APA 7th Edition
Below are some basic rules to follow when creating a reference list:
- Begin your reference list on a new page
- The word References should be centered and bold at the top of the page
- Double-space your reference list
- For each author, list the last name first followed by the initials for their first and middle names
- Arrange your reference list alphabetically by the last name of the author
- Use a hanging indent after the first line of your citation
View more information about the overall structure of a reference list.
Basic Structure of a Citation
Authors may be individual people, multiple people, institutions, organizations, or a combination.
- List authors in the order they appear on the source
- If there is no author listed, the title will be the first item listed in citation
- You must include the names of all authors up to 20
- Use the ampersand symbol "&" symbol before the last author listed
Different sources require a different date format. For example:
Depending on what you are citing, your title will be formatted differently:
- Italicize titles of books, journals and magazines
- Do not italicize titles of articles or book chapters
- Newspapers can be tricky:
- If the source has an associated newspaper, italicize the title of the newspaper
- If the source doesn't have an associated newspaper, italicize the title of the article
- View News Articles examples under the Citing Articles tab for examples
Depending on what you are citing, the source section of your citation will be formatted differently. For example:
What are you citing? | Source Components: |
Journal Articles | Name of journal, volume(issue) page numbers, DOI |
Magazine Articles | Name of magazine, volume(issue) if given, page if given, URL |
Books | Publisher |
Web Sources | Website name, URL |
For more detailed examples, please visit the Citing Articles, Citing Books, Citing Websites, and Citing Media tabs.