APA Reference Page: Format and Organize Your References

An APA 7 reference page starts on a new page after the main text of your paper. Use the heading References, center and bold it, double-space the entire list, arrange entries alphabetically, and apply a 0.5-inch hanging indent to each reference.

APA Citation Builder can help you create and organize reference entries, but the final formatting should still be checked in the document where you will submit your work.

APA Reference Page Format at a Glance

Use this checklist for a standard APA 7 reference list:

Element	APA 7 format
Page heading	`References`, centered and bold
Page placement	Start on a new page after the main text
Line spacing	Double-space the entire reference list
Entry alignment	First line flush left
Hanging indent	Subsequent lines indented 0.5 inch
Order	Alphabetical by the first element of each reference
Font	Use an APA-acceptable font consistently with the rest of the paper
Page number	Continue the paper’s page numbering
Extra blank lines	Do not add extra blank lines between references

Purdue OWL’s current APA 7 student sample paper likewise shows the reference list on a new page, with the heading centered and bold, entries alphabetized, double spacing, and a half-inch hanging indent.

What Belongs on the APA Reference Page?

The reference page contains the full reference entries for sources cited in your paper.

As a practical rule:

A source cited in the text should normally have a corresponding reference-list entry, and a retrievable source on the reference list should normally be cited in the text.

There are exceptions. For example, personal communications that readers cannot retrieve are normally cited in the text rather than included in the reference list.

The reference page is therefore not simply a list of everything you read while researching.

References vs. Bibliography

APA normally uses a reference list, not a general bibliography.

A reference list contains the sources cited in the paper.

A bibliography can include additional background material that was consulted but never cited. Unless your instructor specifically asks for a bibliography or annotated bibliography, do not automatically add uncited reading to an APA reference page.

How to Set Up an APA Reference Page

1. Start a new page

Begin the reference list on its own page after the main text.

Do not continue the reference list directly beneath the final paragraph of the paper.

2. Add the heading “References”

At the top of the page, type:

References

Center and bold the heading.

Do not put it in quotation marks, underline it, or label the page “Works Cited.”

3. Double-space the entire list

Double-space all reference entries.

This includes:

spacing within an individual reference
spacing from one reference to the next

Do not add an extra blank line between entries.

4. Apply a 0.5-inch hanging indent

Each reference uses a hanging indent.

That means:

the first line begins at the left margin
the second and later lines are indented 0.5 inch

Do not insert spaces or press the Tab key manually on every wrapped line. Use your word processor’s paragraph-formatting feature so the indent remains attached to the reference as text reflows.

5. Arrange references alphabetically

Order the list alphabetically according to the first element of each reference.

In most cases, this is the first author’s surname.

For example:

“text Anderson, T. R. Carter, M. J. Morgan, L. P. National River Research Center. “

An organization used as the author is alphabetized by the organization’s name.

If a work has no author and the title moves into the author position, alphabetize it by the title according to APA ordering rules.

What Does a Hanging Indent Look Like?

A hanging indent leaves the first line at the margin while all additional lines move inward.

For example:

“text Carter, M. J. (2025). A fictional example of a long reference title used to demonstrate how a hanging indent continues on the second line. Example Publisher. “

The spacing above is only an illustration. In your word processor, apply a true 0.5-inch hanging indent rather than inserting manual spaces.

How to Create a Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word

Microsoft’s current support instructions use the paragraph settings rather than manual tabs.

Select the references you want to format.
Open Home > Paragraph settings.
Find Indentation.
Under Special, select Hanging.
Set the indent depth to 0.5 inch.
Apply the change.

Microsoft describes a hanging indent as keeping the first line at the margin while indenting subsequent lines.

See Microsoft’s official hanging indent instructions if your version of Word displays the controls differently.

How to Create a Hanging Indent in Google Docs

In the desktop version of Google Docs:

Select the references.
Open Format.
Choose Align & indent.
Open Indentation options.
Under Special indent, choose Hanging.
Set it to 0.5 inch.
Apply the formatting.

Menu wording can change as Google Docs is updated, so use its paragraph indentation controls rather than manually adding spaces.

After downloading or converting a Google document into another format, check the hanging indents again. Document conversion can sometimes alter paragraph formatting.

How to Alphabetize APA References

For most sources, alphabetize by the surname of the first author.

Individual authors

“text Adams, R. T. Brown, L. M. Chen, P. S. “

Ignore the order in which the sources appeared in your paper. The reference list has its own alphabetical order.

Organization as author

A group author is alphabetized using the full organization name:

“text American Example Association. National River Research Center. World Example Institute. “

Do not move an organization somewhere else merely because it begins with words such as “National” or “American.”

No author

When a source genuinely has no author and the title takes the author position, alphabetize the reference by the first significant word of the title.

Do not automatically assume a webpage has no author just because no person’s name appears. An organization may be the author.

Our guide to APA citations with no author or no date explains how to check that case before formatting the reference.

Multiple Works by the Same Author

When the same author has more than one work in your reference list, APA ordering requires more than simply sorting by surname.

For works by the same author or identical author group:

arrange the works by publication date, starting with the earliest
when works have the same author and same year, use the applicable APA ordering rules and add letters such as a, b, and c to the year where required
use those same year letters in the corresponding in-text citations

For example:

“text Morgan, T. R. (2022). ... Morgan, T. R. (2024). ... Morgan, T. R. (2024a). ... Morgan, T. R. (2024b). ... “

The letters are part of the citation system, not merely labels added to make the reference page look organized.

Should Every In-Text Citation Appear in the Reference List?

For ordinary retrievable sources, the in-text citation and reference entry should correspond.

Before submitting your paper, compare both directions:

Check every in-text citation and make sure the source appears in the reference list when required.
Check every reference-list entry and make sure the work is actually cited in the text when required.

This catches a common problem where a source is deleted from the paper but remains in the reference list, or where an in-text citation is added without its full reference.

APA Citation Builder keeps the reference and related in-text output together to make this relationship easier to review.

What Should Not Normally Appear in the Reference List?

Do not automatically add every item that influenced your work.

Depending on the situation, the following may be treated differently:

personal communications that readers cannot retrieve
general mentions of an entire website
common knowledge
background reading that was never cited

If your instructor asks for an annotated bibliography, reading list, or another type of source list, follow those instructions rather than assuming it is the same as an APA reference page.

How Reference Entries Are Structured

Although the exact format changes by source type, APA references are generally built around four kinds of information:

Author
Date
Title
Source

The details within those elements depend on what you are citing.

For example:

a journal article can require journal, volume, issue, pages or article number, and DOI
a book can require edition and publisher
a webpage can require a website name and URL

That is why one generic template cannot accurately describe every reference type.

Use the APA website citation generator, APA journal article citation generator, or APA book citation generator when you need source-specific fields.

How to Use References Exported From APA Citation Builder

APA Citation Builder supports several export formats, but they serve different purposes.

Formatted HTML

HTML can preserve formatted citation markup in compatible applications.

After opening or pasting the output elsewhere, verify:

italics
line spacing
hanging indents
line wrapping
hyperlinks

Do not assume that every word processor will interpret pasted HTML identically.

RTF

RTF is a rich-text document format that many word processors can open.

It is not a Microsoft Word .docx file.

After opening an RTF export, check the final document formatting before submission.

Plain text

TXT contains plain text.

It is useful when you want clean citation text, but it does not preserve rich formatting such as italics or paragraph indentation.

If you use TXT output in a paper, apply the appropriate formatting in your word processor.

RIS

RIS is a bibliographic metadata format intended for compatible reference-management software.

It is not a finished APA reference page.

Importing RIS into another application can also result in that application’s citation processor applying its own formatting.

JSON project backup

JSON preserves APA Citation Builder project data so that the project can be restored in the tool.

It is not designed to be pasted into an academic paper.

For more about these formats, see How APA Citation Builder Works.

Why You Should Check Formatting After Copying or Exporting

A citation can be correct inside a tool and still look wrong after being moved into a document.

Common transfer problems include:

a hanging indent disappearing
italics being removed
extra paragraph spacing being introduced
lines becoming single-spaced
hyperlinks changing appearance
references being merged into one paragraph
a word processor applying its own style settings

This is why the final review should take place inside the document you will actually submit.

If a hanging indent disappears, fix the paragraph formatting in the word processor rather than inserting spaces manually.

APA Reference Page Example

The example below uses fictional sources to show the overall organization of a reference list.

“`text References

Carter, M. J. (2024). Research design for field measurements. North Valley Press.

Morgan, T. R. (2025, February 12). How urban trees reduce summer heat. City Ecology Review. https://www.cityecologyreview.example/ urban-trees-summer-heat

National River Research Center. (2026). Monitoring freshwater quality after major storms. https://www.nrrc.example/freshwater/storm-monitoring “`

In a real document:

center and bold the heading
double-space the entire list
use a true 0.5-inch hanging indent
do not type manual spaces to imitate the indentation

The fictional references above are only layout examples.

Common APA Reference Page Mistakes

Calling the page “Works Cited”

“Works Cited” is associated with MLA-style documentation. APA uses the heading References.

Centering every reference

Only the heading is centered. Reference entries remain aligned with the left margin and use hanging indents.

Indenting the first line

The first line stays flush left. Later lines are indented.

Using tabs and spaces for hanging indents

Manual spacing breaks easily when text wraps or document formatting changes. Apply a paragraph-level hanging indent.

Single-spacing the references

APA references are double-spaced.

Adding blank lines between entries

Do not add extra blank lines merely to visually separate references.

Sorting references in citation order

The reference list is alphabetized. It is not ordered according to the first time each source appears in the paper.

Including uncited background reading

Do not turn the reference list into a general reading list unless your assignment specifically requires one.

Forgetting to check pasted formatting

Citation text can change when moved between a browser, word processor, and file format.

Final APA Reference Page Checklist

Before submitting your paper, check that:

[ ] References is centered and bold
[ ] the list begins on a new page
[ ] references are double-spaced
[ ] each entry has a 0.5-inch hanging indent
[ ] entries are alphabetized correctly
[ ] no unnecessary extra blank lines appear between entries
[ ] every required in-text citation has a matching reference
[ ] every reference that should be cited in the text is actually cited
[ ] author, date, title, and source information are correct
[ ] italics and other source-specific formatting survived copying or export
[ ] DOI and URL links belong to the intended sources
[ ] your instructor, journal, or institution has not specified additional requirements

The official APA Style reference examples remain the authoritative place to check source-specific examples when a reference is unusual.

To create or correct an individual entry, return to the main APA Citation Builder and edit the source information before rebuilding your final reference list.