LibGuides: National American University Online Library: Reference Citations

What is Reference Citation?

The reference list provides the reader with the information needed to identify and locate the original source of the material cited in the text.
APA requires that all in-text citations have a corresponding reference entry at the end of the document. Similarly, if you provide a reference entry, you need to provide an in-text citation showing what content you’ve included from that source.

Begin the reference list on a new page after the main body of the paper.
Place the section label "References" in bold at the top of the page, centered.
All sources listed on the reference page must be cited somewhere in the paper.
Order references alphabetically by author’s last name (or article title if there is no author).
Double-space the reference list.

List authors in the order they appear in the original source.
Spell out each author’s last name. Use initials for first and middle names.
Be aware that an organization (e.g., National Institutes of Health) or a company (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Inc.) can be an author.
If a source has no author, begin the reference with the title of the source.
Sources with 20 or fewer authors: List all authors.
Sources with 21 or more authors: List first 19 authors, add three ellipses ( . . . ), add last author.

Capitalize ONLY the first word in the title and subtitle (the word that follows a colon or dash).
Capitalize proper nouns in the title.

Reference List Examples
The document above provides examples of reference list entries for different types of sources.

Reference Page Examples & Templates
These page provides examples for creating reference citations for most commonly used sources.
Detailed Reference Examples
This is a comprehensive, detailed list of reference citation examples.

Most databases create reference citations, so you don't have to create them. Click on the link below to see how to get reference citations in databases that are accessed through OneSearch.

Although having the databases create the citations is very helpful, they may not always be correct. Always check the citation in OneSearch with the Reference page examples in this Guide or in the APA7th edition Style and Grammar Guidelines.