What is a Reference List?
The reference list is located at the end of your paper. It is an alphabetical list of works you consulted and cited within your paper. Your reference list citations should contain all the neccesary information to enable someone else to find the sources you have used, including:

• Author or entity that created the work
• Publication date
• Title
• Whether the work is part of a larger work (such as an article in a journal or newspaper, or an essay in an encyclopedia)
• Place of publication
• Publisher
• Any other information that would help in finding your source (such as a web page address)

Formatting a Reference List
The sources in the reference list are listed alphabetically by the author's last name. Citations are double-spaced and a hanging indentation is used. Click here to view and print formatting directions (Microsoft Word) for Setting up the Reference List.

Example of a Reference List

Some general rules for citations: Titles of books and journals appear in italics. Article titles and titles of book chapters, essays, and short stories do NOT appear in "quotes." If an author isn't given, begin with the corporate author (the sponsoring organization) or the title. Give the initials of the author's first and middle name rather than spelling out the full name. If there are multiple authors, the single-author entries with the same surname precede the multiple-author entries If you have multiple works written by the same author, arrange your citations by the years of publications with the earliest date appearing first. If the works have the same year of publication alphabetize by title. If an article is from a library's subscription database (i.e. EBSCOhost), include the database title. For electronic resources, always cite the date you accessed it. For more rules and examples of citations, visit USM Libraries' APA Style Guide or view a copy of APA 5th ed. at the Information Services desk.