Currently, there are many styles of reference list formatting. As a result, the editorial boards of different scientific journals have different requirements for authors (scientists, researchers, students, etc.) in terms of the reference list (different styles, formats, rules, etc.). Therefore, scientists and researchers often spend a great deal of time on trying to learn about the way to make the reference list, as each style of formatting includes its own requirements for drafting and punctuation. In this regard, the time that could have been devoted to scientific research and experimentation has to be spent on finding rules for compiling and correctly writing each reference, and making the whole list of references considering all the nuances.
A basic principle of APA Style is that every time an author cites a source, it is mandatory to make a reference in the paper's text. The reference list should contain all the works that you have cited in the text of your paper, i.e. all in-text citations.
There are four important components that the APA format reference list should contain, which are: the author, the year of publication, the title of publication and the source of publication.
The reference list can be presented in several ways:

1. in alphabetical order according to the author's name or, if there is no author, according to the editor or compiler's name;
2. by the first letter of the title, if the publication has no author;
3. chronologically by year of publication, if more than one source by the same person is cited in a research paper.

Here are some examples of references in APA Style

A Book
Talbot J., Jakeman M. (2009). Security Risk Management Body of Knowledge. Wiley Interscience.
Kesharwani, P. (Ed.). (2020). Nanotechnology based approaches for tuberculosis treatment. Academic Press.

Chapter in the Book
Manta, O.P. (2021). Financial Technologies (FinTech), Instruments, Mechanisms, and Financial Products in the Current Context of Artificial Intelligence and Globalization. In: Y. A. Albastaki, A. Razzaque, A. M. Sarea (Eds.), Innovative Strategies for Implementing FinTech in Banking (pp. 22-45). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3257-7.ch002
Hill, J. (2018). Chapter 14 – FinTech in a Global Setting. In: FinTech and the Remaking of Financial Institutions (pp. 269-283). Academic Press, Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813497-9.00014-7.

Journal Article
See-To, E.W.K., & Ngai, E.W.T. (2019). An empirical study of payment technologies, the psychology of consumption, and spending behavior in a retailing context. Information & Management, 56(3), 329-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.07.007
Milian, E.Z., Spinola, M. de. M., & De Carvalho, M.M. (2019). FinTechs: A literature review and research agenda. Applications, 34, Article 100833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2019.100833

Blog post
Palandrani, P. (2019, July 16). FinTech Trends: M&A and Mobile Payments Driving Recent Growth. Global X ETFs, Mirae Asset Financial Group. https://www.globalxetfs.com/FinTech-trends-ma-and-mobile-payments-driving-recent-growth

How to create reference in APA automatically?

In order to save your time and effort, we offer our service for automatic reference formatting in APA Style (and other styles and formats, too), which is available on the author’s portal 4Author.
You only need to fill in the information about the source (author's name, source title, year of publication, etc.) and click on Create Reference.
Furthermore, we have also connected the CrossRef database to our service, which allows you to find information about a literary source by title, author’s name or DOI. In this case, you do not even need to fill in the fields, as they will be filled in automatically.
The reference created online in APA Style with the use of the author’s portal 4Author fully complies with the requirements for the formatting of literary sources and helps authors to free up much time in order to focus on more important scientific tasks.