In APA style, the bibliography is called a “References” page, and it lists every source you cited in your paper. Each entry follows a specific template depending on the source type, with precise rules for punctuation, capitalization, and formatting. Here’s how to set it up correctly using the current 7th edition of APA style.
Setting Up the References Page
Start your references on a new page after the last page of your paper’s text. Center the word “References” in bold at the top of the page. Don’t use a larger font size or underline it.
Double-space the entire list, with no extra space between entries. Each reference is a single paragraph, flush with the left margin on the first line, with every subsequent line indented 0.5 inches. This is called a hanging indent, and you can set it in most word processors through the paragraph formatting menu rather than pressing Tab manually. Alphabetize entries by the first author’s last name.
The Four Core Elements
Almost every APA reference contains the same four pieces, in this order: author, date, title, and source. The punctuation between them stays consistent. Understanding this framework makes it much easier to cite any type of source, because you’re just plugging different details into the same structure.
- Author. Last name first, then a comma, then initials with periods and spaces (Smith, J. K.). For multiple authors, separate each name with a comma and place an ampersand (&) before the final name. For works with up to 20 authors, list all of them. For 21 or more, list the first 19, insert an ellipsis, and then add the last author’s name.
- Date. Place the year in parentheses, followed by a period. Some source types (like web pages or social media posts) also include the month and day.
- Title. Use sentence case, meaning you capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and any proper nouns. Whether you italicize the title depends on the source type.
- Source. This tells the reader where to find the work. For a journal article, it’s the journal name, volume, issue, and pages. For a book, it’s the publisher. For online sources, it’s often a URL or DOI.
How to Cite a Journal Article
Journal articles are the most common source in academic writing. The template looks like this:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxx
A few details trip people up here. The article title is not italicized and uses sentence case. The journal name, on the other hand, is italicized and uses title case (capitalize all major words). The volume number is also italicized, but the issue number in parentheses right next to it is not, and there’s no space between the volume number and the opening parenthesis.
For the page range, use an en dash (slightly longer than a hyphen) with no spaces around it. If the article has a DOI (a permanent digital link that looks like https://doi.org/10.xxxx), include it at the very end with no period after it. Include a DOI for every work that has one.
Here’s a completed example:
Martinez, L. R., & Chen, W. (2021). Workplace flexibility and employee retention. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(3), 412–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000912
How to Cite a Book
The book template follows the same four-element pattern:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Publisher. DOI or URL
Unlike article titles, book titles are italicized. They still use sentence case. If the book has an edition or volume number, put it in parentheses right after the title but before the period. If it has both, list the edition first, then the volume, separated by a comma inside the same set of parentheses.
Include just the publisher name followed by a period. You do not need to include the publisher’s city. If the book was published by multiple publishers, separate them with semicolons. Only include a URL if you accessed the ebook from a website that isn’t an academic research database. If the book has a DOI, include it and skip the trailing period.
Here’s an example:
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Press.
How to Cite a Website
For a standard web page, the template is:
Author or Organization. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. https://www.example.com/page
When the author and the site name are the same (for example, an article published by the World Health Organization on its own website), omit the site name to avoid repetition. If there is no individual author, the organization responsible for the content serves as the author. If no date is available, write (n.d.) in the date position.
The page title is italicized and in sentence case. The URL goes at the end with no period after it. Do not use “Retrieved from” before the URL unless the content is likely to change over time (such as a wiki page or a social media profile), in which case you write “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from” followed by the URL.
Citing AI-Generated Content
If you used a tool like ChatGPT or Gemini in your research, APA has a specific format. The author is the company that developed the tool, not the AI itself, because APA considers only living humans capable of authorship.
For a specific chat conversation:
AI Company Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of chat [Generative AI chat]. Tool Name. URL of the chat
The date is the day the chat took place or concluded. Give the chat a descriptive title in italics, followed by a bracketed description like [Generative AI chat]. Then name the specific tool or model (ChatGPT-4o, Gemini 2.5 Flash, etc.) and paste the shareable link.
If you’re referencing the AI tool in general rather than a specific conversation, the format shifts slightly:
AI Company Name. (Year). Tool Name [Large language model]. https://www.example.com
Here the date is the year of the tool’s most recent update, and the URL points to the tool itself. You no longer need to include a version number by default. If you described prompts in your paper, those details go in the text of your paper, not in the reference entry.
Formatting Author Names Correctly
Getting the author field right is half the battle with APA references. Always invert the name: last name, comma, initials. Leave a space between initials (Smith, J. K., not Smith, J.K.). When a work has two authors, join them with an ampersand: Smith, J. K., & Lee, R.
For three or more authors, list them all in the same inverted format, separated by commas, with an ampersand before the last one. APA 7th edition lets you list up to 20 authors this way. If a source has 21 or more authors, write the first 19, then an ellipsis (three spaced dots), then the final author’s name with no ampersand.
If no person is listed as author, use the organization or group responsible for the content. If there is truly no identifiable author or organization, move the title into the author position.
Capitalization and Italics at a Glance
The capitalization rules in APA trip up even experienced writers because they differ depending on where a title appears in the reference.
Titles of articles, book chapters, web pages, and reports use sentence case: capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns. Titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers use title case: capitalize all major words. The distinction is simple once you remember it. If the work is part of a larger whole (an article inside a journal, a chapter inside a book), use sentence case and do not italicize. If the work stands on its own (a book, a report, a journal name, a film), italicize it.
DOIs and URLs
A DOI (digital object identifier) is a permanent link assigned to a published work. It looks like https://doi.org/10.xxxx. Whenever a source has a DOI, include it as the last element of the reference. Never put a period after a DOI or URL, because it could be mistaken as part of the link.
For works you found through a standard academic database (like EBSCO or ProQuest), include the DOI if one exists but do not include the database URL. Most readers will have their own database access, so the database link wouldn’t help them. For works from other websites, include the full URL.
Quick Checklist Before You Submit
- New page. References start on their own page, not at the bottom of your last paragraph.
- Bold, centered heading. The word “References” in bold, centered, normal font size.
- Hanging indent. First line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches.
- Double-spacing. The entire list is double-spaced with no extra gaps.
- Alphabetical order. Sort by the first author’s last name (or by title if there’s no author).
- No trailing periods after links. DOIs and URLs end the entry without a period.
- Every in-text citation has a matching reference. If you cited it in the paper, it belongs on this page, and vice versa.