APA reference checklist

An APA reference helps readers identify and find the source you used. This checklist summarizes selected APA 7th edition rules, with official APA Style guidance linked below.

What to review in your references

• Title capitalization. Article and book titles use sentence case: capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle, along with proper nouns. Journal titles use title case.
• Italics. Italicize journal titles and volume numbers, but not issue numbers or page ranges. Italicize book titles; do not italicize journal article titles.
• DOIs. If a journal article has a DOI, include it as a link in the form https://doi.org/…. Use the DOI assigned to the source, not an invented one.
• Author names and year. For individual authors, give the surname followed by initials. Put the publication year in parentheses. Group authors and sources without dates need their own formats.
• Reference-list layout. Apply a 0.5-inch hanging indent to each reference entry and double-space the list. Check this in your document, not just in pasted text.
• Alphabetical order. Alphabetize entries by the first word of each reference, usually the first author’s surname. Consult APA’s detailed guidance for ties and special cases.

Check the source as well as the format

Compare author names, dates, titles, and DOIs with the source itself. A reference can look correctly formatted and still contain inaccurate information. Use the APA example for the particular source type you are citing; a journal article and a book do not use identical formats.

Where Style Guide Scanner fits

Style Guide Scanner suggests style corrections to pasted text and highlights changes in the corrected version. It can miss issues or make an incorrect suggestion, so review the result against your sources and official guidance. Plain text does not reliably preserve italics, hanging indents, or document spacing; those still need a check in your document editor. The scanner does not verify that a cited source exists.

Public free scanning is currently waitlisted. Join the waitlist for an update when scanning opens, or read our guide to choosing an APA checker.

Official APA sources

• APA Style reference guide (PDF) — reference elements and capitalization.
• Journal article reference examples — italics and DOI links.
• Reference list setup — ordering, spacing, and hanging indents.

This is an independent summary, not an official APA publication or an exhaustive checklist.