APA Reference Page Examples and Format Guide

Formatting the APA Reference Page · “References” is centered 1-inch down. It's not capitalized, bold, or italicized. · The reference citations are double spaced ... WhenitcomestocreatingyourAPAreferencepage,thisisonaseparatepageafterthebodyofyourpaper.TheformattingofyourAPA7referencespageincludes1-inchmargins,doublespacing,referencessortedalphabetically,andahangingindent.TomakesureyouhaveeverythingonyourAPAreferencepageperfect,usethisstep-by-stepguidetowalkyouthroughtheprocess. TableofContents WhatIsanAPAReferencePage? FormattingtheAPAReferencePage ExampleAPACitations   WhatIsanAPAReferencePage? AnAPAreferencepageiswhereyoufindallthereferencesforthein-textcitationsincludedinyourresearch.Itprovidesthewho,when,what,andwhereinformationforeachdifferentresourceyouused. Likethepaperitself,thereferencelistincludessimilarelementstowhatisfoundinthebodyofthepaperlikeanoptionalrunningheader,title,doublespacing,pagenumber,and1-inchmargins.However,italsohassomespecialformattingrequirementslikebeingsortedalphabeticallyandahangingindent. APAReferencePageExample Togetclarityaboutformatting,it’sbesttoseeanAPAreferencepageexampleinaction. View&DownloadPDF Referencesvs.APAIn-TextCitation Withareferencepageclarifiedinyourmind,it’sessentialtoexplorethedifferencebetweenareferencecitationandanin-textcitation.AreferenceislistedonlyontheAPAreferencelist;however,anin-textcitationiscreatedthroughoutthebodyofthetext.Everyin-textcitation,beyondthosespecifiedbyAPA,hasacorrespondingreferencelistontheReferencespage. FormattingtheAPAReferencePage TheformattingforanAPAreferencepageisprecise.Why?BecauseitfollowsthespecificformatcalledforbyAPArequirements.TheessentialAPAreferencepagearrangementlistincludes: “References”iscentered1-inchdown.It’snotcapitalized,bold,oritalicized. Thereferencecitationsaredoublespacedwithnoadditionallinesbetweenthem. Referencesthatgopastthefirstlinehaveahangingindent. Allreferencesareinalphabeticalorder. WhatInformationGoesontheAPAReferencePage? Inmostcases,theinformationyoufindinthereferencesincludestheauthor,date,title,andsourceelementsforeachdifferentin-textcitationyouusedforwebsites,periodicals,andbooks.However,thereareindividualcaseswhereyoudonotincludeareferencecitationforsomesources.Theseincludepersonalcommunications,entirewebsites,andcommonknowledge.Fortheseparticularcases,youaddanin-textcitation,butAPAdoesn’tmakeyoucreateareferencecitation. AlphabetizingReferences APArequiresyoutoalphabetizeyourreferencelistbytheauthor’slastnameortitle.Puttingeverythinginalphabeticalordercanseemeasy,butitgetsalittleconfusingwhenitcomestoduplicatenamesandnumbers.Thankfully,APAhasalltheruleslaidoutforyouwhenitcomestotryingtoalphabetizeDouglaandDouglas.JustremembertofollowthealphabetAtoZ,andnumbersarealphabetizedhowtheysound. AlphabeticalOrderExampleinAPA Dougla,B. Douglas,C. Douglas,D. D’ouglas,J. Douglas,J.&Connor,R. PunctuationinAPA PunctuationforyourAPAreferencepagecangetconfusingfastwithallthosecommasandperiods.However,intheir7theditionoftheAPAManual,thisstyleguidetriedtomakeitsimplewithafewoverarchingrules. Includeperiodstoseparateeveryelement(authors,titles,etc.),butnotafteraURL. Journalissuenumbersareinparenthesisratherthanhavingacommabetweentheissueandvolume. Thetitlesofbooksandjournalsareinsentencecase. Usecommasbetweenpartsofthesamereference,likeseparatingtheauthor’slastnameandfirstinitial. HandlingAuthorsinAPA InAPAformatting,anotherareawithextensivevariationsisthelistingoftheauthor’sonthereferencepage.Ifyouonlyhaveoneauthor,it’sprettystraightforward,butmostofthetime,therearemultipleauthors.Beforeyoucheckouthowtoformatmultipleandnoauthors,thereareafewoverarchingrules. Usethespellingexactlyasitappearsinthework,includinglowercaseletters,hyphenated,andtwo-partsurnames. Putonespacebetweentheinitials. Spelloutthefullnamesofgroups. GeneralAuthorExample Santa-Karlene,S. daVinci,L. View&DownloadPDF Nowthatthegeneralrulesareoutoftheway,it’stimetolookathowtoformatmultipleauthors.Whenyouhavetwoormoreauthors,youlistthemoutwithan&betweenthem.However,whenyouhavemorethan20authors,youlistthefirst19,thenuseellipsisthenthelastname. TwoAuthorExample Smith,J.A.,&Johnson,B.C. TwentyorMoreAuthorsExample Fran,A.A.,Moore,B.B.,Garrett,C.C.,Done,D.D.,Witting,E.E.,Dunkle,F.F.,Smith,G.G.,Johnson,H.H.,Bath,I.I.,Williams,J.J.,Brown,K.K.,Jones,L.L.,Miller,M.M.,Davis,N.N.,Bates,O.O.,Lopez,P.P.,Thomas,Q.Q.,Taylor,R.R.,Jackson,S.S.,...Martin,Z.Z. Ifyoudon’t haveanauthoratall,usethetitle.APAalsoclarifieswhatyoucandowhenotherreferenceelementsaremissing. ExampleAPACitations Whileit’sgoodtohaveabasicunderstandingof APAcitation format,viewingexamplesofsomeofthemoretrickycitationscanensureyouhavecommasandperiodsrightwhereyoushould.Andifyouuseacitationgeneratortomakeyourlifealittleeasier,theseexamplescanensurenothingwasmissed. OnlineArticleExampleCitation WhenitcomestoyourAPApaper,youmightfindthatyouuseonlinearticlestokeepthingsrecentandrelevanttoyourstudyortopic.Tocreateacitationofanonlinearticle,youneedtheauthor,date,title,publisher/publication,andURL. APAOnlineMagazineCitationExample APAReferencePageWebsiteExample Whetherit’sawebnewsstoryorastudypostedontheU.S.DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,you’llfindyourselfhavingtocreatecitationsforwebsitesquiteoften.Learnhowtoformattheauthor,date,title,andlocationforyourwebsitecitation. APAWebsiteCitationExample NationalCenterforEducationStatistics.(2020,August).Six-yearpersistenceandattainmentatfirstinstitution.U.S.DepartmentofEducation. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020237.pdf APAMeetingCitationExample APApapersaredesignedforcurrentandvitalresearch;therefore,it’scommontocreatemeetingandsymposiumcitations.Thesecitationsincludethespeakers,date,title,andlocation. APAMeetingCitationExample Dell,I.H.,Boddie,S.J.,Daven,D.,&McNab,R.J.(2010).Brownstone:acomprehensivesystem.In ProceedingsofthefifthACMconferenceonDigitallibraries (pp.113-121).ACM. YouTubeCitationExample Sometimesavideosaysitall;therefore,it’sessentialtoknowhowtomakemultimediaandyoutubecitationsinAPA. Inadditiontothecreator,youneedthedate,title,andwherethevideocanbefound. APAYouTubeExample DavenportUniversity.(2020,January28).CreatingabibliographyusingAPA[Video].YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdiUgws LegalCaseCitationExample Now,it’stimetolookatlegalcasecitationexamples.APAisexcellentforlegalwriting,soknowinghowtocreatethesecitationscanbeuseful.Foralegalcasecitation,youneedthenameofthecase,volumesourcepage,andcourtdate. LegalCaseExample MacDonaldv.Taubner. F.3d131,145(1968). APAAnnotatedBibliography InadditiontoyourAPAreferencelist,youmightalsobeaskedtocreateanannotatedbibliographyinAPA.Anannotatedbibliographyincludescitationsforanysourcesusedforthecreationofthepaperalongwithanannotation.Theannotationprovidesthereaderwithfurtherinformationaboutyoursource.SeeanAPAannotatedbibliographyinaction. ReferencePagevs.Bibliographyvs.WorksCited Terminologycangetconfusing,especiallywhenitcomestoareferencepagevs.bibliographyvs.workscited.Keepthewordingclearbylookingateachinturn. Referencepage–APAreferencelisttitled“References”includessourcescitedinthebodyoftheAPAstyleessay. Workscited–MLAreferencelisttitled“WorksCited”includesthesourcescitedinthebodyofMLApaper. Bibliography–typicallyusedinChicagostyle,anditincludesallthesourcesusedinthecreationoftheessay,notjustthosereferenced. CreatingaPerfectAPAReferencePage NoonewantstolosepointsontheirAPAreferencepage.Therefore,ensureyouhaveeverythingperfectbyfollowingthisquickandeasyguide.AndifyouneedmorehelpwithyourAPApaper,youmightwanttolookintoAPApaperformatting. FAQAPAReferencePageExamplesandFormatGuide HowdoesanAPAreferencepagelook? AnAPAreferencepagehasadistinctlooksetforthbytheAmericanPsychologicalAssociationManualofStyle.Theformattingofthepageincludesanoptionalrunningheader,pagenumberheader,1-inchmarginsonallsides,referencesinalphabeticalorder,hangingindents,andcenteredtitle"References." HowdoyouwritereferencesinAPAformat? ThewaythatyoucreatereferencesinAPAformatdependsonthespecificcitationyouarecreating.However,ingeneral,eachcitationincludestheauthor,date,title,andlocationinformation.Forexample,anAPAbookcitationlookslike: Austen,J.(1918).Prideandprejudice.NewYorkPress. Howdoyouformatareferencelist? AreferencelistinAPAisformattedinalphabeticalorder.Additionally,anycitationsthatgobeyondthefirstlineincludeahangingindent.Eachdifferentcitationwillhaveadistinctformatdependingonifitisabook,website,journal,etc. HowdoyouputanAPAreferenceinalphabeticalorder? ToputanAPAreferenceinalphabeticalorder,youstartwithAandworkyourwaydowntoZ.Fortitles,youwillignorearticleslikea,an,andthe.Numbersarealphabetizedthewaytheysound.Forexample: Austen,J.(1918).Prideandprejudice.NewYorkPress. 1989.(n.d.).NewYorkPress. Thewaywewere.(1929).GilmorePublishing. DoyouneedpagenumbersinAPAreferencelist? Yes,inanAPAreferencelist,youwillincludepagenumbers.Thepagenumberswillstartonyourtitlepage,andfollowthroughtotheAPAreferencepage.Thepagenumberisright-aligned,1/2inchdown. Howusefulwasthispost?Clickonastartorateit!SubmitRatingAveragerating4/5.Votecount:57Novotessofar!Bethefirsttoratethispost.Wearesorrythatthispostwasnotusefulforyou!Letusimprovethispost!Tellushowwecanimprovethispost?SubmitFeedback Readmore Home CitationGenerator Learn StyleGuides APAFormat MLAFormat Chicago/TurabianFormat Citations Examples HowTo About