SW 3185 - Social Work Research - Ilesanmi, Velazquillo Franco

APA requires a "hanging indent" for citations in a References list (or annotated bibliography). This means the first line of each citation is flush left and subsequent lines are indented. To do this in Microsoft Word, first ensure you have no extra spaces or tabs in your citations, then:

1. Highlight the entire bibliography (or entire citation in an annotated bibliography).
2. In the Home tab, Paragraph section, choose the tiny arrow in the bottom right of that section.
3. Under Indentation > Special, choose Hanging from the pull-down options.
4. Then choose OK.

Note that the instructions for Google Docs are similar. Use the Format tab, Align & Indent, and Indentation Options. Under Special, choose Hanging.

For instructions with visuals, see this guide from Central Connecticut State University's library.

One major change from the previous edition of the APA manual relates to how many authors to include in in-text citations. Include all authors every time you refer to a source as long as the source has 1 or 2 authors. For 3+ authors, use first author and et al. every time you refer to that source. See below for description and examples (APA 7th edition, p. 266).

What if my article doesn't have page numbers?

You can refer to articles by the article number if there is one instead of page numbers. See this example.