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APA Quick Citation Guide

Citing Sources in APA Style

Reference List Guidelines

Purpose: provides a list of all the sources you read and used to inform your writing, so that others can find the same information. 

Reference List entries should include: 

  • Author(s) 

  • Publication Date (Year) 

  • Title (of the article, post, report, chapter, entry, etc.) 

  • Source (where the information was published, such as a journal, book, website, etc.) 

Formatting the Reference List: 

  • Double-spaced 

  • Hanging indent (the first line of each entry lines up on the left; if the entry is longer than one line, additional lines are indented) 

  • Alphabetical by the first author’s last name (or title, if there is no author) 

  • Titles and Subtitles: Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns 

  • Italicize book titles, journal titles, and volume numbers (but not issue numbers) 

  • For author names, use: 

    • Last-Name, First-Initial. 

      • Smith, J. 

    • Last-Name, First-Initial. Middle Initial. 

      • Smith, J. M. 

  • If there is no date, use “n.d.” in its place. 

Reference List Entries

Journal Articles: 

Last-Name, First-Initial. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), page range. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Magazine Articles: 

Last-Name, First-Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Magazine Title, volume(issue), page range. URL 

Newspaper Articles: 

Last-Name, First-Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Newspaper Title, volume(issue), pp. Page/page range. URL 

Books by authors: 

Last-Name, First-Initial. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle of book (Edition ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Books with editors: 

Last-Name, First-Initial., & Last-Name, First-Initial. (Eds.). (Year). Title of book: Subtitle of book. Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Book chapters: 

Last-Name, First-Initial. (Year). Title of chapter: Subtitle of chapter. In First-Initial. Last-Name, First-Initial. Last-Name, & First-Initial Last-Name (Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle of book (Edition ed., pp. Page range). Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Webpage on a website: 

Author [such as Last-Name, First-Initial. OR Agency/Organization Name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Title of Website. URL 

Author. Title of webpage. Title of Website. Retrieved Month Day, Year from URL