Citation & Reference Guide

For every source you cite in the text of your paper (see the In-Text Citations & Quotations page), there must be a corresponding reference in the reference list. References are different than citations in that they offer more complete details on the sources you used in your assignment. Citations only offer brief information. References generally contain the author's name, the date of publication, the title and the publication data. They are organized in a list at the end of your paper.

This page shows you how to format your reference list and how to create references for different types of works. For more information on building a reference list, please consult Chapters 9 and 10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2020).

Formatting the Reference List

Here are some general guidelines to help you format your reference list. To find out how to present specific types of works, please consult the APA Citations and References page. 

• Put your reference list at the end of your paper, on a separate page. Include the title References at the top center of the page.
• Each reference is presented with a hanging indent, which means that all lines after the first line of the entry must be indented by 1/2 inch (five spaces) from the left margin of the page.
• The reference list must be double spaced (between entries and within each entry).

Authors

• Entries in a reference list are organized alphabetically by the author's last name. Include the initials of the author's first and middle names after the surname. For example: Martin, J. S.
• If a work was created by several authors, list them in the exact order they appear on the work in your reference entry.
• If your entry has 2 to 7 authors, use an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. For example:  Redburn, W., Lambert, A., & Sharova, M.
• If you have 8 or more authors in your reference entry, include the names of the first six authors followed by an ellipsis, and then add the name of the last author listed on the work:

James, E., McKinnon, J.-T., Holmes, T., Gervais, H., Paquette, O., Hernandez, S.,...Dupont, N.

• If there is no author, move the title to the author position (before the date of publication) and organize it alphabetically with the other entries. When writing the title, start with the first significant word. Leave out the a, an and the that precedes it:

Chicago manual of style (16th ed.). (2010). University of Chicago Press. 

• In the case of an organization as an author, write out the full name of the entity (no abbreviations) and organize it alphabetically with the remainder of the entries. When writing the name of the organization, start with the first significant word (do not include The). A parent body always precedes a subdivision.

American Psychiatric Association

University of Colorado, Department of Engineering

• If you have several works by the same author(s) in your reference list, organize them by year of publication starting with the earliest:

Dalton, C. (2005).

Dalton, C. (2008).

• If you have several works by the same author(s) that have the same year of publication, organize them alphabetically by title. Exclude the a, an or the that precedes the first significant word of each title. Assign letter suffixes, in alphabetical order, to each year: When you are citing these sources in the text of your research, make sure to include the year with the letter in your citation.

Jasmin, R. (2011a). Introduction to human spirituality.

Jasmin, R. (2011b). Spirituality and the afterlife.

• Titles and subtitles of articles and chapters are not italicized or put in quotation marks. Only the first word of the title and subtitle, and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Titles and subtitles of books and reports are in italics. Only the first word of the title and subtitle, and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Periodical titles (journals, newspapers and magazines) and their volume numbers are in italics. Capitalize all the major words of the title (for example, The Morning Herald). The issue number is included in parentheses and is not italicized.

Publication Date

• If no publication date is listed on a work, write n.d. (for no date) in parentheses where the publication date would normally be indicated in the reference entry:

Hayden, U. (n.d.). The anthropology of language. Yaletown Press.

Publisher Name

• When writing out the name of a publisher in your reference, give it in as brief a form as intelligible. Retain the words Books and Press, but not Co., Inc., Publishers or Publications. For example: Academia Press, Thompson Books, Bloomsbury.

 Web addresses & Digital Object Identifiers

• Never add a period at the end of a web address or a digital object identifier (doi).

To find out what a reference list done in the APA Citation Style looks like, consult the following links:

• A sample APA reference list created by Murdoch University.

• An entire research paper in the APA Citation Style created by Purdue University. It includes examples of a reference list and in-text citations. 

Certain words may be abbreviated in your reference list.

Here is a list of commonly used abbreviations that are accepted by the APA. Consult sections 6.24-6.31 in the Publication Manual for more information:

• A digital object identifier, or DOI, is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to an online article. This code helps you quickly identify and locate that article on the web. Some electronic books can also have DOIs.
• A DOI is typically found on the first page of an article/book or in the article/book's record in a database.  If you are unable to find it, use the free DOI lookup by crossref.org. Please note that not all online articles and e-books are assigned a DOI.
• If a DOI is listed with an electronic article or an e-book, make sure to include it in your reference. This piece of information will make it easier for readers of your research paper to find that article/book.
• Here is an example of a DOI:

                      10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

• It's important to note that DOIs are now treated the same as web links, so there is no need to add "doi" before the URL.
• If you have a DOI number and want to find the article or book that it is associated with, simply enter it in the search box on crossref.org.
• If you wish to learn more about DOIs, the APA Style Blog has an excellent article on the subject: A DOI Primer. (Note: This article is from the 6th edition of the APA Style Blog, but the information is still relevant when using the 7th edition.)

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