Basic information for making references is divided into three categories of resources: scientific magazines, books and chapters of books. We have translated and adapted the information with explanatory images of the seventh version of the APA format to facilitate its learning and application.
Fountain: American Psychological Association. (2020). Original image: Melanie R. Fowler. Design in Spanish: Edwin Graell
Fountain: American Psychological Association. (2020). Original image: Melanie R. Fowler. Design in Spanish: Edwin Graell
Fountain: American Psychological Association. (2020). Original image: Melanie R. Fowler. Design in Spanish: Edwin Graell
Image information can be very useful if you need to learn the specific elements and changes of APA-formatted references, but you don’t have to do it manually. Today there are applications that make references automatically and save you a lot of time and work like or .
If you need more detailed information about each element of the references, we invite you to use the table of Contents for quick access.
The entire article is updated with the seventh version of APA format and was translated and edited by Alejandra Alonso and David Aparicio. We also recommend our previous articles on APA format: ; .
References provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each work cited in the text.
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Please carefully check each reference with the original publication to ensure that the information is accurate and complete. Accurately prepared references help establish your credibility as a careful researcher and writer.
Consistency in reference formatting allows readers to focus on the content of your reference list, easily discerning both the types of works you consulted and the important reference elements (who, when, what, and where). When you present each reference coherently, readers don’t waste time determining how you organized the information. And when you search the literature, you also save time and effort by reading reference lists in others’ works that are written in APA format.
A reference list entry typically has four elements: the author, date, title, and source. Each element answers a question:
- Author: Who is responsible for this work?
- Date: When was this work published?
- Title: What is the name of this job?
- Source: Where can I get this job back?
Answering these four questions will help you create a reference entry for any type of work, even if you don’t see a specific example in the Publications Manual that matches. Consistency in referencing format allows readers to understand the types of works you consulted and important elements with ease.
Score on Reference List Entries
Use punctuation marks in reference list entries to group information.
- Make sure a period appears after each reference element – that is, after the author, date, title and source. However, do not add a period after a DOI or URL because it may interfere with the link’s functionality. And if a title ends with a question mark, the question mark replaces the period.
- Uses punctuation marks (usually commas or parentheses) between parts of the same reference element. For example, in a reference for a journal article, use a comma between the last name and initials of each author and between the different author names, between the name of the journal and the volume number, and between the issue number of magazine and page numbers.
- Do not use a comma between the magazine volume and the issue number. Place the issue number in parentheses directly after the volume number.
- If the reference element is italicized, the punctuation marks used in this element must also be italicized. Do not italicize punctuation marks between elements of references (for example, the period after the title of a book in italics or the comma after the title of a magazine in italics).
Suggested appointments
Some works contain suggested citations. These citations often contain the information needed to write an APA style reference but need editing. For example, you may need to change the title capitalization or punctuation between elements. You may also need to place items in the proper order of author, date, title, and source.
Works included in a reference list
The reference list provides a reliable way for readers to identify and locate works cited in a document. APA style papers generally include reference lists, not bibliographies.
In general, every work cited in the text should appear in the reference list, and every work in the reference list should be cited in the text. Please check your work carefully before submitting it to ensure that there are no missing works cited in the text of the reference list and vice versa, with only the following exceptions.
- Personal communications (emails, phone calls, or text messages) are cited only in the text, not in the reference list, because readers cannot retrieve them.
- General mentions of entire websites, entire newspapers, and common applications or software do not require in-text citations or reference list entries because the usage is broad and the source is familiar.
- The source of an epigraph generally does not appear in the reference list unless the work is an academic book or journal. For example, if you open the document with an inspirational quote from a famous person, the source of the quote does not appear in the reference list because the quote is intended to set the stage for the work, not to justify a key point.
- Citations from research participants in a study you conducted can be presented and discussed in the text, but do not require citations or entries in the reference list. Citations and reference list entries are not necessary because what was cited is part of your original research. They could also compromise the confidentiality of the participants, which is an ethical violation.
- References included in a meta-analysis, which are marked with an asterisk in the reference list, may be cited in-text (or not) at the author’s discretion. This exception is relevant only for authors conducting a meta-analysis.
Reference List Entry Elements
Reference list entries include the four elements: author, date, title, and source. This page describes each item in detail. If a document does not have an author, date or source, go to the “Lack of reference information” section.
Author
The author generally refers to the person(s) or group(s) responsible for a work. An author can be
- An individual,
- several people,
- a group (institution, government agency, organization, etc.), or
- a combination of people and groups.
This element includes not only authors of articles, books, reports, and other works, but also others who played leading roles in the creation of a work, such as book editors, film directors, grant principal investigators, podcast hosts , etc. When you cannot determine who the author is, treat the work as if it had no author.
Individual Author Name Format
Follow these guidelines to format the author element.
- Reverse all individual author names, providing the last name first, followed by a comma and the author’s initials.
Author, A.A.
- Use a comma to separate an author’s initials from additional author names, even when there are only two authors. Use the letter “y” before the last name.
Author, AA, and Author, BB
- Provides the last names and initials of up to 20 authors. When there are between 2 and 20 authors, use “and” before the last author.
Author, AA, Author, BB and Author, CC
- When there are 21 or more authors, include the name of the first 19, insert an ellipsis (without “and”), and then add the name of the last author.
Author, AA, Author, AA, Author, BB, Author, CC, Author, DD, Author, EE, Author, FF, Author, GG, Author, HH, Author, II, Author, JJ, Author, KK, Author, LL, Author, MM, Author, NN, Author, OO, Author, PP, Author, QQ, Author, RR, Author, SS, … Author, ZZ
- Use a space between initials.
Author, A.A.
- Print the author’s name exactly as it appears in the published work, including last names with hyphens and last names with two parts.
Santos-García, S., and Velasco Rodríguez, ML
- Keep the author’s preferred capitalization.
hooks, b.
van der Waal, P.N.
Author Group Name Format
Author groups are often government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and working groups. Follow these guidelines to format group author names in your reference list.
- Look at the cover to determine if it has a group author or individual authors.
- If individual names are presented on the cover, treat the work as if it had individual authors.
- If only the group name is presented on the cover, treat the work as if it had a group author, even if individuals are credited elsewhere in the work (for example, in an acknowledgments section).
- Type the full name of the group in the reference list entry, followed by a period.
National Institute of Mental Health.
- On a page on the website of a government organization or agency, the government organization or agency itself is considered the author, unless otherwise specified. The author of a web page or website may also be located in the “about us” section or the acknowledgments section.
- An abbreviation for the group’s author may be used in the text (e.g., NIMH for the National Institute of Mental Health); however, do not include an abbreviation for a group in the reference list entry.
Correct: National Institute of Mental Health.
Incorrect: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Incorrect: NIMH.
- When many layers of government agencies are listed as the author of a work, use the most specific agency as the author in the reference (for example, use “National Institute of Nursing Research” instead of “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” “U.S., National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research”). Parent agency names that are not present in the group author name appear in the source element as the publisher.
National Institute…