APA Reference Lists

Reference Lists

• Displayed at the end of APA papers
• Lists all cited references
• Most sources follow simple rules
• Academic journals have specific rules

Basic Rules for Most Sources

• Sequence should be: Who, When, What, Where, with some exceptions
• Author names are inverted; list last name, then initials
• For work with up to 20 authors, list all names separated by commas, with an ampersand (&) before the last author
• Work with >21 authors: use an ellipsis after the 19th author, before adding the last author's name
• Reference list entries are alphabetized by the author's last name
• Multiple articles by the same author are listed chronologically
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of titles/subtitles for books, chapters, articles, reports, and webpages, as well as the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns
• Italicize titles of longer works (books, edited collection, newspapers); do not italicize, underline, or quote shorter works (chapters, essays); underline the titles if handwriting the title
• Hanging indent: Every line after the first line of each entry, should be indented one half inch from the left margin

Basic Rules for Articles in Academic Journals

• Special rules apply to academic journals
• Journal titles are presented in full and italicized
• Capitalize all major words in journal titles and do not italicize/underline the article title

Author/Authors

• Rules apply to handling works by a single/multiple authors, regardless of the work type

Single Author

• List the last name first, followed by the author initials
• Example: Brown, E. (2013). Comedy and the feminine middlebrow novel. Pickering & Chatto.

Two Authors

• List by last names and initials separated by a comma with an ampersand before the last name
• Example: Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2017). The next big five inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 117-143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096

Three to Twenty Authors

• List by last names and initials separated by commas, adding an ampersand before the last author
• Example: Nguyen, T., Carnevale, J. J., Scholer, A. A., Miele, D. B., & Fujita, K. (2019). Metamotivational knowledge of the role of high-level and low-level construal in goal-relevant task performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(5), 879-899. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000166

More Than Twenty Authors

• List by last names and initials separated by commas. After the first 19 author’s names, use an ellipsis in place of the remaining author names. Then, end with the final author's name (omit the ampersand)
• Limit citations to twenty names in total
• Example: Pegion, K., Kirtman, B. P., Becker, E., Collins, D. C., LaJoie, E., Burgman, R., Bell, R., DelSole, R., Min, D., Zhu, Y., Li, W., Sinsky, E., Guan, H., Gottschalck, J., Metzger, E. J., Barton, N. P., Achuthavarier, D., Marshak, J., Koster, R.,... Kim, H. (2019). The subseasonal experiment (SubX): A multimodel subseasonal prediction experiment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100(10), 2043-2061. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0270.1

Group Author

• Group authors includes corporations, government agencies, and organizations when publishing works individually or in coordination with individuals
• Treat the publishing organization as the author's name with standard formatting
• Include the full name of the group author in the reference list; abbreviations are okay in the text
• Entries in reference works (dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias) without credited authors are considered works with group authors
• Example: Merriam-Webster. (2008). Braggadocio. In Merriam-Webster’s Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
• When a work has multiple layers of group authorship, list the most specific agency as the author and the parent agency as the publisher
• Example: Bureau of International Organization Affairs. (2018). U.S. contributions to international organizations, 2017 [Annual report]. U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/u-s-contributions-to-international organizations/

Unknown Author

• If a work lacks an author, move the work's title to the beginning of the reference, followed by the publication date
• Use "Anonymous" if the author signed the work as such
• Example: Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2003). Merriam-Webster.

Two or More Works by the Same Author

• Use the author's name for every entry
• List the entries by year, with the earliest listed first; list undated references before dated references
• Example:
• Urcuioli, P. J. (n.d.).
• Urcuioli, P. J. (2011).
• Urcuioli, P. J. (2015).
• When an author is a sole author and the first author of a group, list the one-author entries first
• Example:
• Agnew, C. R. (Ed.). (2014). Social influences on romantic relationships: Beyond the dyad. Cambridge University Press.
• Agnew, C. R., & South, S. C. (Eds.). (2014). Interpersonal relationships and health: Social and clinical psychological mechanisms. Oxford University Press.
• Arrange references with the same first author, but different second or third authors 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
• Example:
• Arriaga, X. B., Capezza, N. M., Reed, J. T., Wesselman, E. D., & Williams, K. D. (2014). With partners like you, who needs strangers?: Ostracism involving a romantic partner. Personal Relationships, 21(4), 557-569.
• Arriaga, X. B., Kumashiro, M., Finkel, E. J., VanderDrift, L. E., & Luchies, L. B. (2014). Filling the void: Bolstering attachment security in committed relationships. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(4), 398-405.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

• If there are multiple references by the same author in the same year, check for more specific dates
• List works with only a year before more specific dates, and specific dates are listed chronologically
• Organize works with the same publication date alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter
• If references are in a series, list them in order of placement in the series, followed by assigning letter suffixes to the year
• Refer to assigned sources as they appear in your reference list (e.g., "Berndt (2004a) makes similar claims...")
• Example:
• Berndt, T. J. (2004a). Children’s friendships: Shifts over a half-century in perspectives on their development and their effects. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 50(3), 206-223.
• Berndt, T. J. (2004b). Friendship and three A’s (aggression, adjustment, and attachment). Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88(1), 1-4.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords

• Cite the publishing information about a book as usual, but cite Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword as the chapter of the book
• Example: Lang, J. M. (2018). Introduction. In G. Dujardin, J. M. Lang, & J. A. Staunton (Eds.), Teaching the literature survey course (pp. 1-8). West Virginia University Press.

Articles in Periodicals

• Includes a list of the most cited periodical sources

Basic Form for Articles in Periodicals

• List authors by last name, followed by initials; put publication year in parentheses, followed by a period
• Article titles are in sentence-case, only capitalizing the first word and proper nouns
• Run the periodical title in title case and italicize it along with the volume number
• Include the DOI after the page numbers; if no DOI was assigned and you accessed the periodical online, use the URL
• Format: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Article in Print Journal

• Example: Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5–13.
• APA 7 advises including a DOI if available, disregarding the print source; the example assumes no DOI is available

Article in Electronic Journal

• As noted above, include a DOI if one is associated with the article
• Example: Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 6(1), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979
• Use a URL if DOIs are unavailable; academic journals provide stable URLs that function as DOIs, which are better than URLs from the browser's address bar
• Example: Lehmann, W. (2009). University as vocational education: Working-class students’ expectations for university. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(2), 137-149. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40375414

Article in a Magazine

• Example: Peterzell, J. (1990, April). Better late than never. Time, 135(17), 20–21.
• Start with the title if there is no author
• Example: Better late than never. (1990, April). Time, 135(17), 20–21.

Article in a Newspaper

• Example: Schultz, S. (2005, December). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, 1A.
• Start with the title, if there is no author
• Example: Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. (2005, December). The Country Today, 1A.

Review

• Reviewer’sLastname, F. (Year). Title of review [Review of media Title of media, by F. Author’sLastname]. Title of publication, volumenumber(issuenumber), pages.
• Example: Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A hero under control, by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology, 38(5), 466–467.
• Example for Website: Bell, M. S. (2006, December 31). Are you my mother? [Review of the book Let the northern lights erase your name, by V. Vida]. The New York Times Book Review, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/books/review/Bell.t.html?ref=review
• Example: Reviewer’sLastname, F. (Year). Title of review [Review of the film Name of film, by F. Director’sLastname, Dir.]. Title of publication, volumenumber(issuenumber), pages.
• Schickel, R. (2006). The power of Babel [Review of the film Babel, by A. G. Inaritu, Dir.]. Time, 168(18), 70.
• If the review is from an online source, simply provide the URL

Books

• Below is a list of the most cited books in print, where e-books are described in the Electronic Sources section

Basic Format for Books

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name.
• Example: Stoneman, R. (2008). Alexander the Great: A life in legend. Yale University Press.

Edited Book, No Author

• Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
• Example: Leitch, M. G. & Rushton, C. J. (Eds.). (2019). A new companion to Malory. D. S. Brewer.

Edited Book with an Author or Authors

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (E. Editor, Ed.). Publisher.
• Example: Malory, T. (2017). Le morte darthur (P. J. C. Field, Ed.). D. S. Brewer. (Original work published 1469-70)

Translation

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (T. Translator, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published YEAR)
• Example: Jonasson, J. (2015). Hitman Anders and the meaning of it all (R. Willson, Trans.). Harper Collins. (Original work published 2014)

Edition Other Than the First

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (# edition). Publisher.
• Example: Belcher, W. (2019). Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher.
• Use "pp." before listing page numbers, such as (pp. 1-21); separate an edition number with a comma: (2nd ed., pp. 66-72)
• Example: Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory (2nd ed., pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

Multivolume Work

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (Vol. #). Publisher.
• Example: David, A., & Simpson, J. (Eds.). (2006). The Norton anthology of English literature: The Middle Ages (Vol. 8). W. W. Norton and Company.

Other Print Sources

• Below are highly uncommon print sources

Entry in a Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia with a Group Author

• Institution or organization name. (Year). Title of entry. In Title of reference work (edition, page numbers). Publisher name.
• Example: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. (1997). Goat. In Merriam Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed., pp. 499-500). Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

Entry in a Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia with an Individual Author

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of entry. In F. M. Lastname (Ed.), Title of reference work (edition, page numbers). Publisher.
• Example: Tatum, S. R. (2009). Spirituality and religion in hip hop literature and culture. In T. L. Stanley (Ed.), Encyclopedia of hip-hop literature (pp. 250-252). Greenwood.

Dissertation Abstract

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of dissertation. Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol., Page.
• Example: Angeli, E. L. (2012). Networks of communication in emergency medical services. Dissertation Abstracts International, 74, 03(E).

Dissertation or Master’s Thesis, Published

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of dissertation/thesis (Publication No.) [Doctoral dissertation/Master’s thesis, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree]. Database or Archive Name.
• Example: Angeli, E. L. (2012). Networks of communication in emergency medical services (Publication No. 3544643) [Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
• Include the URL if not in a database

Dissertation or Master’s Thesis, Unpublished

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of dissertation/thesis [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. Name of Institution Awarding the Degree.
• Example: Samson, J. M. (2016). Human trafficking and globalization [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Report by a Government Agency or Other Organization

• Organization Name. (Year). Title of report. URL.
• Example: United States Government Accountability Office. (2019). Performance and accountability report: Fiscal year 2019. https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702715.pdf

Report by Individual Authors at Government Agency or Other Organization

• Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of report. Organization Name. URL.
• Example: Palanker, D., Volk, J., Lucia, K., & Thomas, K. (2018). Mental health parity at risk: Deregulating the individual market and the impact on mental health coverage. National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/AboutNAMI/Publications-Reports/Public-Policy-Reports/Parityat-Risk/ParityatRisk.pdf

Conference Proceedings

• Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Eds.). (Year). Title of Proceedings. Publisher. URL (if applicable)
• Example: Huang, S., Pierce, R., & Stamey, J. (Eds.). (2006). Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM international conference on the design of communication. ACM Digital Library. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1166324&picked=prox

Electronic Sources

• Include the publishing year, month, and date; If not available, use the year of publication
• The latest style guide no longer requires the use of “Retrieved from” before URLs

Webpage or Piece of Online Content

• If an individual author is named, cite their name first and include the URL.
• Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL
• Example: Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist. Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01
• For content from a group/organization, list the group/organization as the author; if the author and site name are the same, omit the site name
• Group Name. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL
• Example: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (2019, November 21). Justice served: Case closed for over 40 dogfighting victims. https://www.aspca.org/news/justice-served-case-closed-over-40-dogfighting-victims
• If the page's author isn't listed, use the title, adding a retrieval date if the page's content may change over time, like when citing a publicly edited wiki.
• Title of page. (Year, Month Date). Site Name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL
• Example of a publicly edited wiki: Tuscan white bean pasta. (2018, February 25). Budgetbytes. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.budgetbytes.com/tuscan-white-bean-pasta/
• Use the abbreviation (n.d.) when a publication date is absent
• Author or Group name. (n.d.). Title of page. Site name (if applicable). URL
• Example: National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Mental health conditions. https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/MentalHealth-Conditions

Wikipedia Article

• Title of article. (Year, Month Date). In Wikipedia. URL of archived version of page
• Example: Quantum mechanics. (2019, November 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quantum_mechanics&oldid=948476810
• Indicate the date the page was published by using the version you have cited is archived rather than the current version of the page

Newspaper Article

• Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Publication. URL
• Example:Title of article. Title of Publication. URLCh. (2019, December 9). Best music of 2019: Lana Del Rey sings lullabies about the end of America. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/bestmusic-of-2019-lana-del-rey-sings-lullabies-about-the-endof-america/2019/12/06/6e82c5ec-15d8-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html

Electronic or Kindle Books

• No need to indicate an e-book or audiobook was used if the content is the same as the physical book
• Differentiate between the e-book/audiobook and the print version if the content is different/abridged, or if you want to cite the narrator
• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of book. Publisher. URL
• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of book [eBook edition]. Publisher. URL
• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of book (N. Narrator, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Publisher. URL (if applicable)

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of dissertation or thesis (Publication No.) [Doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis, Name of Institution Awarding Degree]. Database Name.
• Example: Duis, J. M. (2008). Acid/base chemistry and related organic chemistry conceptions of undergraduate organic chemistry students. (Publication No. 3348786) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Colorado]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Entry in an Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia with a Group Author

• Online dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias may be updated continuously; if there is no publication, use "n.d.", plus the date of retrieval date in the citation.
• Institution or organization name. (Year). Title of entry. In Title of reference work. URL
• Example: Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Braggadocio. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 13, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/braggadocio

Entry in an Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia with an Individual Author

• Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of entry. In F. M. Lastname (ed.), Title of reference work (edition). Publisher. URL or DOI
• Example: Martin, M. (2018). Animals. In L. A. Schintler & C. L. McNeely (Eds), Encyclopedia of big data. SpringerLink. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_7-1 <
• Skip the edition if it is not there

Data Sets

• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group (Year). Title of dataset (Version No.) [Data set]. Publisher. DOI or URL
• Grantmakers in the Arts. (2019). Arts funding trends, United States, 1994-present (ICPSR 37337) [Data set]. National Archive of Data on Arts & Culture. https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NADAC/studies/37337

Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps, Infographics, and Others)

• List the name/organization, date, and title; if no title, explain the form of the data and include retrieval date without a publication date
• HatchMed. (2017). 8 ways to improve patient satisfaction [Infographic]. HatchMed.com. https://www.hatchmed.com/blog/2017/1/30/8-ways-to improve-patient-satisfaction
• Google. (n.d.). [Google Map of Purdue University]. Retrieved January 12, 2020, from https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4237095,-86.9233886,17z

Qualitative Data and Online Interviews

• For a published interview transcript, follow the same citation guidelines as the hosting periodical
• Schulman, M. (2019, December 8). Peter Dinklage is still punk rock. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker interview/peter-dinklage-is-still-punk-rock
• If the interview is transcribed/published as an audio file, cite the interviewee as the author
• Paynter, W. (1970, September 17). Interview with Will Paynter [Interview]. Studs Terkel Radio Archive. https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/interview-will paynter

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

• Include the file format in brackets after the title e.g. PDF etc
• Author, Date, Title of note including format, Publisher URL
• Smith, C. (2017, October 13). AI and machine learning demystified [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/carologic/ai-and-machine learning-demystified-by-carol-smith-at-midwest-ux-2017

Computer Software/Downloaded Software

• Do not cite standard office software (Word, Excel) or programming languages
• Use with specialized software
• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (Year). Title of software (Version No.). Publisher. URL
• Example: Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (Year). Title of software (Version No.). Publisher. URL Maplesoft. (2019). Maple companion (Version 2.1.0). Cybernet Systems Co. https://www.maplesoft.com/products/MapleCompanion/

Email

• Emails are not included in the list of references
• Cited parenthetically when used as support

Online Forum or Discussion Posting

• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [username]. (Year, Month Date). Title of post [Online forum post]. Publisher. URL
• Stine, R. L. [RL__Stine]. (2013, October 23). I’m R.L. Stine and it’s my job to terrify kids. Ask me anything! [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1p32dl/
• If no real name provided, use only the given username

Tweet

• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Tweet]. Site Name. URL
• Obama, B. [@BarackObama]. (2020, April 14). Dreamers have contributed so much to our country, and they are risking their lives fighting on the frontlines of this pandemic… [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1249759749102546946 Include images, videos, source information, emojis in brackets after tweet

Twitter Profile

• Author [@username]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL
• MLA Style [@mlastyle]. (n.d.).* Tweets [Twitter profile]*. Retrieved January 12, 2020, from https://twitter.com/mlastyle

Facebook Post

• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL
• U.S. Department of the Interior. (2020, January 10). Like frosting on a cake, snow coats and clings to the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/USInterior/photos/a.155163054537384/2586475451406120/?type=3&theater Indicate whether images, videos are included

FaceBook Page

• Author. (n.d.). Title [Facebook page]. Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL
• Little River Canyon National Preserve (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2020 from Home [Facebook page]. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lirinps/

Instagram Photo or Video

• Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL
• Name can be actual/group name
• Date, content, and site name info is needed
• BBC [@bbc]. (2020, January 12). Skywatchers have been treated to the first full moon of 2020-known as a “wolf moon”-at the same time as a [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7OkWqbBwcf/

Blog Post

• Auth, date, title, publisher, and URL are needed to cite
• Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of post. Publisher. URL
• Axelrod, A. (2019, August 11). A century later: The Treaty of Versailles and its rejection of racial equality. Code Switch, NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/08/11/742293305/a-century-later-the-treaty-of-versailles-and-its rejection-of-racial-equality

YouTube or other Streaming Video

• Credited by author
• Last Name Username Month Date, Title video
• Lushi, K. [Korab Lushi]. (2016, July 3). Albatross culture 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMrJRQDPjk&t=148s

TED Talk

• Includes the author, title and URL
• Author, A. (Year, Month date). Title of video

Audiovisual Media

• Media containing both audio and visuals

Film or Video

• Director, publication date, etc
• Director. (Date of publication). Title of motion company

Film or Video in Another Language

• Same as basic Film with original translation
• Director. Title publication, company

TV Series

• Exec Producer(s), range of date, and title
• Executive Producer
• Production Company P P (Executive Producers) (2017-present). The marvelous Mrs. Maisel

TV Series Episode

• Writer is also included
• Writer, Original airdate, Title(Season/Episde)

Music Album

• Recording artist, Year released, Title, record label artist
• National, 2019, Label

Single Song or Track

• Artist, Record Company, Album
• Dacus L, 2018 Label

Podcast

• Exec Producer, Publisher, URL, Publish Date
• Executive Producer