A concise and properly formatted reference list is a clear sign a writer “understood the assignment,” creating a research paper not solely filled with original thoughts and opinions, but ideas that build upon existing ideas and established, well-researched evidence.

By following a steady process of gathering credible information and choosing the appropriate reference type and format for each source, a writer lays the groundwork for an error-free, conclusive reference list – one that’s as easy to grade as it is to verify.

What does that process look like? For some, it might look like hours upon hours in the library; for others it might be late-night coffee, a lofi hiphop playlist, and dozens of open web browser tabs. Regardless of which particular vibe works best for you, we’ve crafted a basic workflow that’s easy to follow whether you’re on a first-name basis with everyone at the library, a caffeine connoisseur, or both.

From research to reference page

1. Gather source details
   When doing your research, make sure you take note of a work's author, publication date, title, and publisher information. For journal articles, you’ll also want to collect the volume number, issue number, page numbers, and DOI. For webpages, be sure to jot down the website name and URL.
2. Choose the reference type
   Books, journal articles, webpages, and every other APA reference type (and, for the logophiles, the other types are multitudinous) follow different rules and have slightly different formats. In the APA 7th Edition, you pick the reference type based on the original form of the source – not where it was found. For example, a journal article you read on a website is still formatted as a journal article would be.
3. Format the entry
   APA references are broken into four parts: Author part, date part, title part, and source part. We’ll begin covering specific reference types in a future blog post.
4. Add to the References page
   Place each reference entry on its own line under the References heading, double spaced, with a 0.5″ hanging indent.
5. Sort alphabetically
   Order entries by the first author’s last name. If there is no author, sort by the first significant word of the title.
6. Run a quick punctuation pass
   Check for periods, commas, parentheses, and spacing. For DOIs and URLs, present active links and omit the period at the end of the reference.

With everything in its right place, you’ll be ready to compile a reference list sure to level up your reference page.

Lest we forget …

PERRLA can handle the entire workflow presented above, helping locate reference information, creating and formatting your reference list as well as your individual references in just a few clicks. Those multitudinous APA reference types? PERRLA can handle each and every one of them. If you’d like to see for yourself, PERRLA offers a 7-day, no-obligation (that means no credit card required) free trial, and you can sign up for it here.

We’ll see you soon for the next edition of APA 101 here on the blog to delve into how to create a standard Book reference in APA 7.

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