APA 7 guide

The APA References page, exactly.

The References page lists every source you cite, on a new page at the end of an APA paper: a bold centered title, entries in alphabetical order, double-spaced, with half-inch hanging indents.

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On this page
  1. The page
  2. An example list
  3. Rules students miss
  4. Common mistakes
  5. Questions

Updated

The page

Title
References, bold and centered. “Reference” for a single source (APA 7, 2.12).
Spacing
Double-spaced, no extra lines between entries.
Indent
Half-inch hanging indent.
Order
Alphabetical by the first author’s last name, then by year for the same author (oldest first). A group author is alphabetized by its full name.
Not listed
Personal communications (interviews, emails) and whole websites mentioned in passing.

An example list

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May 15). About sleep. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html

Hershner, S. D., & Chervin, R. D. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature and Science of Sleep, 6, 73–84. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S62907

TED. (2019, June 3). Sleep is your superpower | Matt Walker | TED [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuIMqhT8DM

Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner.

Each entry is made by Format’s formatter. Titles of articles, books and web pages are in sentence case; journal names keep title case.

Rules students miss

  • Up to 20 authors in an entry, with “&” before the last.
  • DOIs as links: https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S62907. No “Retrieved from,” no period after a DOI or URL.
  • Italics: book and report titles, journal names and volume numbers, web page titles. Not article titles.
  • Same author, same year: add a, b, c after the year, ordering by title.
  • No place of publication for books.

Common mistakes

  1. “Bibliography” or “Works Cited”. APA calls it References.
  2. A plain title. APA 7 makes the References title bold.
  3. Title case for article and book titles. Sentence case in the reference list.
  4. Listing interviews you did. Personal communications are cited in the text only.

Questions

Is the APA References page double-spaced?

Yes, with no extra space between entries.

Does References start on a new page?

Yes, after the last page of text and before any tables or appendices.

How do I order two sources by the same author?

By year, oldest first. A one-author entry comes before an entry with more authors that starts with the same name.