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APA style: Reference List

In academic scholarship, researchers have agreed on specific guidelines about how to format their papers and how to cite their sources. This Guide provides an introduction to the APA style.

APA 7th Overview

Prepared by UTA Libraries

Sample Reference list

Formatting Notes:

  1. Double-space all lines. Indent one-half inch after the first line.
  2. Arrange in one alphabetical list by author or by title if author’s name is unavailable.
  3. If you have two or more sources by the same author in the same year, add an a, b, c to the year.
  4. For purposes of alphabetizing, A, An, The, and @ are ignored.

Examples of APA style citations

The American Psychological Association calls the list of the sources you consulted a Reference list.

Note: In your Reference list each citation should be double-spaced and indented after the first line. Please see the Sample Reference list.

Book,

Single Author

Obama, M. L. (2018). Becoming. Crown.

Note: Provide initials for the author's first and middle names (if you can find a middle name).

Book,

Two or more Authors

Helmich, M., & Bunker, K. V. (2018). A legacy in brick and iron. FYA Publications.

Note: Authors should be listed in the order they are listed on the title page. Always start with the last name. List up to 20 authors. Use the symbol & before the last author's name.

Book, electronic

Saltzman, A. (2018). A still quiet place for athletes: mindfulness skills for achieving peak performance and finding flow in sports and life. New Harbinger Publications.

Book,

Translated

Obama, M. L. (2018). Becoming: mi historia. (C. Abreu Fetter, Trans.). Penguin Random House. (2018)

Note: Titles written in sentence style, only the first word and proper names are capitalized.

Chapter in an Edited Book

Reed, K. (2018). The new you. In L. Yaszek (Ed.), The Future is Female!, (123-132). Library of America.

Book,

Later Edition

Guest, K. J. (2018). Essentials of Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for the Global Age (2nd ed.). Norton & Co.

Article in an Online Database

Rauzon, M. J. (2017). Bird’s eye view. Bay Nature, 17(2), 30-48.

Article in Print Magazine

Jack, M. (2019). When the wall came down. Time, 30194(20), 34-40.

Blog post

Farkas, M. G. (2019). My year in books (and podcasts) 2019. Information Wants to Be Free. https://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2019/12/31/my-year-in-books-and-podcasts-2019/ 

Webpage

Mendes-Franco, J. (2021, February 8). Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago as examples of how smaller countries have been responding to COVID-19. Global Voices. https://globalvoices.org/2021/02/08/jamaica-and-trinidad-tobago-as-examples-of-how-smaller-countries-have-been-responding-to-covid-19/

YouTube Video

[ilovetobamom]. (2016, December 28). Dog turns Roomba off [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei5H-wd3BIU.

 

Note: If you can’t find the true name only use the handle in [ ].

Podcast

Gross, T. (Host). (2020, February 13). Amazon and 'The Rise and Reign' of Jeff Bezos [Audio podcast episode]. In Fresh Air. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2020/02/13/805666100/amazon-the-rise-and-reign-of-jeff-bezos.

Tweet

Mars, R. [@romanmars]. (2016, October 10). I think our Wikipedia pages should be updated, crediting @JustinMcElroy and me as the co-inventors of asynchronous podcasting #smartstuff [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/romanmars/status/785568205137817600

Motion Picture on Streaming Platform

Burtynsky, E., Baichwal, J., & Pencier, N. (Directors). (2019). Anthropocene: the human epoch [Film]. Kino Lorber. 

 

Adapted with permission from UWF

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