The reference list should start on a separate page at the end of the paper. The word References should be centered at the top of the page. All reference entries should be double-spaced just like the rest of the paper. Entries should have a hanging indent – the first line of each reference should be flush left while subsequent lines of each reference entry should be indented half an inch from the left margin.
The reference list contains the full bibliographic information for all sources cited within the text. Only sources that were actually cited in the text of the paper should appear in the reference list. Each entry uses the author-date citation style and consists of the author’s last name, followed by the year of publication in parentheses. For sources with multiple authors, always list all authors in the reference list entry, even if you only cited the source in-text using “et al.”
Books should be formatted as:
Last name, First initial. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.
For example:
Smith, J. (2020). Writing quality research papers. Cambridge University Press.
For books with editions, include the edition number or abbreviation:
Last name, First initial. (Year). Title of book (edition #). Publisher.
Such as:
Brown, S. (2011). Effective writing skills (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Chapter or article in an edited book:
Last name, First initial. (Year). Chapter/article title. In First initial. Last name (Ed.), Book title (pages of chapter/article). Publisher.
For example:
Johnson, M. (2018). APA style research fundamentals. In C. Miller (Ed.), Writing for academic success (pp. 45-67). Sage.
Journal article:
Last name, First initial. (Year). Article title. Title of Journal, volume(issue), pages.
Such as:
Smith, J. (2020). Quality research methods. Journal of Academic Writing, 12(1), 45-67.
For journal articles retrieved online, include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if available. A DOI is preferable to a URL since it remains stable even if the URL changes. Include the DOI at the end of the reference.
Last name, First initial. (Year). Article title. Title of Journal, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx
Gray, J. (2019). Effective search strategies. Library Resources, 8(2), 15-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/LR-09-2018-0052
For web pages or webpage documents, include the author if available, year, page title in sentence case (“Title Case”), URL, and access date if no date of publication is evident:
Last name, First initial. (Year, Month Date). Page title. URL
For example:
Johnstone, B. (2020, January 15). APA style essentials. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_style_introduction.html
If no author is listed, move the title to the author position in the reference:
Page title. (Year, Month Date). URL
For example:
APA style essentials. (2020, January 15). https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_style_introduction.html
For newspaper articles, include the author if available, year of publication, article title in sentence case, name of newspaper in italics, date published, and page numbers:
Last name, First initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper Name, p. or pp.
For example:
Smith, J. (2020, January 15). Quality research fundamentals. The Daily Times, pp. A1, A4.
For references to social media platforms like blogs, podcasts, online videos etc., include as much identifying information as possible such as author/creator name, title, source/platform name, URL, and date accessed. There may be variations in format depending on the source. Consult the APA Publication Manual for specific examples.
Generally, reference entries are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the first author of each work. If multiple works by the same author(s) are cited, items are arranged chronologically, with earliest publication date first. The reference list is a reliable collection of properly formatted citations to sources that were used in the text of the paper. Proper formatting and organization of references demonstrates meticulous research and adherence to APA style guidelines.
Andrew Stroud