References should follow these general rules and guidelines:
- A list of references is located at the end of your paper
- Title your page References
- Sources cited in text must appear in the reference list and vice versa
- Citations are single-spaced, with a double space between entries
- The first line of a reference list entry is left justified (flush left), and all subsequent lines are indented five spaces (this is called a "hanging indent")
- A reference list entry lists the author, year, title, and facts of publication, in that order
- Elements are separated by periods; facts of publication are not enclosed in parentheses
- Entries are arranged in alphabetical order by author's last name (unless your instructor provides different instructions.
- Authors’ full names are used with the first author's name inverted
- List all authors in a reference list entry, no matter how many
- If there is no author provided, alphabetize using the next element in the citation (generally the title)
- If there is no date provided, use 'n.d." in place of the year
- Titles are capitalized headline-style
- Titles of books and journals appear in italics; article titles and titles of book chapters, essays, and short stories appear in "quotes"
- Page numbers are only given when the item is a part of a whole work, such as a chapter in a book or an article in a journal
- Noun forms such as editor, translator, and edition are abbreviated, but verb forms such as 'edited by' and 'translated by' are spelled out
- If there are two or more works by the same author(s), arrange those citations chronologically by year of publication in ascending order
- If there are two or more works by the same author(s) in the same year, differentiate by adding a, b, c, and so on after the year
- Always include an electronic source's DOI, if available
- If an online item does not have a DOI, cite the URL or name of library database
- Access dates for electronic sources are not required unless no date of publication or last revision can be determined