The Reference list appears as its own page at the end of a research paper. It lists all of the resources cited with in-text citations within the text of the paper. Its purpose is to provide the reader with enough information to be able to retrieve the source material cited in the paper.
An APA reference is composed of four elements:
NOTE: The author, date, and title elements are usually straight forward. The information needed for the access element of the reference varies depending on whether the item is an article, book, or webpage. Click on the tabs to the left to view pieces of information needed to create a reference as well as an example reference and links to additional resources.
Consider viewing this informative video from the APA Style Experts:
Listed below are formatting rules that you should keep in mind when creating your reference list:
Consider using NoodleTools or Academic Writer to create and format your reference list. See the Citation Tools tab for more information.
Example of a reference list:
From Basic Principles of Reference List Entries, by the APA Style Experts (2020), (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/basic-principles) Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.
Are you not sure what resource type you are trying to cite?
View this FAQ for help identifying the type of resource you are citing (ie, ebook, article, website).
Missing information?
See the Missing Information tab for assistance.
Use these citation tools to generate APA references as well as create APA formatted References lists and annotated bibliographies:
Check out the Citation Tools Guide for information about each tool as well as guides for selecting the right tool for your research assignment.
APA Academic Writer: A Student Point of View
Watch this video about how Academic Writer can be used to create references and write papers in the APA style.