You’ve finally written the last paragraph of your conclusion. You’re exhausted, your eyes are heavy, and you think you’re done. But then you remember: the reference list.
Formatting a bibliography is arguably the most tedious part of academic writing. APA 7th edition has incredibly specific rules about italics, commas, capitalization, and spacing. Get them wrong, and your thesis committee will send your paper straight back for revisions.
To help you get through this final hurdle, here is the ultimate step-by-step checklist to format your APA reference list perfectly from scratch.
1. The Core Setup (Page Formatting)
Before you type a single citation, make sure your page layout is correct:
Start on a New Page: Your reference list should always begin on its own page at the very end of your paper.
The Title: Label the page "References" (capitalized, bold, and centered at the top). Do not underline it or put it in quotation marks.
Double-Spacing: The entire list must be double-spaced.
Hanging Indent: This is the most common visual mistake. Every entry should have a hanging indent of 0.5 inches. This means the first line is flush left, and all subsequent lines are indented.
2. Master the Ordering Rules
APA lists are organized alphabetically, but there are tricky exceptions:
Alphabetical by Author: Order entries alphabetically by the author’s last name.
Same Author, Different Years: If you have multiple works by the same author, list them chronologically from oldest to newest (e.g., Smith, 2018 comes before Smith, 2021).
No Author: If a source has no author, alphabetize it by the first significant word of the title.
3. The "Big Three" Formula Templates
Most of your sources will fall into these three categories. Copy these exact formulas:
Journal Articles: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, Volume(Issue), DOI
Books: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher.
Websites: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the webpage. Website Name. URL
4. The Self-Audit Checklist Before Submitting
Before you hit save, run your eyes down the list one last time:
Are journal names and book titles italicized?
Did you use sentence-case capitalization for article titles?
Are all online links active and formatted as secure https:// URLs?
Does every in-text citation in your chapters match an entry in this list?
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