Presumably the idea is that you put the relevant parts of the list in your thesis. You need to convince your examiner that you understand the background to the original research you did, and a solid reference list (with supporting text in the introductory/background section of your thesis) is part of doing that.

Personally I did the references at the end and didn't feel like I suffered from that decision, but the key references in my particular area were a relatively small and well-known set.