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Dr. Karen Palmer

APA: References Page

In an APA paper, the sources used in the paper are listed on the References page in alphabetical order. APA Style offers sample student and professional papers, including a free annotated student sample paper.

Here’s a video showing how to format a Reference List:

Unlike MLA, which uses the same basic format for every type of source, the formatting in APA style changes for each type of source. One thing that stays the same is that the author is followed by the date. Here are some sample citations:

Source Type Example Citation
Book Gleick, J. (1988). Chaos: Making a new science. Penguin Books.

 

Short Story/Article from a Book Cisneros, S. (2016). Eleven. In F. Madden (Ed.), Exploring literature: Writing and arguing about fiction, poetry, drama, and the essay (pp. 26-28), Longman.

 

Article from a Magazine Sanders, S. R. (1989, November). Under the influence: Paying the price of my father’s booze. Harper’s, 68-75.

 

Article from a Database Weeks, Lewis E.,, Jr. (1980). Hemingway hills: Symbolism in ‘Hills like white elephants’ . Studies in Short Fiction, 17(1), 75-76.

 

Page on a Website Owl and Mouse Educational Software. (2000). Castles in medieval times.  http://www.yourchildlearns.com/castle_history.htm

 

Article/Blog Post on a Website Morin, A. (18, January 2019). Mom am I fat?: Helping your teen have a positive body image. Very Well Family. www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image

Piercy, M. (2011). Barbie doll. Poem Hunter. https://poemhunter.com/poem/barbie-doll/

 

A Film Lucas. G. (Director). (1980). The empire strikes back. [Film]. Twentieth Century Fox.

 

YouTube Video McGonigal, J. [Big Think]. (2012, July 3). Gaming and productivity [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3

 

Yelp/Social Media Posts B., Elizabeth. [B. Elizabeth]. (2016, October 4). Olsen’s grain. [Review]. Yelp. https://www.yelp.com/biz/olsens-grain-prescott?hrid=HjFTGmfTuS6rvsmVpTNZfQ&utm_campaign=www_review_share_ popup&utm_medium =copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

 

Click Here for a great guide for APA citation creation.

Sample References Page

The formatting for an APA References page is almost identical to a Works Cited page in MLA. Sources should be listed alphabetically with a hanging indent. This means that the first line of the citation is flush to the left margin, and all additional lines are indented. Citations will look like reverse paragraphs. This formatting helps readers find the reference source more easily. The only difference is the heading at the top of the page should be References. Here is a sample APA References page:

Sample APA reference list
Image of a screenshot of a sample paper licensed CC BY.

Tips:

  1. Use the “Insert page” feature to make sure the References page is on its own page at the end of your document. Put your cursor at the end of your paper, then insert a new page. Start typing your References page on the new page.
  2. Center the heading References at the top of the page. Do NOT use any special formatting for the heading.
  3. The entire page should be double spaced, just like the rest of your paper.
  4. Sources should be in alphabetical order.
  5. Sources should use a Hanging Indent.

Attribution

  • Content created by Dr. Karen Palmer and licensed CC BY NC SA.

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The RoughWriter's Guide Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Karen Palmer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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