APA Citation Help, 7th Edition for Medicine, Nursing, & Health Sciences

For an example of a reference list, please visit: 

• Annotated student paper - Final two pages have a reference list example

• Begin the reference list on a new page. The word 'References' is bolded and centered on the first line.
  
• Alphabetize references by the last name of the first author.
  • In the case of authors with multiple papers, use the publication date to order those papers. HOWEVER, if the order of the authors is different, use that to order papers first.
  • If there is no author, use the title of the work.​
• Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20 authors. 
  • When there are 21 or more authors, list the first 19, insert an ellipses (...) and then add the final author's name. 
• A group author may be included as an author. This could include government agencies, associations, non-profit organizations, hospitals, task forces, etc. A group author may publish on its own or in conjunction with individuals or other groups.
  • Spell out the full name of the group author in the reference list followed by a period: American Music Association. 
  • When there are multiple layers of, for example, government agencies listed as the author, use the most specific agency ias the author in the reference list entry. Only use the parent agency if it would cause confusion to use the most specific agency.
    • The names of the parent agencies can appear as the publisher if that is part of the reference list entry. ​
• The entire reference list should be double-spaced.
• The first line of a reference should have a normal alignment. All subsequent lines of a single reference should have a hanging indentation (indented .5 inches from the margin).
• Use a comma before the ampersand, even with only two authors (Lerner, R. C., & Lerner, C. G.)
• Each work cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in text.

When multiple references have an identical author (or authors) and publication year, include a lowercase letter after the year. These letters are assigned when the references are placed in order in the reference list (alphabetically by title, because the authors and order are exactly the same). 

The same author/date rules apply only when the authors and year match exactly. If the authors are in a different order, if some are omitted, or if there is a single author versus multiple authors, these rules do not apply. 

The year–letter combination is used in both the in-text citation and the reference list entry. Use only the year with a letter in the in-text citation, even if the reference list entry contains a more specific date.