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Reference List: Basic Rules

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This resourse, revised according to the 7 th  edition APA Publication Manual, offers basic guidelines for formatting the reference list at the end of a standard APA research paper. Most sources follow fairly straightforward rules. However, because sources obtained from academic journals  carry special weight in research writing, these sources are subject to special rules . Thus, this page presents basic guidelines for citing academic journals separate from its "ordinary" basic guidelines. This distinction is made clear below.

Note:  Because the information on this page pertains to virtually all citations, we've highlighted one important difference between APA 6 and APA 7 with an underlined note written in red.  For more information, please consult the   Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , (7 th  ed.).

Formatting a Reference List

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "References" in bold, centered at the top of the page (do NOT underline or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.

Basic Rules for Most Sources

• All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
• All authors' names should be inverted (i.e., last names should be provided first).
• For example, the reference entry for a source written by Jane Marie Smith would begin with "Smith, J. M."
• If a middle name isn't available, just initialize the author's first name: "Smith, J."
• Give the last name and first/middle initials for all authors of a particular work up to and including 20 authors ( this is a new rule, as APA 6 only required the first six authors ). Separate each author’s initials from the next author in the list with a comma. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name. If there are 21 or more authors, use an ellipsis (but no ampersand) after the 19th author, and then add the final author’s name.
• Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
• For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
• Note again that the titles of academic journals are subject to special rules. See section below.
• Italicize titles of longer works (e.g., books, edited collections, names of newspapers, and so on).
• Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as chapters in books or essays in edited collections.

Basic Rules for Articles in Academic Journals

• Present journal titles in full.
• Italicize journal titles.
• For example, you should use  PhiloSOPHIA  instead of  Philosophia,  or  Past & Present   instead of  Past and Present.
• This distinction is based on the type of source being cited. Academic journal titles have all major words capitalized, while other sources' titles do not.
• Capitalize   the first word of the titles and subtitles of   journal articles , as well as the   first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and   any proper nouns .
• Do not italicize or underline the article title.
• Deep blue: The mysteries of the Marianas Trench.
• Oceanographic Study: A Peer-Reviewed Publication

Please note:  While the APA manual provides examples of how to cite common types of sources, it does not cover all conceivable sources. If you must cite a source that APA does not address, the APA suggests finding an example that is similar to your source and using that format. For more information, see page 282 of the   Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7 th  ed.

APA Style Guide (7th Edition)

• APA Resources
• Formatting Your Essay

References page: The basics

References page: the details.

• Building an Article Reference Entry
• Building Specialized Reference Entries
• In-text Citations
• The Annotated Bibliography in APA

Books for APA questions

We have print books that you can access at all of our campuses and eBooks that you can access anywhere!

This print copy of APA's  official publication  lays out every aspect of APA style formatting.  We have copies at every campus!

We also have eBooks, like this  online guide  that can be accessed anywhere through our library! 

¡Incluso hay una guía APA en español disponible en línea!

For every in-text citation that you include in your assignment, you need to have a corresponding full citation on the References page. Similarly, every citation entry on your References page should represent at least one in-text citation. It is easiest to collect the full citation information for every resource that you find while doing your research, then drop the ones that you use into the References page as you use information from them in your narrative, as it can be very challenging if you wait to build your full citations while writing your paper!

• Begin the Reference list on a new page immediately after the body of your text. It is the last page in your paper unless you have appendices or an index.
• The word “References” in bold is centered at the top of the page.
• Double space the entire list.
• Each entry provides Author, Date, Title, and Source of the work being cited.  See the details section below for more information!
• Entries are ordered alphabetically by Author.  
• The first line of each entry is left justified with every subsequent line of the entry indented by 1/2".

Visit Purdue's OWL to see a  sample APA paper  including a References page; another example to help you visualize the format for a References page is shown here in a graphic by Jennifer Betts of Bibliography.com (2021):

A full citation for the References page of an APA work will include 4 basic elements separated with periods: Author. (Date). Title. Source. For additional information, the APA also a concise guide for full citations of journal articles, books, and book chapters, as well as an extensive list of example reference citations for various circumstances.

• Example: Smythe, G. B. (Date). Title. Source.
• International Association of Smythe Families. (Date). Title. Source.
• Every author of a work is listed in the Reference citation using the basic format, separated by a comma between each author and with an ampersand (“&” symbol) before the last author’s name; you must list the first 20 authors this way, but if there are more than 20 authors, you show the first 20 (with no ampersand) followed by an ellipse (“…” symbol). Author names are shown in the same order as they appear in the publication.
• Example: Smythe, G. B. & Jonas, L. (Date). Title. Source.
• Example: Smythe, G., Smythe, L., Smythe, N. & Smythe, R. (Date). Title. Source.
• If an Author has multiple entries, list them in order from oldest to most recent.
• Example: Author. (2021a). Title. Source.
• Use the title of the work in place of an unknown Author
• Example: Yearbook of the International Association of Smythe Families. (Date). Source.
• Example: Author. (2021). Title. Source.
• Use the copyright year.
• Use the date from the Journal volume in which article appears, even if it's different than the copyright year. Include only the year for the Date element; the full date of the journal is part of the Source element.
• Do not assume the copyright date from the site's footer applies to the content that you are citing!
• Example: Author. (2021, January 1). Title. URLincludinghttp://
• Example with no date, retrieval date included: Author. (n.d.). Title. Source. Retrieved January 1, 2021, from URLincludinghttp://
• Use the month, day, or season along with the year
• Example: Author. (2021, Spring/Summer). Title. Source.
• Example: Author. (2021, January 1). Title. Source.
• Include a complete date when possible; if you can't find all of the date elements for the resource type, include as much information in the date element as you can find. If there is absolutely no date associated with the resource, then you use an abbreviation for "no date" in place of the date element. Use lower case letters with a period behind each letter and no spaces: (n.d.).
• Use the title of the article or chapter as the Title element; the title of the whole work is included in the Source.
• Includes journal and Newspaper articles, book chapters, etc.
• Basic format is to use normal text (no quotes, italics, etc.) expressed in sentence case (i.e. only capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns).
• Includes books, reports, etc.
• Basic format is to italicize the Title and to use sentence case (i.e. only capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns).
• Example: Author. (Date). This is the title: This is the subtitle. Source.
• Example: Author. (Date). This is the title (2 nd ed., Vol. 7). Source.
• The first part is a necessary element for all Sources; this is the publication information of the book (publisher) or the periodical (i.e. name of journal, volume and issue numbers, and page range of the article).
• The second part, required when the work was accessed digitally, is the URL (web address or permalink as appropriate) or its DOI (Digital Object Identifier) which is a unique id permanently assigned to that object.
• If the Title was used in place of the Author element, you skip the Title element.
• If you cited part of a book for the Title (e.g. a book chapter or encyclopedia entry), the whole work is the Source.
• Example: Author. (Date). Title. In F. M. Last (Ed.), This is the title for the whole book (pp. 101-142). Publisher. DOIorURLincludinghttp://
• Example: Author. (Date). Title. In F. M. Last and F. M. Last (Eds.), This is the title for the whole book (p. 474). Publisher. DOIorURLincludinghttp://
• If the editor’s name/s have already been used in the Author field, don’t repeat them in the Source; use “In This is the title …).
• Example: Author. (Date). Title of the whole work . Publisher. DOIorURLincludinghttp://
• Example: Author. (Date). Title. Journal Title , 42 (1), 18-24. DOIorURLincludinghttp://
• Example: Author. (Date). Title. The Washington Post. URLincludinghttp://
• You do not include any information on the database in which you found the resource unless that exact database is the only place for your reader to retrieve the work!
• The URL or DOI in your Reference list should begin with http:// and they should be active links if your work is available online. You can use the default settings for active links (e.g. underlined blue text) or the links can be black without underlining.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th edition). 

Betts, J. (2021, March 17). APA Citation Generator (Free) & Complete APA Format Guide . Bibliography.com. https://www.bibliography.com/apa/apa-format-and-citations/

Purdue OWL. (n.d.).  APA Sample Paper . Purdue Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_sample_paper.html

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• Last Updated: Oct 12, 2023 10:01 AM
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