Citing Your Sources

A hanging indent is a formatting technique that involves indenting all lines of a paragraph except the first line.

Hanging indents serve a specific purpose in reference lists according to APA, MLA, and Chicago style guidelines to separe reference entries, enabling readers to quickly differentiate between different sources. See the image below for an example of what a hanging indent looks like.

You can create hanging indents using Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

How do I make a hanging indent in Word?

1. Highlight the citation in your reference list with the cursor that you want to indent.

2. Right-click.

3. Select Paragraph.

4. Under Indentation, select Special and Hanging.

5. Click OK.

How do I make a hanging indent in Google Docs?

1. Highlight the citation in your reference list with the cursor that you want to indent.

2. Click Format from the top menu, then select Align & indent

3. From the Align & Indent menu, click Indentation options.

3. In the Indentation options menu under Special, select Hanging.

5. Click Apply.