Zotero is a free non-profit citation management program, which also offers both a web version and a desktop version.
Regardless of the tool you choose, we advise you to always carefully check your source references, as the latest APA update is often used within colleges and universities. It is not always guaranteed that the tool you use will have the latest version. Therefore, it is important to check which version your program uses and verify your sources. Ultimately, you are responsible for ensuring accurate citations in your work.

Tip! If you want to know how to correctly cite sources in accordance with APA standards, be sure to check the tips on how to correctly cite sources in your thesis and familiarize yourself with the APA guidelines for citations.

More tips or a check?

Would you like to have your document and bibliography checked for correct source references? Our proofreaders Nienke and Kilian will assist you with the review. In addition to APA style, Nienke is also proficient in checking legal guidelines. Please feel free to request a free consultation or send your document for a no-obligation quote.