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How to Format an APA Reference Page

In APA, the “Works Cited” page is referred to as a “Reference List” or “Reference Page.” “Bibliography” also may be used interchangeably, even though there are some differences between the two.

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:

Difference between an APA bibliography and a reference page

What about annotated bibliographies, understanding apa reference page format, apa reference page formatting: alphabetizing by surname, q: what should not be on an apa reference page.

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:

• Placed on its own page, after the text but before any tables, figures, or appendices.
• In the same font as the rest of the paper.
• Double-spaced the whole way through (including individual references).
• Formatted with hanging indents (each line after the first line of every entry indented 0.5 inches).
• Labeled with a bold, center-justified, and capitalized “References.”

Note: You can use the paragraph function of your word processing program to apply the hanging indent.

Q: What font am I supposed to use for the reference page or bibliography?

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:

• Sans serif fonts: Calibri (11pt), Arial (11pt), or Lucida (10pt).
• Serif fonts: Times New Roman (12pt), Georgia (11pt), or Normal/Computer Modern (10pt).

Q: What are the margins supposed to be for the reference page or bibliography?

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.

Q: What information goes into an APA style reference page or bibliography?

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:

• The last name(s) and initials of the author(s).
• The date the source was published (shown in parentheses).
• The title of the source in sentence case. The title should be in italics if the source stands on its own (like a book, webpage, or movie).
• The name of the periodical, database, or website if the source is an article from a magazine, journal, newspaper, etc. Names of periodicals are usually italicized; names of databases and websites usually are not.
• The publisher of the source and/or the URL where the source can be found.

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 .

Citing a Book

Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year of publication). Title of work . Publisher.

James, Henry. (2009). The ambassadors . Serenity Publishers.

Citing a Journal

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)

Jacoby, W. G. (1994). Public attitudes toward government spending. American Journal of Political Science , 38(2), 336-361. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111407

Citing a Website

Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title or page title . Site Name. URL

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.

APA reference page example

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.

The “nothing precedes something” rule

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.

Disregard spaces and punctuation marks

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.

Ordering multiple works by the same author

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. (n.d.).

Guzman, M.B. (2016).

Guzman, M.B. (2017).

Guzman, M.B. (2019).

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.

Ordering works with the same author and same date

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.

Same author and same year of publication

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.

Same author and same year of publication, with more specific dates

If more specific dates are provided, such as a month or day, then it becomes possible to order these entries chronologically.

Guzman, M.B. (2020b, April 2).

Guzman, M.B. (2020c, October 15).

Ordering authors with the same surname but different initials

Authors who share the same surname but have different first or middle names can be alphabetized by their first initial or second initial.

Guzman, R.L. (2015).

Ordering works with no listed author, or an anonymous author

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 .

What if the work is actually authored by “Anonymous”?

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.”

What if there is no listed author and it’s definitely not a group author?

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:

• The content of your paper (the reference page should start on its own page after the end of your paper).
• Entries for works for further reading or background information or entries for an epigraph from a famous person (the reference page should only include works that are referenced or quoted in your paper as part of your argument).
• Entries for personal communications such as emails, phone calls, text messages, etc. (since the reader would not be able to access them).
• Entries for whole websites, periodicals, etc. (If needed, the names of these can be mentioned within the body of your paper instead.)
• Entries for quotations from research participants (since they are part of your original research, they do not need to be included).

Published October 28, 2020.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Parenthetical Citations
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

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The following rules will help you identify when to use DOIs and when to use URLs in references:

• Use a DOI wherever available, be it a print version or online version.
• For a print publication that does not have a DOI, do not add a DOI or URL (even if a URL is available).
• For an online publication, if both a DOI and URL are given, include only the DOI.
• For online publications that only have a URL (and no DOI), follow the below recommendations:
• Add a URL in the reference list entry for publications from websites (other than databases). Double check that the URL will work for readers.
• For publications from most academic research databases, which are easily accessible, do not include a URL or database information in the reference. In this case, the reference will be the same as the print version.
• For publications from databases that publish limited/proprietary work that would only be available in that database, include the database name and the URL. If the URL would require a login, include the URL for the database home page or login page instead of the URL for the work.
• If a URL will not work for the reader or is no longer accessible, follow the guidance for citing works with no source.

To format your APA references list, follow these recommendations:

• Begin the references on a new page. This page should be placed at the end of the paper.
• All sides of the paper should have a 1-inch margin.
• Set the heading as “References” in bold text and center it.
• Arrange the reference entries alphabetically according to the first item within the entries (usually the author surname or title).
•  Add a hanging indent of 0.5 inches (i.e., indent any line after the first line of a reference list entry).

See above for a visual example of a reference page and additional examples.

Special Cases

Multiple entries with the same author(s) are arranged by publication year. Entries with no dates first, then in chronological order. If the year published is also the same, a letter is added to the year and the entries are arranged alphabetically (after arrangement by year).

• Robin, M. T. (n.d.)
• Robin, M. T. (1987)
• Robin, M. T. (1989a)
• Robin, M. T. (1989b)

Single-author source and multi-author source that share one author. One-author entries are listed first even if the multi-author entries were published earlier.

• Dave, S. P., Jr. (2006)
• Dave, S. P., Jr., & Glyn, T. L. (2005)

For references with multiple authors that have the same first author but different subsequent authors, alphabetize the entries by the last name of the second author (or third if the first two authors are the same).

APA Citation Examples

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• The Complete Guide to APA Format in 2020

APA Reference Page

• Headings and Subheadings
• Discussion Section
• Websites and Online Sources
• Journals and Periodicals
• Other Print Sources
• Other Non-Print Sources
• In-text Citations
• Footnotes and Endnotes
• Using MyBib Responsibly
• Miscellaneous Questions

An APA reference page is a list of sources you've mentioned or used throughout your writing, formatted in the APA style, and should be included at the very end of your paper. The details of each source must be displayed in a specific way, depending on the type of the source ( websites , books , journals , or other sources ).

A Reference Page must:

• Have the title of ' Reference List ' at the very top
• Show every source you've directly referenced in your paper, or taken data from to help you write your paper.
• List all sources in alphabetical order by the author's last name. For example, a source by Albert Einstein would be higher in the list than a source by Elon Musk, as the E in Einstein comes before the M in Musk alphabetically.
• Use a hanging indent for each entry after the first line, indented by half an inch from the left margin.
• Retain all original punctuation and formatting for any names and titles of the sources.

Our APA citation generator can do all this for you automatically. To start, just search for one of the sources used in your writing using the tool below. Alternatively we have also explained how to format specific sources on the next page.

APA References Page Formatting and Example

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

The APA reference page (also called the reference list) is the final page of your paper where all sources you cited in the main text are listed.

It should include the full details of all sources you cited in the main text, arranged A-Z alphabetically by author’s surname.

Everything cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and everything on your reference page must be something you have referred to in the text. Make sure you don”t have anything in one place that isn’t in the other.

Reference Page vs. Bibliography

A reference list includes all works that have been cited in the assignment. A bibliography is a detailed list of references cited in your work, plus the background readings or other material you may have read, but not cited.

Note : This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019.

Reference Page: Basic Rules

List references on a new page. Type “References” as page heading, written in boldface, at the top center of the page. Use double spacing. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work. For multiple articles by the same author, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent. Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry using a hanging indent of 5-7 spaces (by pressing Ctrl + T on a PC, or Command (⌘) + T on a Mac). All references in APA end with a full stop except when the reference ends with a URL or a DOI.

APA Reference List Example

Journal Article Reference in APA Format

• Author or authors. The surname is followed by a comma and the first initials.
• Year of publication of the article (in parentheses). End with a period.
• Article title. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. End with a period.
• Capitalize all major words in the title of the journal, followed by a comma.
• Italicize journal title and volume number. Do not put a space between in the volue number and the parentheses around the issue number.
• Issue number of journal in parentheses (no italics) followed by a comma.
• Page range of article. Use an en dash (not a hyphen); do not put spaces around the dash. End with a period.
• Include a DOI (digital object identifier) for all works that have one (i.e. online journal articles). Do not put a period after the DOI url.

Journal Article (Online): One Author

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page numbers. doi: or URL of the journal’s home page

Matsunaga, M. (2011). Underlying circuits of social support for bullied victims: An appraisalbased perspective on supportive communication and postbullying adjustment. Human Communication Research, 37 (2), 174-206. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01398.x

Journal Article (Online): 2-7 Authors

Author, A. A., Author, A. A., Author, A. A., Author, A. A., & Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page numbers. doi: or URL of the journal’s home page

Williams, S. L., & Mickelson, K. D. (2008). A paradox of support seeking and rejection among the stigmatized. Personal Relationships, 15 (4), 493-509. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2008.00212.x

Book Reference in APA Format

• Book title (in italics ). Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. End with a period.
• Edition (in parentheses), if other than first. Position this after the title but before the period.
• Incude the name of the publisher, followed by a period. Do not include the publisher location.
• Include a DOI for all workds that have one, regardless of whether you used the online version or print version. Do not put a period after the DOI url.

Book: One Author

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the work . Publisher.

Fletcher, D. P. (2018). Disrupters: Success strategies for women who break the mold . Entrepreneur Press.

Book: Two Authors, and Edition

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the work (edition). Publisher.

Moran, A., & Toner, J. (2017). A critical introduction to sport psychology (3rd ed.). Routledge.

• Chapter in an Edited Book: One Author

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (pages of chapter). Publisher.

Haybron, M. D. (2008). Philosophy and the science of the subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 17-43). Guilford Press.

Reference for a Chapter in Edited Book in APA Format

• Title of the book chapter. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. End with a period.
• Write the word “In” and the initials and last name (not inverted) of each editor. Use “(Ed.)” for one editor or “(Eds.)” for multiple editors. End with a comma.
• Write “pp.” and include the chapter page range (in parentheses). End with a period.
• Include a DOI if available. Do not put a period after the DOI url.

Reference for a Website in APA Format

• Year, Month Day of publication (in parentheses). Use the most exact date possible. End with a period.
• Title (in italics ). End with a period.
• Website name. Capitalize all major words. End with a period.
• Website URL. Do not put a period after the url.

APA Website Reference Example

McLeod, S. A. (2019, September 29). APA reference page formatting and example . Simply Psychology. www.www.www.www.www.www.simplypsychology.org/apa-reference-page.html

Further Information

• APA Style 7th Edition Quick Reference Guide
• APA Style Citations & References

Counseling: APA Style

• Articles & More
• Research Methods
• Professional Organizations

APA Style Resources

These and many other resources are provided by the official APA Style site.

• APA 7th Sample Papers | APA Style
• APA Style and Grammar Guidelines
• APA Style Blog Provides helpful answers to frequently asked questions about APA style

APA 7th edition

Interactive Tutorial | American Psychological Association

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Article in Electronic Journal

When citing an article in an electronic journal, include a DOI if one is associated with the article.

DOIs may not always be available. In these cases, use a URL. Many academic journals provide stable URLs that function similarly to DOIs. These are preferable to ordinary URLs copied and pasted from the browser's address bar.