APA style uses a hanging indent for every entry on your reference list: the first line sits flush with the left margin, and every line after it is indented 0.5 inches. This is the opposite of a normal paragraph indent, and it’s the single most common formatting detail people get wrong on APA papers. Here’s how to set it up correctly in any word processor.
What a Hanging Indent Looks Like
In a standard paragraph, the first line is indented and the rest are flush left. A hanging indent flips that. The first line of each reference entry starts at the left margin, and all continuation lines are pushed in by half an inch. This makes the author’s last name easy to scan when a reader is looking for a specific source.
Every entry on your references page uses this format, no exceptions. The indent depth is exactly 0.5 inches, which matches the default tab stop in most word processors. Do not try to create the indent by pressing the space bar. It will look uneven and will shift if the font or margin changes. Always use your software’s built-in indent tool.
How to Set a Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word
The steps differ slightly depending on whether you’re on Windows, Mac, or the web version of Word, but the core path is the same.
Windows
- Select all the text on your references page.
- Go to Home, then click the small arrow in the corner of the Paragraph group to open the Paragraph Settings dialog.
- Under Special, select Hanging.
- Make sure the “By” field reads 0.5 inches. Word usually defaults to this, but confirm it.
- Click OK.
Mac
- Select your reference entries.
- Go to Format, then Paragraph.
- Under Special, select Hanging.
- Confirm the “By” field is set to 0.5 inches.
- Click OK.
Word for the Web
- Select your text.
- Go to Home, then open the Paragraph dialog launcher.
- Under Special, select Hanging.
- Adjust the “By” field to 0.5 inches if needed.
- Click OK.
How to Set a Hanging Indent in Google Docs
Google Docs doesn’t have a dedicated “hanging indent” dropdown like Word, so you’ll use the ruler at the top of the document. Select all your reference entries. On the ruler, you’ll see two small markers on the left side: a blue triangle (the left indent) and a blue rectangle (the first-line indent). Drag the blue rectangle back to the left margin. Then drag the blue triangle to the right until it sits at the 0.5-inch mark. This pushes every line except the first one inward by half an inch.
If you don’t see the ruler, go to View and check “Show ruler.” You can also use the keyboard shortcut: place your cursor in the reference entry, go to Format, then Align & indent, then Indentation options. Set “Special indent” to Hanging and the value to 0.5 inches.
Block Quotes Use a Different Indent
The hanging indent only applies to your reference list. When you quote 40 or more words from a source inside the body of your paper, APA requires a block quotation, which uses a completely different indentation rule. Indent the entire block 0.5 inches from the left margin, start it on a new line, and double-space the whole thing. Do not wrap it in quotation marks. If the block quotation contains more than one paragraph, indent the first line of each additional paragraph another 0.5 inches beyond the block’s margin.
Shorter quotations (under 40 words) stay inline within your paragraph and are enclosed in quotation marks. No special indentation is needed for those.
Regular Paragraphs in APA
For the body text of your paper, each paragraph’s first line is indented 0.5 inches from the left margin. Use the tab key or your word processor’s automatic paragraph formatting to create this indent. Again, do not use the space bar. The APA specifically calls this out because space-bar indentation creates inconsistent spacing that becomes obvious in different fonts or file formats.
Formatting Details That Trip People Up
A few small things can quietly break your formatting. First, make sure you apply the hanging indent to the entire references page at once rather than entry by entry. If you format entries individually, it’s easy to miss one. Second, if a reference entry includes a long URL or DOI that wraps to a new line, do not manually hyphenate or break the link. Let your word processor handle the line break automatically. Third, double-spacing should run throughout the reference list with no extra space added between entries. The hanging indent, not extra white space, is what visually separates one source from the next.
If you paste references from a citation generator, the formatting often doesn’t come along. After pasting, select all your references, clear any existing indentation, and reapply the hanging indent using the steps above. This takes about ten seconds and saves you from a mismatched reference list.