Guidelines to APA Style: Elements of reference list entries

• What is a reference list?
• Order of references
• Standard elements of source reference
• Who? - Author
• When? - Publication date
• What? - Title
• Where? - Source
• Tips on missing data

A reference list, also called a source list or bibliography, contains all resources (excluding personal communications) cited in the text.

How to make a reference list?

• Place all sources in alphabetical order, regardless of the type of source or material
• Only sources cited in the text are included in the source list
• Begin a reference list as a new chapter, after the main text and before any appendix(es)
• Descriptions of sources show all the information necessary for the reader to identify the source and refer to it himself
• Indent source listings that are longer than one line from the second line.
   

• Arrange references alphabetically by last name of (first) author, followed by initials.
• Alphabetize character by character. Keep in mind: 'nothing comes before something': Brown, J. R. precedes Browning, A. R..
• Also, names with fixed prefixes such as M', Mc and Mac are alphabetized by letter: MacArthur precedes McAllister, MacNeil precedes M'Carthy.
• Alphabetize surnames with prefix (such as: van, de, van de(r), von) by the prefix: 'Van der Linden', 'De Vries'.
• The following rules apply to the ordering of works by the same (first) author:
• Publications by the same author are ordered by year of publication (the oldest work is listed first).
• For works with the same first author, works with one author precede works with multiple authors. Works with the same first and second author and a different third author are ordered by the name of the third author, and so on.
• Works by the same authors in the same order are ordered by year (the oldest work is listed first).
• Works by the same author (or by the same two or more authors in the same order) with the same publication date are ordered alphabetically by the first word of the title (excluding participles). Then add lowercase letters - a, b, c, etc. - to the year, both in the text and in reference list.
   

The description of a resource is made up of a number of fixed components that can be found by asking:

      

Each of these components ends with a period (.), except for a URL or a DOI.

• Last Name

List the last name of the author first, followed by the initial(s). Use comma’s to separate an author’s surname and initials.

 

• First name with a dash (hyphen)

For a first name with a hyphen, the hyphen replaces the space, Marie-José becomes:

 

• Prefixes

Write prefixes in surnames exactly as presented by the author in the work you are citing.

 

• 1 to 20 authors

If the work has up to 20 authors, then all of them are listed in the source reference. Put an ampersand (&) before the last author of a work, preceded by a comma.

 

• 21 or more authors

When there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (three dots separated by a space) but no ampersand, and then add the final author’s name.

 

• Group or organization as author

Use the full name of groups and organizations, followed by a period. When the group author is part of a larger organization, mention the larger entity first.

 

• Unknown author or organization

For a publication whose author is unknown, move the title to the author's position.

When referencing in the text, list the title in italics. A long title may be shortened for the in-text citation. If the title is not italicized in the reference list, use double quotation marks. See also Reference work for examples.

 

After the author's name, mention the year of publication in parenthesis.

• Newspapers and magazines

For magazines, newspapers and newsletters, specify year/month or year/month/day in the reference list, depending on the frequency with which the periodical appears. For an in-text citation, only list the year.

 

• No date

If the publication date is not known, use (n.d.) = 'no date'

 

The format of a title varies by type of source.

Works that stand alone
Books, reports, gray literature, dissertations and theses, informally published works, data sets, videos, films, TV series, albums, podcasts, social media, and works on websites.
The title of that work appears in the title element of the reference. The entire title and subtitle are in italics.

 

Works that are part of a multi-part work 
Periodical articles, edited book chapters, TV and podcast episodes, and songs).
The title of the article or chapter appears in the title element of the reference and the title of the greater whole (the journal or edited book) appears in the source element. Capitalize using sentence case, but do not italicize the title of a part. Only the title and any subtitle of the entire work are in italics.

• Book chapter

 

• Journal article

 

Additional information in brackets en parentheses

• Edition 
  List the edition after the title, in parentheses (not italics). Note the number, '2nd edition' instead of 'second edition'. The first edition is never listed.

 

• Form
  After the title, provide any form-specific information that is important for identifying and retrieving the work. Capitalize only the first word, and use brackets.

 

The source indicates where readers can retrieve the cited work. The type of source, print or digital, determines which publication information must be included.

• Printed book or report
  For paper books, the finding place is the publisher. The name of the publisher is reproduced as stated in the work. Additions about the publisher's legal form, e.g. Ltd. or Inc. are not mentioned.

 

• Ebooks
  For digital books, the DOI or retrieval date and URL are also mentioned.

 

• Webpage
  For web pages, list the website name after the title, not in italics, followed by the retrieval date and URL. Omit the website name if it is the same as the organization's name (author).

 

• Journal and newspaper article
  For journal, magazine and newspaper articles, the volume, issue number, and pages are listed. If the article is found online also the DOI or URL are also listed

 

In a source citation, you include the information that is given in the original publication. Usually you will find all data on the title or copyright page, but sometimes you have to browse or search a little further.

If data are missing in the original publication you can often find them in the context or derive them (for example, the website of the organization or publisher). If you cannot find the missing data there either, you may leave out the missing information. Note that this sometimes changes the format of the source citation.

Missing element	Solution	Template
		Reference list entry	In-text citation
Author/Organization	Provide the titel, publication date, and source.	Title. (date). Source.	(Title, year) Title (year)
Publication date	Provide the author, write (n.d.) for "no date", and then the title and source.	Author. (n.d.) Title. Source.	(Author, n.d.) Author (n.d.)
Title	Provide the author and date, describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source.	Author. (date). [Description of work]. Source.	(Author, year) Author (year)
Author and publication date	Provide the title, write (n.d.) for “no date,” and then provide the source.	Title. (n.d.). Source.	(Title, n.d.) Title (n.d.)
Author and title	Describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the date and source.	[Description of work]. (date). Source.	([Description of work], year) [Description of work] (year)
Publication date and title	Provide the author, write (n.d.) for “no date,” describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source.	Author. (n.d.). [Description of work]. Source.	(Author, n.d.) Author (n.d.)
Author, publication date, and title	Describe the work in square brackets, write (n.d.) for “no date,” and then provide the source.	[Description of work]. (n.d.). Source.	([Description of work], n.d.) [Description of work] (n.d.)
Source	Cite as a personal communication or find another work to cite	No reference list entry	(A. Communicator, personal communication, month day, year) A. Communicator (personal communication, month day, year)