References

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 some examples of reference lists, see our sample literature review and experimental report.

In your reference list, you provide information about:

• the author(s) of each work or the institution or group that created the work
• the date that the work was published
• the title of each work
• whether the work appears as part of a larger work (such as an article in a journal or newspaper, or a chapter in an essay collection)
• where the work was published
• who published the work
• information that would help someone retrieve the work (such as a web page address or an access number for an electronic database)

If you don't have complete information for a reference, include as much information as you do have when you create your reference list. For example, it's common for web pages to not have authors. This just means that you don't include an author, and instead start with the title of the work.

The APA has guidelines for how you should format this information; these guidelines are different for different kinds of references. Our basic rules and forms will help you understand the general guidelines, and our reference list examples will show you some sample sources. If you have questions about a particular form for a particular source, it's best to consult the Publication Manual and follow their specific reference. If you can't find a specific reference or example for your source, take the basic form that most closely resembles your type of source and use that as your model, making sure to include all the information that a reader would need to retrieve your work.

Your references should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label References (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), centered at the top of the page. It should be double-spaced, just like the rest of your essay. If you would like to see a sample reference list in a paper, see our sample literature review and experimental report, or these links to an Sample APA Report and a APA Simulated Journal Article. We also have a list of reference examples.

Formatting your reference list is covered in chapter four of the Publication Manual, which starts on page 215. Further information about citing sources and formatting your reference list can be found in our sections on citing sources in your text, using quotations, and our reference list examples, as well as our additional resources section. What follows are some general guidelines for formatting your reference list.

Basic Rules

• Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work unless the work has more than six authors. If the work has more than six authors, list the first six authors and then use et al. after the sixth author's name to indicate the rest of the authors.
  
• Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.
  
  
• If you have more than one article by the same author(s), single-author references or multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.
  
  For example:
  

  Berndt, T. J. (1996). Exploring the effects of friendship quality on social development. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup, (Eds.), The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and adolescence.  (pp. 346-365). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10. Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048. Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1995). Flexible correction processes in social judgment: The role of naive theories in corrections for perceived bias. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 68, 36-51.

  
  
• When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation, as the first author of a group, list the one-author entries first.
  
  For example:
  

  Berndt, T. J. (1999). Friends' influence on students' adjustment to school. Educational Psychologist, 34, 15-28. Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1995). Friends' influence on adolescents' adjustment to school. Child Development, 66, 1312-1329.

  
  
• References that have the same first author and different second and/or third authors are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the second author, or the last name of the third if the first and second authors are the same.
  For example:
  

  Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000). Flexible corrections of juror judgments: Implications for jury instructions. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 6, 629-654. Wegener, D. T., Petty, R. E., & Klein, D. J. (1994). Effects of mood on high elaboration attitude change: The mediating role of likelihood judgments. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 25-43.

  
  
• If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order) published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year.
  
  For example:
  

  Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416. Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior. Child Development, 52, 636-643.

  
  When referring to these publications in your paper, use the letter suffixes with the year so that the reader knows which reference you are referring to. For example: "Several studies (Berndt, 1981a, 1981b) have shown that..."
  
  
• Use "&" instead of "and" when listing multiple authors of a single work.
  
  
• If no author is given for a particular source, begin with and alphabetize by using the title of the work, which will be listed in place of the author, and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.
  
  
• Personal communications, such as e-mail messages to you, or private interviews that you conducted with another person, should not be cited in your reference list because they are not retrievable sources for anyone else. You should make reference to these sources in your in-text citations. (For more information, see page 214 of the Publication Manual.)
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.
  
• Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
  
• Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.
  
• Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.

Basic Forms for Sources in Print

An article in a periodical (e.g., a journal, newspaper, or magazine)

NOTE: For a magazine or newspaper article, you need to include specific publication dates (month and day, if applicable) as well as the year. For a journal article, you do not need to include the month or day of publication. See our examples below for more explanations.

NOTE:You need list only the volume number if the periodical uses continuous pagination throughout a particular volume. If each issue begins with page 1, then you should list the issue number as well: Title of Periodical, Volume number(Issue number), pages. Note that the issue number is not italicized. If the journal does not use volume numbers, use the month, season, or other designation within the year to designate the specific journal article.

A nonperiodical (e.g., book, report, brochure, or audiovisual media)

NOTE: For "Location," you should always list the city, but you should also include the state if the city is unfamiliar or if the city could be confused with one in another state.

Part of a nonperiodical (e.g., a book chapter or an article in a collection)

NOTE: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references.

Basic Forms for Electronic (Internet) Sources

Article in an Internet Periodical

Nonperiodical Internet Document (e.g., a Web page or report)

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Part of Nonperiodical Internet Document

Basic Forms for Electronic (Internet) Sources

Article in an Internet Periodical

Nonperiodical Internet Document (e.g., a Web page or report)

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Part of Nonperiodical Internet Document

For more about electronic sources, see the APA style web site's coverage of electronic references or Frequently Asked Questions about APA Style from the APA web site, or visit our additional resources section.

Basic Forms for Audiovisual Sources

A Motion Picture or Video Tape

If a movie or video tape is not available in wide distribution, add the following to your citation after the country of origin: (Available from Distributor name, full address and zip code).

A Television Broadcast or Television Series

A Single Episode of a Television Series

A music recording

For more about citing audiovisual media, see pages 266-269 of the Publication Manual.

If your source is not listed here, it may be listed on our sample reference list page, or in our frequently asked questions page. You should also check the Publication Manual.

Want to see some samples and examples? Visit our pages on citing sources in your text, using quotations, and our reference list, as well as our additional resources section.