If you are at the point in your article or research paper where you are looking up APA bibliography format, then congratulations! That means you’re almost done.
In this guide, you will learn how to successfully finish a paper by creating a properly formatted APA bibliography. More specifically, you will learn how to create a reference page. The guidelines presented here come from the 7 th edition of the APA’s Publication Manual.
A note on APA reference page style: In this guide, “bibliography” and “references” may be used interchangeably, even though there are some differences between the two. The most important thing is to use the label “References” when writing your paper since APA style recommends including a reference page.
Here’s a run-through of everything this page includes:
The difference between a bibliography and a reference page is a matter of scope. A bibliography usually includes all materials and sources that were used to write the paper. A reference page, on the other hand, only includes entries for works that were specifically cited in the text of the paper.
There are some cases in which a professor or journal might request an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is basically a reference page that includes your comments and insights on each source.
An annotated bibliography can be a document all on its own, or part of a bigger document. That means creating an annotated bibliography by itself could be an assignment, or you may have to include one as part of your research paper, journal submission, or other project.
If you do need to add an APA annotated bibliography, it goes after the reference page on its own page, inside the appendices.
A properly formatted APA reference page begins on a new page, after the end of the text. It comes before any figures, tables, maps, or appendices. It’s double-spaced and features what’s called a hanging indent, where the first line of each reference is not indented, and the second line of each reference is indented 0.5 inches. The reference page is also labeled with a bold, center-justified, and capitalized “References.”
To summarize, the reference page should be:
Note: You can use the paragraph function of your word processing program to apply the hanging indent.
The APA reference page/bibliography should be in the same font as the rest of your paper. However, APA Style does not actually call for one specific font. According to Section 2.19 of the Publication Manual, the main requirement is to choose a font that is readable and accessible to all users. Some of the recommended font options for APA style include:
Aside from the 0.5 inch hanging indent on the second line of each reference entry, you do not need to modify the margins of the reference page or bibliography. These should be the same as the rest of your paper, which according to APA is 1-inch margins on all sides of the page. This is the default margin setting for most computer word processors, so you probably won’t have to change anything.
An APA style reference page should include full citations for all the sources that were cited in your paper. This includes sources that were summarized, paraphrased, and directly quoted. Essentially, if you included an in-text citation in your paper, that source should also appear in your reference list. The reference list is organized in alphabetical order by author.
The formatting for reference list citations varies depending on the kind of source and the available information. But for most sources, your reference list entry will include the following:
Here are a few templates and examples for how common sources should be formatted in an APA style reference list. If your source is not found here, there is also a guide highlighting different APA citation examples.
Structure:
Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year of publication). Title of work. Publisher.
Example:
James, Henry. (2009). The ambassadors. Serenity Publishers.
Structure:
Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page number(s). https://doi.org/ or URL (if available)
Example:
Jacoby, W. G. (1994). Public attitudes toward government spending. American Journal of Political Science, 38(2), 336-361. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111407
Structure:
Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title or page title. Site Name. URL
Example:
Limer, E. (2013, October 1). Heck yes! The first free wireless plan is finally here. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/heck-yes-the-first-free-wireless-plan-is-finally-here
Next, let’s take a look at a real example of a properly formatted APA reference page to see how these pieces come together.
Creating an APA reference page is actually a lot easier than creating a bibliography with other style guides. In fact, as long as you are aware of the formatting rules, the reference page practically writes itself as you go.
Below is an example reference page that follows the guidelines detailed above. EasyBib also has a guide featuring a complete APA style sample paper, including the reference page.
All APA citations included in the reference page should be ordered alphabetically, using the first word of the reference entry. In most cases, this is the author’s surname (or the surname of the author listed first, when dealing with citations for sources with multiple authors). However, there are times when a reference entry might begin with a different element.
Creating an alphabetized reference page or bibliography might seem like a simple task. But when you start dealing with multiple authors and similar last names, it can actually get a little tricky. Fortunately, there are a few basic rules that can keep you on track.
When the surnames of two or more authors begin with the same letters, the “nothing precedes something” rule is how to figure it out. Here is an example of how it works.
Imagine your reference page includes the authors Berg, M.S. and Bergman, H.D. The first four letters of each author are the same. The fifth letters are M and H respectively. Since H comes before M in the alphabet, you might assume that Bergman, H.D. should be listed first.
APA Style requires that “nothing precede something,” which means that Berg will appear before Bergman. Similarly, a James would automatically appear before a Jameson, and a Michaels before a Michaelson.
If a surname has a hyphen, apostrophe, or other punctuation mark, it can be ignored for alphabetization purposes. Similarly, anything that appears inside of parentheses or brackets should be disregarded.
It is not uncommon for a research paper to reference multiple books by the same author. If you have more than one reference entry by the same person, then the entries should be listed chronologically by year of publication.
If a reference entry has no year of publication available, then it should precede any entries that do have a date. Here’s an example of a properly alphabetized order for multiple entries from the same author:
Guzman, M.B. (in press).
“In press” papers do not yet have a year of publication associated with them. All “in press” sources are listed last, like the one shown above.
If the same author has multiple entries with the same year of publication, you need to differentiate them with lowercase letters. Otherwise, the in-text citations in your paper will correspond to more than one reference page entry.
Here’s a look at how to use lowercase letters to differentiate between entries with the same author and same year of publication:
Guzman, M.B. (2020a).
Guzman, M.B. (2020b).
Guzman, M.B. (2020c).
These lowercase letters are assigned to make the in-text citations more specific. However, it does not change the fact that their year of publication is the same. If no month or day is available for any of the sources, then they should be ordered alphabetically using the title of the work.
When alphabetizing by title, ignore the words “A,” “An,”,and “The” if they’re the first word of the title.
If more specific dates are provided, such as a month or day, then it becomes possible to order these entries chronologically.
Guzman, M.B. (2020a).
Guzman, M.B. (2020b, April 2).
Guzman, M.B. (2020c, October 15).
Authors who share the same surname but have different first or middle names can be alphabetized by their first initial or second initial.
Guzman, M.B. (2020c, October 15).
If you have reference entries with no listed author, the first thing to double-check is whether or not there was a group author instead. Group authors can be businesses, task forces, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, etc.
If there is no individual author listed, then have another look at the source. If it is published on a government agency website, for instance, there is a good chance that the agency was the author of the work, and should be listed as such in the reference entry. You can read more about how to handle group authors in Section 9.11 of the Publication Manual.
If the work you’re referencing actually has the word “Anonymous” listed as the author, then you can list it as the author and alphabetize it as if it were a real name. But this is only if the work is actually signed “Anonymous.”
If you have confirmed that there is no individual or group author for the work, then you can use the work’s title as the author element in the reference entry. In any case where you’re using the work’s title to alphabetize, you should skip the words “A,” “An,” and “The.”
An APA reference page should not contain any of the following:
Published October 28, 2020.
