15.22: APA References Page
- Successfully create and identify appropriate entries for an APA References page
Every cited source from your essay, with the exception of personal communications, should appear in your References page, which comes at the end of the essay.
The References page must conform to the following rules:
- Begin on a separate page at the end of your essay, using the same format as your essay (i.e., one-inch margins and page number).
- Entries in your list of references should be alphabetized by the authors’ last names. Use the title if a work does not have an author. (Don’t use any article in alphabetizing – The new America gets alphabetized under “n.”)
- Center and bold the word References at the top of the page.
- Double-space all references, even within individual references.
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Use a hanging indent of 0.5 inches for each reference. This means the first line of each entry will be flush against the left margin, and subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.
- In Microsoft Word, for example, you simply highlight your citations, click on the small arrow right next to the word “Paragraph” on the home tab, and in the popup box choose “hanging indent” under the “Special” section. Click OK, and you’re done. In Google Docs, highlight the area you want to indent then choose Format > Align & Indent > Indentation options > Select “Special,” then “Hanging” > Apply.
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All book and articles titles in APA appear in sentence case, meaning that the capitalization rules here are different than what you are accustomed to seeing:
- only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized ( The great Gatsby ). The first word of a subtitle that comes after a colon is also capitalized.
- books are italicized and articles have neither italics nor quotation marks (A study of symbolism in American movies).
- Journal titles are capitalized and italicized ( New Jersey English Journal ).
Click on the following pages to view information on how to create a specific reference entry for your source type.
In this video on APA format, you’ll see a sample references list with some tips on creating a references list of your own.
You can view the transcript for “APA References Seventh Edition” here (opens in new window) .
Print Books
Single Author
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials. (Year of publication). Title italicized . Publisher.
Larson, M. S. (1977). The rise of professionalism . University of California Press.
Multiple Authors (two to 20)
List up to 20 authors by their last names followed by initials. Use an ampersand (&) before the last author.
Rivano, N. S., Hoson, A., & Stallings, B. (2001). Regional integration and economic development . Palgrave.
Online Books
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year of publication). Title of the book italicized . URL to the full text ebook or to the distributor’s homepage
Austen, J. (1813). Pride and prejudice . http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342
Online Book with a DOI
Smith, J. (2018). Women’s support groups . Routledge. doi.org/10/1022/0000091-00
Edited Ebook from a Library Database
NOTE: Use (Ed.) if there is a single editor.
Randall, S. & Ford, H. (Eds.) (2011). Long term conditions: A guide for nurses and health care professionals . www.ebrary.com
Print Journal Article
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue Number), Page numbers.
Winans, A. D. (1992). The Mafioso and American political culture. Journal of Popular Culture, 22 (1), 21-47.
Online Journal Article
Journal Article with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue number), Page numbers. DOI
Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24 (2), 225-229. doi.org/10.1037/027806133.24.2.225
Journal Article without a DOI, with a Nondatabase URL
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, volume number italicized (Issue number), Page numbers. URL
Kelley, H., & Betsalel, K. (2004). Mind’s fire: Language, power, and representations of stroke. Anthropology & Humanism, 29 (2), 104-116. www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/j...SN%291548-1409
Journal Article without a DOI from Academic Research Database
NOTE: Do not include the database name or URL.
Anderson, H. (2019). Teaching during times of trauma. Education Today, 36 (1), 35-43.
Magazine Articles
Print Magazine Article
NOTE: Magazine citations are similar to journal citations, but they include additional information about the publication date. For monthly magazines, the month is included. For weekly magazines, both the month and day are included.
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year, Month and Day of publication). Title of article. Title of Magazine italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue number, if available), Page numbers.
Cooper, H. (1998, May). The trouble with debt. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, 43 , 100-103.
Online Magazine Article
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year, Month and Day of publication, if available). Title of article. Title of Magazine italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue number, if available). URL or DOI link
Vogel, C. (2008, June). A honeymoon cut short: How one couple survived the sinking of the Lusitania. American Heritage . www.americanheritage.com/honeymoon-cut-short
Article from a Database
NOTE: If an article from a database includes a DOI, provide the DOI link as you would for any online journal article. If the article does not include a DOI, the reference will look like a print version of the article. The 7th edition of American Psychological Association Publication Manual states, “Do not include the database name or URL.”
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Date). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue number), Page numbers.
Mershon, D. H. (1998, November). Star trek on the brain: Alien minds, human minds. American Scientist, 86 (6), 585.
Online Newspaper Article
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year, Month and Day of publication). Title of article. Title of Newspaper italicized . URL for article
Hunter, J.D. (2019, April 14). Pressure cooker: A Tiger Woods recipe. The Oregonian . https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/20...ommentary.html
Webpage on a News Website
Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Date published or updated). Title of webpage italicized . Site Name. URL
Street, F. (2020, January 9). How the village that inspired ‘Frozen’ is dealing with overtourism . CNN. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/o...ria/index.html
Webpage
Elements: Author (person or organization). (Date published or updated). Title of webpage italicized . Site Name. URL
Boyd, V. (2012, January 15). About Zora Neale Hurston . Zora Neale Hurston. http://zoranealehurston.com/about/
NOTE: If the above example had no author or date, the title of the webpage would be moved to the front, and (n.d.) should be used to reflect that no date is available.
About Zora Neale Hurston . (n.d.). Zora Neale Hurston. http://zoranealehurston.com/about
Television Broadcast
Elements: Last name, First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other primary contributors, if any. (Function). (Year, Month and Day, if available). Title of episode. In First and middle initials followed by Last name (Executive Producer or Producers), Title of series italicized . Production company.
Levy, S. (Director). (2017, October 27). Chapter three: The pollywog. In M. Duffer, R. Duffer, S. Levy, D. Cohen, & I. Paterson (Executive Producers), Stranger Things . 21 Laps Entertainment; Netflix.
YouTube or Other Streaming Video
Elements: Last name, First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other primary contributors, if any. (Year released, Month and Day). Title of the video italicized [Video]. Streaming Service. URL
Ezekiel, S. (2012, March 21). MIT understanding laser and fiberoptics: Fiberoptics fundamentals [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DCrIAxEv_Y
Podcast
NOTE: Provide the podcast episode number after the title of the episode in parentheses, but this can be omitted if the series does not number episodes. In the brackets after the episode title and number, specify if the podcast is audio or video. If the URL of the podcast is not known (if accessed via an app), simply omit the URL.
Elements: Last name, First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other primary contributors, if any. (Function). (Year, Month and Day, if available). Title of episode (No. episode number) [Audio or video podcast episode]. In Title of the series in italics . URL
Garber, J. (Host). (2019, November 22). The grazing revolution: A radical plan to save the Earth (No. 638) [Audio podcast episode]. In The farming podcast . https://www.thefarmingpodcast.com/2019/11/
Tweet
Elements: Last name, First and Middle initials or Name of Group. [@username]. (Year, Month and Day). Content of the post up to the first 20 words italicized [Description of audiovisuals] [Source type]. Site Name. URL
NASA. [@NASA]. (2020, January 5). A team of astronomers have found EGS77—the farthest galaxy group known to date! [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. twitter.com/NASAUniverse/sta...25744352661504
Now that you’ve learned all of the essentials, see if you can identify the correct citations in the following activity.
Contributors and Attributions
- APA References. Provided by : Excelsior College Online Writing Lab. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/citation-and-documentation/apa-style/apa-references/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
- APA Activity. Provided by : Excelsior OWL. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/citation-and-documentation/apa-style/apa-activity/ . License : CC BY: Attribution