APA 7 has made it much easier for students to format references. In APA 6, it was mandated that you utilize DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers for each electronically retrieved source. Often, these were not readily available. While APA 7 still indicates you should use a DOI number when possible, if there is no DOI number, you may now use the URL (Universal Resource Locator) instead. So if you don’t have one, you may use the other. Further, in APA 7, you no longer need to list the publisher city, only the publisher. This makes it easier since some publishers utilize multiple cities and eliminating this requirement makes it much less confusing.

All in-text references should be listed in the reference list at the end of your document. The purpose of the reference list entry is to contain all the information that a reader of your work needs to follow-up on your sources. An important principle in referencing is to be consistent.

When compiling your APA Reference List, you should:

  • List references on a new page with a centered heading titled: References.
  • Include all your references, regardless of format, e.g. books, journal articles, online sources, in one alphabetical listing from A – Z.
  • Order entries alphabetically by surname of the author(s).
  • List works with no author under the first significant word of the title.
  • Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry (5 spaces).
  • Use double spacing (but only in the reference list, single spacing is required for narrative text in the manuscript).
  • All references in APA end with a full stop except when the reference ends with a URL or a DOI.

While compiling references was made a bit easier in APA 7, it still has many nuances that require specific expertise to format correctly. Retaining the expertise of certified editors like EditProz is the safest way to ensure your manuscript complies.