How to Do a Hanging Indent in Word | How to Format a Bibliography in APA Style | References in Word, by Excel, Word and PowerPoint Tutorials from Howtech on YouTube. 2 min 2 s.
- Video length
- 2 min 2 s
- Time to do it
- 5 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Type each reference as its own paragraph and press Enter after each one. Do not add manual spaces or tabs at the start of lines.
Select all the reference text you want to format. Drag from the first reference to the end of the last one.
On the Home tab, find the Paragraph group and click the small arrow in its bottom right corner to open the Paragraph settings window.
In the Indentation section, open the Special drop-down menu and choose Hanging.
Click OK to close the window. The second and later lines of every selected reference now sit indented.
To use the ruler instead, go to the View tab and tick Ruler so the scale appears above the page.
With the text still selected, drag the bottom triangle marker on the left of the ruler to the right. This sets the hanging indent.
Drag the top triangle marker to set where the first line of each reference starts. Keep it at the left margin for APA style.
Tips and common mistakes
Select the whole list before changing settings so every reference gets the same indent.
If the ruler markers move together, drag the small square below them to shift the whole paragraph, or drag only the triangle you need.
APA style usually uses a half inch hanging indent, which is the Word default.
Avoid pressing Tab or Space to fake the indent, because the lines will not line up when you edit the text.
Questions
What is the difference between the top and bottom ruler markers?
The top triangle sets the first line indent. The bottom triangle sets the hanging indent for the second and later lines of the paragraph.
Does this work for MLA references too?
Yes. MLA also uses a hanging indent on the works cited list, so the same Paragraph settings apply.
Why did only one reference change?
You probably had the cursor in a single paragraph without selecting the rest. Select the full list and apply the setting again.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
