Reference List Checklist: Ten Tips for Tweaking Your Reference List

1. Reference List Checklist:Ten Tips for Tweaking Your Reference List Kayla Skarbakka Writing Consultant

2. Agenda • Top 10 reference list formatting mistakes • Resources • Questions

3. Housekeeping Issues Questions Recording: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/26.htm

4. When good intentions fall short…

5. Do not submit before checking your reference list! • Students frequently lose points on easy-to-fix reference list errors. • As a Writing Center tutor, I have compiled the ten most common reference list errors we see in the Writing Center. • Take 10-15 minutes to make sure your reference list steers clear of these common mistakes.

6. 1 Insert a page break A formal page break will ensure that no matter what changes you make to your paper, the reference list will always appear at the beginning of its own new page. http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/440.htm

7. 2 Format your title correctly References Alexander, G., & Bonaparte, N. (2008). My way or the highway that I built. Ancient Dictators, 25(7), 14-31. doi:10.8220/CTCE.52.1.23-91 Babar, E. (2007). The art of being a French elephant. Adventurous Cartoon Animals,19, 4319-4392. Retrieved from http://www.elephants104.ace.org • The title “References” should be centered and be in plain text. No punctuation should follow the title. • Use the word “References” (or “Reference” if you have only one source), not “Bibliography,” “Resources,” or “Works Cited”

8. 3 Remove Hyperlinks • Remove all hyperlinks from your reference list by right clicking on the link and selecting “Remove Hyperlink”. • After doing so, your link should no longer be bright blue or underlined. It should be in plain text (like the rest of your reference list).

9. 4 Use a hanging indent • In a hanging indent, the first line of each reference is flush left and all other lines are indented ½ inch • Don’t manually create a hanging indent for each reference. • How to make a hanging indent: • Change your formatting settings • Hit Control + T http://www.screencast.com/t/8fzBK2sxs

10. 5 Capitalize titles correctly Per APA guidelines, the title’s first word, its first word following a colon (or the first word of a subtitle), and its proper nouns are the only words that should be capitalized. Example:Elizabeth Cady Stanton: The woman, the hero, the legend Because Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a proper noun, it is capitalized here. Because “The” is the first word of a subtitle, which is marked with a colon, it is capitalized here.

11. 6 Format titles correctly Although APA style does not have different rules for the capitalization of titles in books, websites, and journals, it does have different rules for their formatting. • Shorter works, such as journal article titles and webpage titles are written in plain text. Example: Hepatitis A: Prevention and treatment • Longer works, such as books and entire journals are italicized. Additionally, all important words in journal titles are capitalized. Journal Example: Journal of Modern Medicine Book Example: Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the body

12. 7 Find the DOI or URL • Per 6th edition APA, you will want to include a DOI (instead of database retrieval information) when citing journal articles found online • Example: doi:12.2847/CEDG.39.2.51-71 • If no DOI can be found, you should then use the URL of the journal’s homepage (again—not database retrieval information). • Example: www.journalofscience.com • For help finding the DOI, make sure to use the Writing Center’s DOI flowchart.

13. 8 Include publication information for print sources • If you are citing a book print source, you will want to include the city of publication and state postal code (even if you use a well known city like New York or San Francisco) • In addition to the city and state of publication, you should also include the name of the publisher Example: Atlanta, GA: Peach Press

14. 9 Use correct punctuation • When in a rush, it is easy to look over missing or misplaced periods and commas in your reference list. Jacobson, N. S., & Truax, P. (1991). Clinical significance: A statistical approach to defining change in psychotherapy research.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59(2), 12–19. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.59.1.12 • The blue periods show how punctuation comes after the author names, date (which goes inside parentheses), title, and source. • The red commas demonstrate that commas come between the author’s last name and first initial(s), the journal title and the volume number, and the issue number and the page numbers. • Note that you should not add punctuation marks after DOIs or URLs in reference list entries. These can function as live links to lead readers directly to article information; thus the precise alphanumeric string (without added punctuation) is needed. • For trickier sources, check out: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/07/punctuating-the-reference-list-entry.html

15. Other useful resources: Writing Center Reference List Help: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/353.htm APA style blog: http://blog.apastyle.org/ writingsupport@waldenu.edu

16. 10 Double space your reference list • Your reference list should be double spaced, but you should not include extra spaces between references. • Just like hanging indents, formatting MS word to do the double spacing for you will save time: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/432.htm • For a visual example of how your reference list will look once double spaced, check out our template: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm

17. In review… • 1. Insert a page break • 2. Format your reference title • 3. Remove hyperlinks • 4. Format a hanging indent • 5. Capitalize titles correctly • 6. Format titles correctly • 7. Find the DOI/URL • 8. Include publication information • 9.Use correct punctuation • 10. Double space your reference list

18. Questions writingsupport@waldenu.edu