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My thesis latex format does not include an appendix, but I need one. Should I put it after the bibliography or before?

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I think it's standard practice to put appendices before the references. This isn't really a TeX related question, however. – Seamus Dec 1 '10 at 13:24
Here are some resources for this kind of formatting question: APA style owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01 Chicago manual of style online: chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html – Seamus Dec 1 '10 at 13:26
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This really is off-topic, and is also dependent to some extend on standard practice where you are – Joseph Wright♦ Dec 1 '10 at 13:27
Thanks all for the tips. I didn't really realise it is a matter of practice in different places. – donatello Dec 1 '10 at 13:39

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up vote 7 down vote accepted

The dominant convention, supported by Chicago, Hart's, and Butcher's, is to put the bibliography after the appendices when setting a book.

However, the conventions governing the order of end matter are much less fixed than those governing front matter, which is partly fixed in legislation. And not only books have appendices and reference lists: some conference series and journals have the appendices following the reference list.

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I think to some extent it depends on the material in hand. For example, if the appendix is raw experimental data, it probably comes after references as most people will not want to go through it. On the other hand, when you get chapters which are 'additional material' they often make more sense before the references. – Joseph Wright♦ Dec 1 '10 at 13:53
@Joseph: "after references as most people will not want to go through it" - I think the reasoning does go along these lines, and I think it's weird. The material right at the end is very easy to refer to, cf. Fitt's law. This applies to books more than journal articles, but the again, the offprints will have their end as backmatter. – Charles Stewart Dec 1 '10 at 15:47
An appendix should not be just a chapter (part of the main material) that gets numbered differently, that makes no sense. And if it contains non essential material, it might as well be at the very end. – vonbrand Jan 17 at 22:24
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It depends on the style guide you are following. In APA Style appendices come after references.

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Note that, in the words of APA 5, "The APA Publication Manual is intended primarily as a guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication." – Charles Stewart Dec 1 '10 at 13:57
@Charles. Good point. There is a small section in APA 5th manual on using the guide for preparation of theses and other related documents. Also note that appendices in APA journal articles appear after the references. – Jeromy Anglim Dec 2 '10 at 2:01

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