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How to write a reference list
The list at the end is not an afterthought or a formality. It is the part of the document a marker can check fastest, which is why the mistakes in it are the ones that get found.
What goes in it
Everything you cited, and nothing else
A reference list holds the sources you actually cited in the text. A bibliography, which some briefs ask for instead, also holds what you read and did not cite. They are different documents with different names and it is worth checking which one you were asked for.
Every source, whatever its form
A lecture slide, a dataset, a podcast and a government report all belong in the list if you used them. Leaving something out because it did not feel like a proper source is a decision a marker will read as an omission.
Not general knowledge
You do not cite that water boils at 100 degrees. You do cite anything a reader might reasonably want to check, and anything a reader might otherwise think you came up with yourself.
Ordering it
Alphabetical, by the first thing in the entry
APA, MLA, Harvard and Chicago all order the list alphabetically by whatever the entry starts with. Usually that is the first author's family name. For an unsigned source it is the title, which is exactly why the title moves into the author's place rather than leaving a bracket where a name should be.
Numbered, in IEEE and Vancouver
Those two number the list in the order you first cite each source, and the in-text citation is that number. Move a paragraph and the numbering changes, so number the list last.
The same author, more than once
Order by year, earliest first. If two entries share an author and a year, the styles add a letter to the year, 2019a and 2019b, and the letters follow the alphabetical order of the titles.
Making it look right
A hanging indent, not a first-line one
The first line of each entry sits at the margin and the rest is indented. It exists so a reader scanning for a surname sees a clean column of names. Set it in your word processor rather than with spaces or line breaks, or it will fall apart the moment the text reflows.
Double spaced, in most briefs
APA and MLA both expect the list double spaced with no extra gap between entries. A list that is single spaced with a blank line between entries looks close and is neither.
Italics survive the copy, and plain text does not
Copying a reference out of any generator, including this one, gives you plain text. Titles that a style italicises need italicising in your document afterwards. It is the one part of the formatting no plain text can carry.
The check worth doing last
Every citation has an entry, and every entry has a citation
The two lists should match exactly. A source in the text with no entry looks like carelessness; an entry never cited in the text looks like padding. It is the fastest thing for a marker to test and one of the easiest to fix.
Every identifier resolves
A DOI or an ISBN either resolves to a record or it does not. A reference that was never published looks exactly like one that was until somebody follows the link, which is what the checker on this site does.
The order is the last thing you do
Alphabetise, or number, once the writing has stopped moving. Doing it earlier means doing it twice.
Questions
Reference list or bibliography?
A reference list holds only what you cited. A bibliography also holds what you read. Read the brief: some departments use the two words interchangeably and some do not, and it is a five second question that changes what you submit.
Do I include something I read but did not cite?
In a reference list, no. In a bibliography, yes. If you found a source genuinely useful for your thinking, the honest fix is usually to cite it somewhere rather than to smuggle it into the list.
How do I alphabetise an organisation?
By the first significant word of its name, ignoring a leading The. The World Health Organization files under W. Do not file it under its abbreviation unless that is how the source itself is named.
What if a source has no date?
Use n.d. in place of the year, and file it in the same alphabetical position it would otherwise take. Do not guess a year from a copyright footer: that is the site's year, not the page's.
Does the list need its own heading?
Yes, and the styles name it differently. APA calls it References, MLA calls it Works Cited, and most Harvard guides call it a Reference list. Using the wrong heading is a small thing that signals you followed a different style's guide.
Build the references themselves
More on citing
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