Order of references: For APA the reference list is arranged in alphabetical order of authors' surnames. Arrange by first author's name, then by second author if you have the same first author, etc. (check the page on Authors for how to lay out the reference if you have more than one author).
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The Title page should include the date the paper is due.
An in-text citation will always have the full citation listed in the References section.
There are unique formatting rules to follow for each reference entry, but generally, remember these key rules for the whole references list:
A references list is a formatted list of all sources you cited within your paper. Any time you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or include information that you’ve read from an outside source, you must include that source in your references list, correctly formatted in APA style. For help making a References list, view our Annotated References List.
When citing sources that change often, it is recommended that you use the permanent link on your references list. For example, when citing a Wikipedia page, click on “Permanent Link” within the left navigation menu to populate the permanent URL. This is the URL you’ll use for your references list. Conference Paper Presentation.
If author and year are unavailable, omit those portions and begin with Title of entry. If editor name is unavailable, omit that portion and simply note the Title of dictionary/encyclopedia.
If citing a recording of classical work, provide composer as author and place [Album recorded by Artist name] after Title of album.
Each item in your references list requires general publication information, including but not limited to: Author’s name. Year of publication. Title. Source. Because there are many types of sources, additional information may be required. You will see the most common kinds of sources in the sample references list below.
Only use this category if the article has an associated daily or weekly newspaper. If the article is from a news website (BBC News, CNN, Huffpost, etc.), use the format for the article on a news website in the webpages category.
The main and simple purpose of the APA reference page is to ensure that the reader can locate and retrieve the sources cited in the paper. And because sources come in many different shapes and sizes, APA has guidelines on page structure for different kinds of publications that need to be attributed. Table of Content [ hide]
Each source cited in the paper should appear twice —it should be cited in the actual text and then listed on the reference page.
If there are more than seven authors, write down the first six and then use ellipses after the sixth author’s name. After the ellipses, write down the last author’s name. Maintain the punctuation used in journals. Capitalize all major words. Italicize titles of longer works. These include books and journals.
When referencing a Web page with no author, cite the title of the article followed by the year it was written in parentheses. Also indicate the date it was retrieved and the URL. For example: Retrieved October 21, 2013, from http://www.website.com/
All lines after the first line of each entry should be indented half an inch from the left margin. This is called the hanging indentation.
When creating your APA reference page, do not forget to list down even the non-print sources such as interviews or documentaries. There are specific rules for each source so it is important to identify the type of material you used to determine which formatting rules apply.
For shorter works such as essays and journal articles, do not bold, italicize, underline or put quotation marks. When attributing books, chapters, articles or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title or subtitle.
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.
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.
Authors' first and middle names should be written as initials . 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.".
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.
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.
Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here.
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.
For APA the reference list is arranged in alphabetical order of authors' surnames.
The reference list starts on a new page, after your assignment and before any appendices. Place the word "References", centered, at the top of the page. APA does not require other formatting for the title of your reference page (like bold or underlined), but check with your lecturer.
Each entry in the reference list has a hanging indent, so that the first line of the entry is flush with the left margin, but all other lines are indented (this is the opposite of the paragraph structure in the body of your essay). You can do this easily by selecting your references, and pressing Ctrl + T on a PC, or Command (⌘) + T on a Mac. (For Word Online, see the instructions for creating a hanging indent here: https://libanswers.jcu.edu.au/faq/266638 ).
If a reference has no author, list it alphabetically according to the title. Ignore the words 'A', 'An' and 'The' at the beginning of a corporate author or title for deciding where it fits alphabetically. If there are two references by the same author, list them in order of publication date with the older one first.
Make sure you don't have anything in one place that isn't in the other.
APA uses sentence case for all titles except for journal titles.