How to Write a Works Cited Page in APA Style

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Place your sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name.

   If the source doesn’t have a named author, use the title to alphabetize that particular source.When using the title in the citation, skip over articles, such as “a,” “an,” or “the”.
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   Step 2: Double-space the works cited like the rest of the paper.

   Use 1-inch margins., To do this, highlight the Works Cited page with your mouse.
   
   Using the tiny triangles on the rulers at the top of the page, move the bottom one to the ½ inch indentation mark.When you’re done, the first line of every citation will be all the way to the left, while the other lines will be indented a half inch. , Make sure the text is in 12-point font., Make sure to begin your Works Cited page on a new page., The header should have the page number and the title of the paper in all capital letters on the next line., For example, if the author’s name is Kelly Watson, it will appear as:
   Watson, K. , APA uses sentence-case capitalization for book titles, meaning you only capitalize the first word after end punctuation.
   
   So the citation will now look look like this:
   Watson, K. (1999).
   
   The biology of trees:
   Rings, leaves, and cells. , You can find all of this information on the back side of the title page or sometimes in the library’s online catalog.The complete citation will now look like this:
   Watson, K. (1999).
   
   The biology of trees:
   Rings, leaves, and cells.
   
   Waco, TX:
   Burning Books. , Follow their name with the date in parenthesis.
   
   For example:
   Watson, K. (2000). , However, because it is a journal article title, you don’t use italics or put it in quotes.
   
   For example:
   Watson, K. (2000).
   
   Trees and their life cycles. , This means you capitalize the important words, as well as the first and last word.
   
   The citation will now look like this:
   Watson, K. (2000).
   
   Trees and their life cycles.
   
   Biology Anonymous, , Most journals are divided by years, with each year being a volume.
   
   Within that year, each issue is numbered beginning with one.
   
   The citation will now look like this:
   Watson, K. (2000).
   
   Trees and their life cycles.
   
   Biology Anonymous, 5(2), , A digital object identifier or “doi” is a unique number assigned to online articles.
   
   If the database or article doesn’t have it listed, you can check to see if the article has one at http://www.crossref.org/.
   
   APA does not require you to include database information, though you can if the article is difficult to find.
   
   Simply add “Retrieved from …” and the URL at the end.The final citation will look like this:
   Watson, K. (2000).
   
   Trees and their life cycles.
   
   Biology Anonymous, 5(2), 44-62. doi:9827423423 , You should follow this by the full date it was published in parenthesis.
   
   For example:
   Watson, K. (2009, January 12). , Sentence-case capitalization means you only capitalize the first letter of the sentence.
   
   The citation will now look like this:
   Watson, K. (2009, January 12).
   
   Tree biology in everyday life. , In this case, the type of file you accessed was a blog, which is referred to as a “weblog” in APA.
   
   The final citation will look like this:
   Watson, K. (2009, January 12).
   
   Tree biology in everyday life. .
   
   Retrieved from http://www.treesforlife.blog/treebiologyineverydaylife , There is no author of Wikipedia pages so don’t worry about including this.So, for example, if you are citing a Wikipedia page about oak, the citation would begin with:
   Oak. , Wiki pages change constantly so there is no official publication date for the citation.
   
   The citation should now look like this:
   Oak. (n.d.) , The final citation will look like this:
   Oak. (n.d.) Retrieved November 23, 2014 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak
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   Step 3: Format your text to use hanging indention.

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   Step 4: Use a font that is easy to read

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   Step 5: like Arial or Times New Roman.

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   Step 6: Center the title

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   Step 7: “References”

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   Step 8: on the first page.

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   Step 9: Use the same header from the rest of the paper on the Works Cited page.

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    Step 10: Put the author’s last name first

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    Step 11: followed by their first initial (or initials) with a period.

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    Step 12: Include the date in parenthesis

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    Step 13: and the title of the book in italics.

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    Step 14: Add the city and state of publication

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    Step 15: followed by a colon

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    Step 16: the publisher

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    Step 17: and a period.

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    Step 18: Put the author’s last name first

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    Step 19: followed by their first initial (or initials) with a period.

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    Step 20: Add the title of the article with sentence-case capitalization.

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    Step 21: Include the title of the journal in italics with title-case capitalization followed by a comma.

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    Step 22: Add the volume number in italics

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    Step 23: followed by the issue number in parenthesis.

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    Step 24: Finish the citation with the page numbers of the article and the digital object identifier of the article.

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    Step 25: To cite a blog

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    Step 26: start with the person’s name or screen name.

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    Step 27: Add the title of the blog with sentence-case capitalization.

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    Step 28: Finish the citation with the type of file in brackets and the blog’s URL.

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    Step 29: To cite a Wikipedia page

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    Step 30: start with the title.

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    Step 31: Add “n.d” to indicate “no date”.

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    Step 32: Finish the citation with the date you accessed the page and the page’s URL.

Detailed Guide

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