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Research Guides@TCC Libraries

APA (7th Edition)

APA Reference page

The reference page is always at the end of the paper and contains all the information necessary to identify and retrieve all the outside sources used in one's paper.  The works included in your reference list, should be the outside sources that you summarized, paraphrased and quoted.  

There are generally four main elements to the citations in a reference page: author, date, title and source.  The following sections provide example of APA citations based on what you are citing.  

Punctuation within a Reference page

 

1. After each section of a citation, enter a period.  However, do not but a period after a DOI or url.  

2. Use punctuation marks (typically commas or parenthesis) as parts of the same element.  

 

How to create a Reference page when information is missing

Missing
element

Solution

Template

Reference list entry

In-text citation

Nothing—all
elements are present

Provide the author, date, title, and source of the work.

Author. (Date). Title. Source.

(Author, year)

Author (year)

Author

Provide the title, date, and source.

Title. (Date). Source.

(Title, year)

Title (year)

Date

Provide the author, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the title and source.

Author. (n.d.). Title. Source.

(Author, n.d.)

Author (n.d.)

Title

Provide the author and date, describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the source.

Author. (Date). [Description of work]. Source.

(Author, year)

Author (year)

Author and
date

Provide the title, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the source.

Title. (n.d.). Source.

(Title, n.d.)

Title (n.d.)

Author and
title

Describe the work in square brackets, and then provide the date and source.

[Description of work]. (Date). Source.

([Description of work], year)

[Description of work] (year)

Date and title

Provide the author, write “n.d.” for “no date,” describe the work in square brackets, and then provide
the source.

Author. (n.d.). [Description of work]. Source.

(Author, n.d.)

Author (n.d.)

Author, date,
and title

Describe the work in square brackets, write “n.d.” for “no date,” and then provide the source.

[Description of work]. (n.d.). Source.

([Description of work], n.d.)

[Description of work] (n.d.)

Source

Cite as a personal communication or find another work to cite (see the Publication Manual for more information).

No reference list entry

(C. C. Communicator, personal communication, month day, year)

C. C. Communicator (personal communication, month day, year)

Italics in the title and source

Italic formatting within the title or source varies by reference and is not shown in the table. In general, the title is italicized for a work that stands alone (e.g., book, report, webpage on a website), and some part of the source is italicized for a work that is part of a greater whole (e.g., journal article, newspaper article).

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