CMOS: Sample References Page Author-Date
The reference list is placed at the end of your paper, is a double-spaced alphabetized list of books, articles, and other sources used in writing the paper. This list provides all of the information someone would need to locate the source you’re referencing. This list is titled “References” in the author-date system.
The reference list form differs from in-text author-date citations in these ways:
- Label the first page of your comprehensive list of sources cited—“References” . Two blank lines should be left between this title and your first entry. One blank line should be left between remaining entries, which should be listed in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry. Sources you consulted but did not directly cite may or may not be included (consult your instructor).
- The author’s last name appears first (Rodriguez, Juana Garcia) in a reference list.
- For two to three authors or editors, write out all names in the order they appear on the title page of the source. For four to ten authors, write out all names on the references page but use just the first author’s name and “et al.”(not italicized) in the text itself.
- While in-text author-date citations usually indicate specific pages from which you took information; a bibliography lists entire books or a complete chapter to which you referred.
- If you cannot ascertain the publication date of a printed work, use the abbreviation “n.d.
- If there is no distinguishable author for a source, use the name of the editor, compiler, or translator followed by the abbreviation ed., comp., or trans. respectively in place of the author’s name. If the work was not edited, compiled, or translated, lead with the name of the organization or (in the case of articles) the publisher. If none of these are identifiable, then use the title of the work as the first item in the reference entry.
- For electronic journal articles and other web sources, DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are preferred to URLs (Uniform resource Locators). DOIs are to be prefaced with the letters “doi” and a colon. If you must use a URL, look for the “stable” version assigned by the journal.
