Writing Center
Youngstown State University

Guidelines For References List (APA)

In APA style, the alphabetical list of works cited is called "References." As you prepare your list of references, follow these guidelines:

1. Alphabetize your list of sources by the last name of the author (or editor); if there is no author or editor, alphabetize by the first word of the title other than a, an, or the. Use initials instead of first names. For two or more works by an author, arrange the works by date, most recent first.
2. With two or more authors, use all authors' names rather than "et al." Again, start with the last name and use initials for the first and middle names. Instead of the word "and," use an ampersand (&) and separate the names with commas.
3. The publication date should appear in parentheses directly after the last author's name; put a period after the final parenthesis. If you list two works by the same author published in the same year, assign letters (a, b, c, etc.) to the year (1984a), (1984b).
4. Put the title after the year of publication. Book titles and subtitles should be underlined. Capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns in a title or subtitle.
5. Don't put titles of articles in quotation marks, and, as with a book, only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper nouns are capitalized. Periodical titles are capitalized just as you would normally, and the volume number is underlined.
6. Put the city of publication and the publisher next. The publisher's name may be shortened, as long as it will be easy to recognize, in this example: New York: Harper.
7. Page numbers come next, including p. (or pp. for plurals) should appear only before page numbers of newspaper articles and works in anthologies, not in references to articles from magazines and scholarly journals. In contrast, parenthetical references to specific pages always include p. or pp.—no matter what type of source.
8. Double space each entry. Most instructors prefer hanging indentation, which means that the first line of an entry isn't indented, but every subsequent line in the entry is indented five spaces.

For more information, see

• Guidelines for Parenthetical Citations (APA)
• Sample Entries for References List

E-mail your comments and suggestions to the YSU Grant Team (cardcat@bgnet.bgsu.edu).