In the reference list you list works in alphabetical order based on the authors' surnames. List surname and first initial. All works are included in the same list regardless of publication type (article, book, website etc.). In the reference list entry you generally include author, publication date, title and source. Note that place of publication is not included in APA 7. If there are more than one author with the same surname you sort the reference according to first initial. If a work has no author it is sorted according to title.
For more information on how you cite specific types of works, see examples of different types of sources in the menu.
In the reference list some abbreviations are used to save space, for instance edition (ed.), editor (ed.), editors (eds.), page (p.) and no date (n.d.).
In APA 7 indents are used in the reference list. The first line of a reference starts in the left hand margin and the following lines of the reference starts with an indention of 5-7 characters.
Bondi, M., & Lorés Sanz, R. (2014). Abstracts in academic discourse: Variation and change. Peter Lang.
Brickell, K., Fernández Arrigoitia, M., & Vasudevan, A. (2017). Geographies of forced eviction: Dispossession, violence, resistance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079812331380364
Turner, R., Brown, T., & Edwards-Jones, A. (2014). ‘Writing my first academic article feels like dancing around naked’: Research development for higher education lecturers working in further education colleges. International Journal for Academic Development, 19(2), 87-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2013.792729
The author is the person(s) or group(s) responsible for a work. An author may be an individual, multiple people, a group (institution, government agency, organization, etc.), or a combination of people and groups.
The author may also be other people who have played a key role in the creation of a work, such as editors of books, directors of films, principal investigators of grants, podcast hosts, and so on.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G.C., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & Fitzgerald, W.T. (2016). The craft of research (4 uppl.). University of Chicago Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uu/detail.action?docID=4785166
Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). Lord of the rings [Film]. New Line Cinema.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2018) Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights. (A/HCR/37/3). https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1474804
If you include several works by the same author or group of authors (listed in the same order) you list these chronologically starting with the oldest work. Works published the same year by the same author you list alphabetically based on title. Also give these entries a separating letter after the year of publication. The first letter is a, the following b, etc. The separating letters are also used in the in-text citation.
Butler, J. (2015a). Notes toward a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press.
Butler, J. (2015b). Senses of the subject. Fordham University Press.
If the same author appear as both a singular author and as the first named author in a group of authors the work where they are the singular author is listed first. If references with groups of authors have the same first named author the works are listed based on the second author, if the second author also is the same the third etc.
The date refers to the date of publication of the work. Usually you only include publication year. However, if the work is from a category which include month, month and day or season you include that too.
For works with a date of last update (like a webpage), use that in the reference. Do not include date of last review since it does not necessarily mean the content has been changed.
For works with no date you use the abbreviation "n.d." meaning "no date".
Corkery, M., & Maheshwari, S. (2020, November 23). As customers move online, so does the holiday shopping season. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/business/retailers-ecommerce-black-friday.html
Ljungqvist, A., Richardson, M., & Wolfenzon, D. (2008). The investment behavior of buyout funds: Theory and evidence (w14180). National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w14180.pdf
United Nations (n.d.). Main bodies. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/main-bodies
When a work stands alone you write the title of that work (in italics) in the title element of the reference. When a work is part of greater whole (like a journal article or a book chapter of an edited book ), you write the title of the article or chapter in the title element of the reference and the title of the greater whole (in italics) in the source element.
Stand alone work
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2 ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Part of a greater work
Hunt, K., Ray, J., & Jeter, J. (2014). Hereditary risk for cancer. In D. Alberts & L.M. Hess (Ed.), Fundamentals of cancer prevention (3 ed. p. 123-150). Springer. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-38983-2_5
For most references you do not include a retrieval date. A retrieval date should only be included if the work is unarchived and likely to change over time. Examples where retrieval dates should be included are webpages continually updated with new data, social media profiles or posts, online dictionary/encyclopedia entries, online maps (e.g., Google Maps) etc.
Retrieved Month Date, Year, from https://xxxxx
Apodaca, Clair. (2017, April 26). Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy Tool. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Retrieved December 12, 2021, from https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-332
In the source element you inform readers where you have retrieved the cited work. Depending on what type of material you cite the information about the source will vary. In broad terms you can say that the source for a work that is part of a greater whole (e.g., journal article, edited book chapter) is that greater whole (i.e., the journal or edited book), plus any applicable DOI or URL. For works that stand alone (e.g., whole book, report, dissertation, thesis, film, TV series, podcast, data set, informally published work, social media, webpage) the source element is the publisher of the work, database or archive, social media site, or website, plus any applicable DOI or URL. Note that APA 7 does not require you to add the publisher location for book references.
Stand alone work
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2 ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Part of a greater work
Hunt, K., Ray, J., & Jeter, J. (2014). Hereditary risk for cancer. In D. Alberts & L.M. Hess (Ed.), Fundamentals of cancer prevention (3 ed. p. 123-150). Springer. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-38983-2_5