Setting up the APA Reference Page | Formatting & References
On the APA reference page, you list all the sources that you’ve cited in your paper. The list starts on a new page right after the body text.
Follow these instructions to set up your APA reference page:
- Place the section label “References” in bold at the top of the page (centered).
- Order the references alphabetically.
- Double-space all text.
- Apply a hanging indent of 0.5 inches.
Setting up the APA reference page
APA alphabetization guidelines
References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).
Word processors like Word or Google Docs and citation generators can usually order the reference list automatically. However, ordering becomes challenging when citing multiple works by the same author or works by authors with the same last name.
Our in-depth article on ordering references in APA Style explains what to do in these situations.
Which sources to include on the reference page
Only include references for sources cited in the body text (with an in-text citation). Don’t include references for:
- Sources that you only consulted;
- Personal communications (e.g., emails or phone calls);
- General mentions of websites or periodicals;
- Common knowledge.
Annotated bibliography
For some student papers, it’s common to describe or evaluate the source in an annotation. These annotations are placed on a new line below the corresponding reference entry. The entire annotation is indented 0.5 inches.
If an annotation consists of multiple paragraphs, the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs is indented an additional 0.5 inches.
Creating APA references
The format of an APA reference differs depending on the source type. Play around with the options in the Scribbr Example Generator to get familiar with APA Style.
Scribbr Citation Generator
With Scribbr’s free APA citation generator you can easily cite your sources according to the new 7th edition guidelines. It’s accurate, fast, and easy to use. Give it a try!
APA citation examples
Check out Scribbr’s citation examples to learn more about citing each type of source, ranging from books and journals to podcasts and tweets!
Periodicals
Reports and gray literature
Books and reference works
Audiovisual works
14 comments
Kevin Patrick Donnelly
December 23, 2021 at 12:43 PMI am taking a quote the author used from another author. How do I cite that if the quote is not from the original author?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
December 29, 2021 at 3:26 PMHi Kevin,
Ideally, you should find the source that the author is quoting and cite that source—it’s always best to track down the original source. However, if for any reason you can’t access the original source, you can follow the advice here to clarify in your in-text citation that you’re citing the source indirectly.
James
September 26, 2021 at 8:47 PMI can't seem to find a guide for music or lyrics. It seems way more common than some of the other media there are rules for. Would this be the best way format?
Bowie, D. (1971). Changes. [italics:]Hunky Dory. RCA.
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
September 27, 2021 at 1:26 PMHi James,
APA recommends this format to cite a song—similar to your suggestion, but with the label "Song" added in square brackets and the word "On" before the album title:
Bowie, D. (1971). Changes [Song]. On Hunky Dory. RCA.
Elle
May 4, 2021 at 9:53 AMWhat if there is no author in an article, located on a website?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
May 10, 2021 at 3:38 PMHi Elle,
You can read more about what to do in case of missing information here. When no author is listed, you'd usually use the title in place of the author.
Caitlin
March 8, 2021 at 3:37 AMHello, some of the auto generation is putting "Retrieved from:" is that still used in APA7?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
March 9, 2021 at 4:42 PMHi Caitlin,
No, "Retrieved from" is generally not used in APA 7, except in cases where an access date is included. In those cases, the reference entry does read, e.g., "Retrieved March 9, 2021, from …"
If you enter an access date in the Citation Generator, it will be added to your citation in that format; if you don't need the access date, you can just leave that field blank. Alternatively, it could be that you have the generator set to APA 6 by accident. I'd check whether it's one of those things causing the issue.
Hope that helps!
Shirley J Bushong
January 20, 2021 at 2:10 AMHow do I list the Bible in the reference page?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 26, 2021 at 3:47 PMHi Shirley,
We recently added an article covering how to list editions of the Bible on your reference page. Check it out here.
Ron
January 14, 2021 at 6:02 PMI have multiple references for my paper and the list of references is more than one page long. Do I need to force a page break so that it does not occur with in a reference?
Ron K.
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 26, 2021 at 2:36 PMHi Ron,
The APA Manual doesn't specifically recommend anything regarding this, so it's not mandatory, but as long as it doesn't create any large empty spaces on the page, I would say it's a good idea as a way of keeping the presentation neat.
Anthony
December 1, 2020 at 4:59 PMHi, I was reading this over and I was wondering if in APA formatting, for the reference page the accessed date of an article or web page is needed?
Shona McCombes (Scribbr Team)
December 10, 2020 at 7:21 PMHi Anthony,
The 7th edition of APA style recommends including a retrieval date only for sources that are designed to change over time (for example, online dictionary entries or web pages that are regularly updated). In most cases, it's not necessary to include the access date. You can learn more in our guide to dates in APA references.
Hope that helps!