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 (http://www.thewritesource.com/APA/APARESEARCH.HTM)
and a APA Simulated Journal Article (http://www-distance.syr.edu/apa5th.html).
We also have a list of reference examples in the workshop.
Formatting your reference list is covered in chapter four of the Publication
Manual, which starts on page 215. 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.
- 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.
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- 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)
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year).
Title of article. Title of periodical, volume number, pages. |
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)
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter
also for subtitle. Location: Publisher. |
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)
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter.
In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter).
Location: Publisher. |
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
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Title of journal, volume number(issue number if available).
Retrieved month day, year, from http://Web address. |
Nonperiodical Internet Document (e.g., a Web page or report)
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Retrieved month date, year, from http://Web address. |
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
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
In Title of book or larger document (chapter or section number).
Retrieved from http://Web address. |
For more about electronic sources, see the APA style web site's coverage
of electronic references (http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html) or Frequently
Asked Questions about APA Style (http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html) from
the APA web site, or visit the additional resources section of the workshop.
Basic Forms for Audiovisual Sources
A Motion Picture or Video Tape
Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D.D. (Director). (Date of
publication). Title of motion picture [Motion picture]. Country of
origin: Studio or distributor. |
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
Producer, P. P. (Producer). (Date of broadcast or copyright). Title of
broadcast [Television broadcast or Television series]. City of origin:
Studio or distributor. |
A Single Episode of a Television Series
Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D.D. (Director). (Date of publication).
Title of episode [Television series episode]. In P. Producer (Producer),
Series Title. City of origin: Studio or distributor. |
A music recording
Songwriter, W. W. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if
different from song writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording].
Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date) |
For more about citing audiovisual media, see pages 266-269 of 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.
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