8/20/2016 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

GeneralWritingResearchandCitationTeachingandTutoringSubjectSpecificWriting
JobSearchWritingESL
ThispageisbroughttoyoubytheOWLatPurdue(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).Whenprintingthis
page,youmustincludetheentirelegalnoticeatbottom.

ReferenceList:BasicRules
Summary:

APA(AmericanPsychologicalAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtocitesourceswithinthesocialsciences.Thisresource,

revisedaccordingtothe6thedition,secondprintingoftheAPAmanual,offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofAPAresearch
papers,intextcitations,endnotes/footnotes,andthereferencepage.Formoreinformation,pleaseconsultthePublicationManualof

theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2ndprinting).

Contributors:JoshuaM.Paiz,ElizabethAngeli,JodiWagner,ElenaLawrick,KristenMoore,MichaelAnderson,LarsSoderlund,
AllenBrizee,RussellKeck
LastEdited:2013030110:11:11

Yourreferencelistshouldappearattheendofyourpaper.Itprovidestheinformationnecessaryforareadertolocateandretrieve
anysourceyouciteinthebodyofthepaper.Eachsourceyouciteinthepapermustappearinyourreferencelistlikewise,each
entryinthereferencelistmustbecitedinyourtext.

Yourreferencesshouldbeginonanewpageseparatefromthetextoftheessaylabelthispage"References"centeredatthetopof
thepage(doNOTbold,underline,orusequotationmarksforthetitle).Alltextshouldbedoublespacedjustliketherestofyour
essay.

BasicRules

Alllinesafterthefirstlineofeachentryinyourreferencelistshouldbeindentedonehalfinchfromtheleftmargin.Thisis
calledhangingindentation.

Authors'namesareinverted(lastnamefirst)givethelastnameandinitialsforallauthorsofaparticularworkforuptoand
includingsevenauthors.Iftheworkhasmorethansevenauthors,listthefirstsixauthorsandthenuseellipsesafterthe
sixthauthor'sname.Aftertheellipses,listthelastauthor'snameofthework.

Referencelistentriesshouldbealphabetizedbythelastnameofthefirstauthorofeachwork.

Formultiplearticlesbythesameauthor,orauthorslistedinthesameorder,listtheentriesinchronologicalorder,from
earliesttomostrecent.

Presentthejournaltitleinfull.

Maintainthepunctuationandcapitalizationthatisusedbythejournalinitstitle.

Forexample:ReCALLnotRECALLorKnowledgeManagementResearch&PracticenotKnowledgeManagement
ResearchandPractice.

Capitalizeallmajorwordsinjournaltitles.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/ 1/2
8/20/2016 PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

Whenreferringtobooks,chapters,articles,orWebpages,capitalizeonlythefirstletterofthefirstwordofatitleand
subtitle,thefirstwordafteracolonoradashinthetitle,andpropernouns.Donotcapitalizethefirstletterofthesecond
wordinahyphenatedcompoundword.

Italicizetitlesoflongerworkssuchasbooksandjournals.

Donotitalicize,underline,orputquotesaroundthetitlesofshorterworkssuchasjournalarticlesoressaysinedited
collections.

Pleasenote:WhiletheAPAmanualprovidesmanyexamplesofhowtocitecommontypesofsources,itdoesnotprovide
rulesonhowtocitealltypesofsources.Therefore,ifyouhaveasourcethatAPAdoesnotinclude,APAsuggeststhatyou
findtheexamplethatismostsimilartoyoursourceandusethatformat.Formoreinformation,seepage193ofthe

PublicationManualoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2nd printing).

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/ 2/2