1. ABCs & 123s
The reference list should start on a
separate page at the end of your
paper, but before any appendices.
2. ABCs & 123s: Title
Title the page “References,” centered
at the top (no bold, italics, quotation
marks, colors, etc.)
3. ABCs & 123s: Order
List each source in alphabetical order by the
last name of the first author. If there is no
author, alphabetize by the first significant
word in the title.
(Remember this alphabetization only applies
to the reference list. Each reference should
list the authors in the same order their
names are listed by the publication.)
4. ABCs & 123s: Hanging Indent
References should be in a hanging indent
format—meaning that the first line of
each reference is set flush left and
subsequent lines are indented. Like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Etiam at porttitor
massa. In non cursus lectus.
5. ABCs & 123s: Spacing
Double-space each reference, the same
as the rest of your paper is double-
spaced. (No extra spacing between each
reference.)
6. ABCs & 123s: Author
Authors should be provided with their last
names first, followed by a comma and then the
initial of the first and middle names (if
available).
Use the same order provided by the
publication.
Finish the author statement with a period.
7. ABCs & 123s: Author
If a source has up to seven authors, provide all
authors’ name in the reference.
If a source has more than seven authors,
provide the first six authors’ names, followed
by an ellipses (. . .) followed by the last author’s
name.
8. ABCs & 123s: Date
Provide the publication date in parentheses,
followed by a period.
Provide the year for books, journal articles, and
reports.
Provide the full publication date for magazine,
newsletter, and newspaper articles.This may be a
year and month, or a year, month, and date. If the
date is provided as a season, provide the year first,
followed by a comma, followed by the season.
9. ABCs & 123s: Date
Quickly changing content (such as webpages)
should have the full publication date.
If an article has been accepted for publication but
not yet published, provide in press instead of a
date.
If no date is available, provide n.d. instead of a
date.
10. ABCs & 123s: Title
Use sentence case capitalization for
most titles (books, articles, etc.).
Journal, magazine, and newspaper
titles should be in title case
capitalization.
11. ABCs & 123s: Title
Italicize “larger” sources: books, journals,
reports, standalone videos, etc.
Use plain text for “smaller” sources:
chapters, articles, videos that are part of
a set, etc.
12. ABCs & 123s: Publisher Info
Provide the publisher’s location (city and
state) for books.
Provide the volume, issue, and page
numbers for articles. Also provide the DOI,
if available.
Provide either DOIs or URLs for electronic
sources.
13. ABCs & 123s: Publisher Info
When providing a URL, use a direct URL
whenever possible. For journal articles that
don’t have DOIs, provide the URL to the
journal’s homepage.
Do not provide a URL to the source’s location
in a database.The only time database URLs
are allowed is when the source is not available
from any other location.
