The purpose of this video is to demonstrate how to construct a reference list using APA formatting.
The reference list must always start at the top of a new page. The word "references" is centered at the top of this page. It is not bolded.
To begin your reference list use a page break. At the end of your essay, type the word "References" below your conclusion.
Place your cursor before this word. Go to the insert tab and click on "page break." or
Go to the page layout tab, click on "breaks" then select the "page" break.
Do not select the section break as you want your header to continue.
Using a page break will ensure that your reference list formatting is not compromised by a change in the length of your paper.
The reference list must be double spaced, following the same guidelines as described in the video about basic APA formatting.
Hanging indents are used for all reference list entries. To set your hanging indent, go to the home tab, in the paragraph group click here to
bring up the dialogue box. Under "indentation" go to "special" and select "hanging."
Ensure the hanging indent is set to half an inch.
Each entry will contain the necessary information to allow the reader to find your source in a library search.
These references generally contain the following information: author, year of publication, title and publication data.
The most common form of entry you will use is a journal reference. This entry contains author information followed by the year of publication,
title of the article, name of the journal, volume and issue numbers as well as the page numbers and digital object identifier number.
Author's names should be listed by surnames and initials. Put the last names of authors first followed by the initials.
Do not include middle or first names. Separate authors with commas.
Remember the ampersand (&) when there is more than one author. Remember the comma before the ampersand (&).
Authors must be listed in the order that they appear on the journal article. Ordering of names represents contributions to the article and should
not be changed. Once you have listed the authors, place the year of publication in parentheses.
Do not include a comma before the year. Remember the period after the year, which belongs outside of the parentheses.
If there is no date place "n.d." in parentheses.
Next, copy the title of your article. Capitalise only the first word in titles and subtitles as well as any proper nouns.
If you are using software to aid in compiling your reference list, note that this is one area where mistakes are often made.
Do not italicize the title or place quotation marks around it.
For journal articles, be sure to italicize the journal name and volume number. Use a comma, not any other punctuation after the journal name.
Italicise the volume, but do not write "Vol." before the volume number.
If available, include the issue number in brackets directly after the volume. Do not include a space between the volume and issue.
Do not italicise the issue. Put the issue in brackets, but do not write "Iss." before the issue number.
Place a comma outside of the parentheses. Include start and end page for entries. Do not italicize the page numbers.
End all entries with a period.
Lastly, include the digital object identifier number (DOI) after the page numbers if available.
Note that the DOI is different from the ISSN number. You may not be given the DOI within the database where you found the article.
Go to http://www.crossref.org to look up the DOI. You can also Google "free DOI lookup" to find this website.
If there is no DOI, provide the homepage URL for the journal. Do not include a retrieval date. Do not include the name of the database where you
found your article. Note that if you are copying your citation from the examples provided within a database
you may need to remove this component. Test all URLs before handing in your paper.
Use of books within essays as a reference is generally discouraged as articles provide more current information.
However, if a book is used place the author and year of publication information at the beginning of your entry in the same way as you would for a
journal article. The title of the book is then italicised.
The location of publication should consist of the city and state if published in the United States.
If the book was published outside of the United States, give the city and country.
If there more than one publication location is given, list the home office or first entry.
Separate the location and publisher information with a colon.
Give the publisher information in a brief a form as possible. Do not abbreviate names of associations or corporations.
Omit terms such as "publishers," "Co.," and "Inc." Retain the words "Books" and "Press."
If the author and publisher information is the same, use "author" to indicate the publisher. Finish the element with a period.
Note that there are alternate forms of referencing chapters or parts of an edited book. Be sure to use the correct form of citation.
Occasionally you may also need to cite a credible website. Be careful when using websites as sources.
To reference this type of work list the author, year, and title as you would in a book entry. Then type "Retrieved from" and insert the website link.
Do not italicise, underline or use blue font for this component of the entry. Do not add a period after the end of the URL.
The reference list is alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work. Remember, do not alphabetize the names of authors within a
work. Please see the APA book for more information about alphabetization rules. Here are a couple of rules you need to be aware of
If the author is a group, alphabetize using the first significant work in the name. Use the group’s full names not the abbreviations in the reference list.
If the work is signed as "anonymous" begin the work with the word "anonymous" spelled out.
However, if the work is not signed as "anonymous" and there are no authors for the source,
move the title to the author’s position and alphabetize.
Use the automatic sorting function in the paragraph group on the home tab to do an initial sort.
Sort by paragraphs, using text in an ascending manner. Be sure to check the list afterwards for accuracy given APA rules.
For example, word will place the following two names in this order, whereas the APA book states that nothing precedes something.
Therefore "Killam" should come before "Killam-Carson."
Be sure to check that your reference list is complete and matches your citations. There should be no missing or extra entries.
Only include entries for works that you have cited within the body of your paper.
Note that there are many tools such as RefWorks, database examples of citations and functions within Word and other programs to aid
in compiling your reference list. It is your responsibility to ensure the accuracy of your references.
There are often mistakes made within these tools as they are only as good as the data entered within them.
If you choose to use one of these tools, be sure to check your reference list thoroughly afterwards.