Citing Sources: Formatting a Reference List

The References page is an alphabetical list of all the sources you used for your paper.

Here are some basic rules to follow when creating your References page:

• The References page should be placed at the end of your paper on a new page.
• The page number should be in the top right corner in the header.
• Center the heading References a few spaces down from the top of the page.
• Two blank lines should be after the heading, and before the first entry on the list.
• Use one blank line between each entry.
• Each entry should be single spaced and the second line of each entry should be a hanging indent. To get this in MS Word:
• Select all text, and then right-click it.
• From the pop-up menu, select Paragraph.
• To double-space the text, under Spacing, Line Spacing, select Single.
• To add a hanging indent, under Indentation, Special, select Hanging. This indents the lower lines of each entry 0.5” from the left.
• Alphabetize each entry by author’s last name, or if the author’s name is not given, by the title of the work.
• When you are citing multiple works by an author, you can include a long dash as a substitute for the author's name.