APA Referencing Guide: Reference List

Reference List - Introduction

The Reference List is a detailed list of all of the sources that you have cited in your text.  The list should be placed at the back of your assignment. The details provided with each entry will enable the readers of your assignment to be able to locate your original sources should they wish. For example, Reference List entries will include the names of publishers for printed work, and web site addresses for online sources.

The APA style does not generally support the use of a Bibliography (see Introduction to Referencing), which is sometimes included with academic assignments to acknowledge work that has been used for generally background reading.

Your Reference list should contain contain the details of all of the work that specifically support the ideas, claims, and concepts of your assignment. In general, each work that you cite in your text must also appear in your Reference list, and each entry in your Reference list must also be cited in the main text of your assignment. 

General Format for your Reference list:

• Begin the reference list on a new page after your main text.
• Place the label "References" in bold at the top-centre of the page..
• The entries should be listed in alphabetic order of the Author.
• Double-space the entire reference list (both within and between entries).
• Apply a hanging indent of 0.5 in (12.5 mm). to each reference list entry, meaning that the first line of the reference is flush left and subsequent lines are indented 0.5 in. from the left margin. 
• Use the paragraph-formatting function of your word-processing program to apply the hanging indent.