It is up to you to locate the elements of a citation from each of your sources.

Four Elements of References Entries:

• Author: who?
• Date: when?
• Title: what?
• Source: where?

Use a period after each type of element. Use commas when separating the parts of an element. Do not put a period after a URL or DOI.

References List Format

Begins on a separate, numbered page after the last page of text.

References should be in bold and centered at the top of the page.

All sources cited in the paper must be included in the list with the exception of sources unrecoverable to the reader such as a personal conversation or email.

Entries should be double-spaced with a hanging indent.

All entries should be organized in alphabetical order by the first part of the entry, usually the author but in the case of an unknown author, the title.

Author

• You will usually find the author on title/cover page. If author cannot be identified, begin the Reference entry with the title
• Lastname, A. A. (one space between initials)
• Use a comma to separate additional author names
• Only two authors: separate with an ampersand [&]
• Provide author information for up to 20 authors
• Group authors: spell out full group name

Date

• Identify the date of publication, which could be a year or could include the month and day and place in parentheses
• Include a retrieval date for works expected to change over time (ex. Retrieved May 21, 2020 from https://xxxx)
• If no date can be identified, use n.d. in place of a date

Title

• Works part of a greater whole, like an article in a journal, use sentence case capitalization and do NOT italicize or put it in quotes
• Works that stand alone, like a book, italicize the title and use sentence case capitalization. Edition and volume statements should be put in parentheses after the title.
• For works that are outside of regular academic publications, use brackets after the title to describe it. Examples include [audiobook] or [Youtube video]
• Untitled works like a social media post should use up to the first 20 words of the post followed by brackets describing the work 

Source

• For works part of a great whole, the source is the whole (book or journal) plus any URL or DOI associated with the work
• For works that stand alone, the source is the publisher of the work, database or archive, social media site or website plus any URL or DOI associated with the work
• Omit the source when it repeats any of the previous elements
• Periodical sources: include periodical title, volume, issue and page numbers. Italicize the volume number, enclose issue number in parentheses. A comma comes next and then the page numbers followed by a period and a URL or DOI
• Edited book chapter/Reference Work sources: write the word "In" followed by the editor's initials and last name then the source title, page numbers of the chapter/entry and the publisher. If the publisher is the same as the source title, do not include it. After a period, include the URL or DOI if applicable
• Database and Archive sources: only include database/archive name when it is the publisher or sole provider. Italicize when including it, finish it with a period then include the URL or DOI
• Social Media sources: only cite social media as a source when it is the original content. Do not cite a social media source if you are using a shared website, etc. Provide site name in italics when citing (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Always include the DOI (digital object identifier) when it is available instead of a URL. If no DOI is available, use a URL that will work for any user. These can be active hyperlinks in your document