Creating a List of References
Directory to Reference-List Models
Author Listings
One author
More than one author
Unknown author
Corporation, organization, or government agency as author
Two or more works by the same author
Books (Print, Electronic)
Basic format for a book
Author and editor
Edited collection
Work in an anthology or edited collection
Translation
Dictionary entry or article in another reference book
Introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword
Later edition of a book
Government document
Unpublished doctoral dissertation
Articles (Print, Electronic)
From a scholarly journal
From a newspaper
From a magazine
Editorial or letter to the editor
Review
Multimedia Sources (Print, Electronic)
Television program
Film, video, or DVD
Sound recording
Interview
Other Electronic Sources
Web site
Web page or document on a Web site
Discussion list and newsgroup postings
Blog post
Wiki entry
E-mail message
Computer software
Author Listings
When the list of references includes several works by the same author, the APA provides the following rules for arranging these entries in the list:
- Same-name single-author entries precede multiple-author entries:
Zettelmeyer, F. (2000).
Zettelmeyer, F., Morton, F. S., & Silva-Risso, J. (2006).
- Entries with the same first author and a different second author are alphabetized under the first author according to the second author’s last name:
Dhar, R., & Nowlis, S. M. (2004).
Dhar, R., & Simonson, I. (2003).
- Entries by the same authors are arranged by year of publication, in chronological order:
Golder, P. N., & Tellis, G. J. (2003).
Golder, P. N., & Tellis, G. J. (2004).
- Entries by the same authors with the same publication year should be arranged alphabetically by title (according to the first word after A, An, or The), and lowercase letters (a, b, c, and so on) should be appended to the year in parentheses:
Aaron, P. (1990a). Basic . . .
Aaron, P. (1990b). Elements . . .
One author
Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York, NY: Metropolitan.
More than one author
Saba, L., & Gattis, J. (2002). The McGraw-Hill homeschooling companion. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Hunt, L., Po-Chia Hsia, R., Martin, T. R., Rosenwein, B. H., Rosenwein, H., & Smith, B. G. (2001). The making of the West: Peoples and cultures. Boston, MA: Bedford.
If there are more than seven authors, list only the first six, insert an ellipsis ( . . . ), and add the last author’s name.
Unknown author Begin the entry with the title.
Communities blowing whistle on street basketball. (2003). USA Today, p. 20A.
If an author is designated as “Anonymous,” include the word Anonymous in place of the author, and alphabetize it as “Anonymous” in the reference list.
Anonymous. (2006). Primary colors. New York, NY: Random House.
Corporation, organization, or government agency as author
American Medical Association. (2004). Family medical guide. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Two or more works by the same author
When you cite two or more works by the same author, arrange them in chronological (time) order.
Pinker, S. (2005). So how does the mind work? Mind and Language, 20(1): 1-24. doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00274.x
Pinker, S. (2011). The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. New York, NY: Viking.
When you cite two works by the same author in the same year, alphabetize entries by title and then add a lowercase letter following each year.
Pinker, S. (2005a). Hotheads. New York, NY: Pocket Penguins.
Pinker, S. (2005b). So how does the mind work? Mind and Language, 20(1), 1-24. doi: 10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00274.x
Books (Print, Electronic)
When citing a book, capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper nouns (Dallas, Darwin). Book titles are italicized.
Basic format for a book
If an e-book has been assigned a digital object identifier (or doi)—a combination of numbers and letters assigned by the publisher to identify the work—add that information at the end of the citation.
Author and editor
Arnold, M. (1994). Culture and anarchy (S. Lipman, Ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. (Original work published 1869)
Edited collection
Waldman, D., & Walker, J. (Eds.). (1999). Feminism and documentary. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Work in an anthology or edited collection
Fairbairn-Dunlop, P. (1993). Women and agriculture in western Samoa. In J. H. Momsen & V. Kinnaird (Eds.), Different places, different voices (pp. 211-226). London, England: Routledge.
Translation
Tolstoy, L. (2002). War and peace (C. Garnett, Trans.). New York, NY: Modern Library. (Original work published 1869)
Dictionary entry or article in another reference book
Rowland, R. P. (2001). Myasthenia gravis. In Encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 19, p. 683). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
Introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword
Graff, G., & Phelan, J. Preface (2004). In M. Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (pp. iii-vii). Boston, MA: Bedford.
Later edition of a book
Axelrod, R., & Cooper, C. (2013). The St. Martin’s guide to writing (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford.
Government document
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Trends in underage drinking in the United States, 1991-2007. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Note: when the author and publisher are the same, use the word Author (not italicized) as the name of the publisher.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation
Bullock, B. (1986). Basic needs fulfillment among less developed countries: Social progress over two decades of growth (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.
Articles (Print, Electronic)
For articles, capitalize only the first word of the title, proper nouns (Barclay, Berlin), and the first word following a colon (if any). Omit quotation marks around the titles of articles, but capitalize all the important words of journal, newspaper, and magazine titles, and set them in italics. If you are accessing an article through a database, follow the model for a comparable source.
From a scholarly journal
Include the digital object identifier (or doi) when available. When a doi has not been assigned, include the journal’s URL.
From a newspaper
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| ELECTRONIC | Barboza, D., and LaFraniere, S. (2012, May 17). ‘Princelings’ in China use family ties to gain riches. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com |
From a magazine If a magazine is published weekly or biweekly (every other week), include the full date following the author’s name. If it is published monthly or bimonthly, include just the year and month (or months).
Editorial or letter to the editor
Kosinski, T. (2012, May 15). Who cares what she thinks? [Letter to the editor]. The Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved from http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/letters/12522890-474/who-cares-what-she-thinks.html
Review
If the review is untitled, use the bracketed information as the title, retaining the brackets.
Multimedia Sources (Print or Electronic)
Television program
Film, video, or DVD
Sound recording
| PODCAST | Dubner, S. (2012, May 17). Retirement kills [Audio podcast]. Freakonomics Radio. Retrieved from http://www.freakonomics.com |
| RECORDING |
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Interview Do not list personal interviews in your reference list. Instead, cite the interviewee in your text (last name and initials), and in parentheses give the notation personal communication (in regular type, not italicized) followed by a comma and the date of the interview. For published interviews, use the appropriate format for an article.
Other Electronic Sources
For more information on finding sources, see Chapter 25.
A rule of thumb for citing electronic sources not covered in one of the preceding sections is to include enough information to allow readers to access and retrieve the source. For most online sources, provide as much of the following as you can:
- Name of author
- Date of publication or most recent update (in parentheses; if unavailable, use the abbreviation n.d.)
- Title of document (such as a Web page)
- Title of Web site
- Any special retrieval information, such as a URL; include the date you last accessed the source only when the content is likely to change or be updated (as on a wiki, for example)
Web site The APA does not require an entry in the list of references for entire Web sites. Instead, give the name of the site in your text with its Web address in parentheses.
Web page or document on a Web site
American Cancer Society. (2011, Oct. 10). Child and teen tobacco use. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/TobaccoCancer/ChildandTeenTobaccoUse/child-and-teen-tobacco-use-what-to-do
Heins, M. (2003, January 24). The strange case of Sarah Jones. The Free Expression Policy Project. Retrieved from http://www.fepproject.org/commentaries/sarahjones.html
Discussion list and newsgroup postings Include online postings in your list of references only if you can provide data that would allow others to retrieve the source.
Blog post
Wiki entry Start with the article title and include the post date (or n.d., if there is no date), since wikis may be updated frequently, as well as the retrieval date.
Sleep. (2011, November 26). Retrieved May 21, 2011, from Wiki of Science: http://wikiofscience.wikidot.com/science:sleep
E-mail message Personal correspondence, including e-mail, should not be included in your reference list. Instead, cite the person’s name in your text, and in parentheses give the notation personal communication (in regular type, not italicized) and the date.
Computer software If an individual has proprietary rights to the software, cite that person’s name as you would for a print text. Otherwise, cite as you would for an anonymous print text.
