10 Citation Formatting Mistakes Every Student Makes (And How to Fix Them)

You’ve written a solid essay, your argument is strong, and your sources are credible. Then you get your grade back and discover you’ve lost marks on referencing. It stings — especially when the mistakes are fixable formatting details you didn’t even know about.

Here are the ten most common citation formatting mistakes students make, why they matter, and exactly how to fix each one.

1. Missing Hanging Indents

The mistake: Your reference list entries are formatted like normal paragraphs — either left-aligned or with a first-line indent.

The fix: Reference lists in APA, Harvard, MLA, and Chicago all use hanging indents. The first line of each entry sits flush against the left margin, and every subsequent line is indented (typically 1.27 cm or 0.5 inches).

In Microsoft Word: Select your reference list, go to Paragraph settings, and under “Special” choose “Hanging.” In Google Docs: Highlight the text, go to Format > Align & indent > Indentation options, and set “Special indent” to “Hanging.”

This small formatting detail signals to markers that you understand proper referencing conventions.

2. Incorrect Title Capitalisation

The mistake: Using the wrong capitalisation style for titles in your reference list.

The fix: Different styles have different rules:

• APA — Use sentence case for article and book titles in the reference list (only capitalise the first word, first word after a colon, and proper nouns). Example: The impact of social media on adolescent wellbeing.
• MLA — Use title case for all titles. Example: The Impact of Social Media on Adolescent Wellbeing.
• Harvard — Varies by university, but many follow sentence case for articles and title case for books. Check your institution’s guide.

Note that APA still uses title case for journal names: Journal of Educational Psychology, not Journal of educational psychology.

3. Getting “Et Al.” Wrong

The mistake: Using et al. too early, too late, or formatting it incorrectly.

The fix: The rules depend on your citation style and the number of authors:

• APA 7th edition — Use et al. from the very first citation for works with three or more authors. Example: (Smith et al., 2024). Note: “et al.” has a period after “al” (it’s an abbreviation of et alia) but not after “et.”
• Harvard — Typically the same as APA, but check your university’s handbook.
• MLA — Use et al. for works with three or more authors.
• Chicago (author-date) — Use et al. for four or more authors.

In your reference list, APA requires you to list up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis. Don’t use et al. in the reference list unless your style guide explicitly allows it.

4. Mixing Up “&” and “And”

The mistake: Using “and” in APA in-text citations or “&” in running text.

The fix: In APA:

• Parenthetical citations: Use & — (Smith & Jones, 2024)
• Narrative citations: Use “and” — Smith and Jones (2024) found that…

In Harvard, you typically use “and” in both contexts. In MLA, always use “and.” This is a small detail that distinguishes APA from Harvard and one that markers check for.

5. URLs Instead of DOIs

The mistake: Pasting a long, breakable URL when a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available.

The fix: In APA 7th edition, always use the DOI if one exists. Format it as a URL: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. DOIs are permanent links that won’t break over time, while regular URLs can change or disappear.

To find a DOI, search for the article title at doi.org or check the article’s landing page — it’s usually near the title or in the article metadata.

If no DOI exists and you accessed the source online, include the URL. Don’t add a “Retrieved from” statement unless the content is likely to change (like a social media post or wiki article).

6. Incorrect Italics

The mistake: Italicising the wrong parts of a reference, or not italicising at all.

The fix:

• Books: Italicise the title. The psychology of learning.
• Journal articles: Italicise the journal name and volume number, not the article title. Smith, J. (2024). Article title here. Journal Name, 15(2), 45-60.
• Websites: In APA, italicise the title of the webpage. In MLA, italicise the name of the website (the container).

A common error is italicising article titles instead of (or as well as) journal names. In APA, article titles are never italicised in the reference list — they’re in plain sentence-case text.

7. Forgetting Page Numbers for Direct Quotes

The mistake: Including a direct quote but only citing the author and year.

The fix: Every direct quote requires a page number (or equivalent locator). This applies across all major styles:

• APA: (Smith, 2024, p. 45) or (Smith, 2024, pp. 45-46)
• Harvard: (Smith 2024, p. 45)
• MLA: (Smith 45)
• Chicago: (Smith 2024, 45)

If the source doesn’t have page numbers (such as a website), use paragraph numbers (para. 4), section headings, or timestamps for audiovisual sources. For more details, see our guide on how to cite direct quotes.

8. Inconsistent Date Formatting

The mistake: Mixing date formats across references — sometimes writing “2024,” other times “2024, March 15,” with inconsistent punctuation.

The fix: For most source types in APA, only the year goes in parentheses after the author: Smith, J. (2024). Include the full date (year, month day) only for sources where the specific date matters — like newspaper articles, blog posts, or social media posts: Smith, J. (2024, March 15).

In Harvard, the year follows the author without parentheses: Smith, J 2024. Always be consistent with how you handle months — spell them out in full; don’t abbreviate unless your specific style guide instructs you to.

9. Wrong Alphabetical Order

The mistake: Listing references in the order they appear in your essay, or in a random order.

The fix: In APA, Harvard, and MLA, the reference list is always alphabetical by the first author’s surname. If you have multiple works by the same author, order them by year (earliest first). If the same author published multiple works in the same year, add a letter suffix: (Smith, 2024a), (Smith, 2024b) — and alphabetise by title.

Chicago’s bibliography follows the same alphabetical rule. Only Chicago’s footnote/endnote system doesn’t use an alphabetised bibliography (though many lecturers still require one).

10. Missing or Incomplete Entries

The mistake: Citing a source in your essay but forgetting to include it in your reference list — or including a partial entry with missing details.

The fix: Every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference list entry, and vice versa. Before submitting, cross-check: go through your essay and tick off each citation against your reference list. Look for:

• Sources you cited but didn’t list
• Reference list entries with no matching in-text citation
• Entries missing the author, year, title, or source details

This cross-check is tedious but essential. It’s also one of the easiest ways to pick up lost marks.

Stop Losing Marks on Formatting

These ten mistakes are responsible for the majority of referencing marks lost at university. The frustrating part is that they’re not about your understanding of the material — they’re about formatting rules that are hard to memorise and easy to slip up on.

RefFinder handles this automatically. It generates your bibliography with correct hanging indents, capitalisation, italics, DOIs, and alphabetical ordering — in APA, Harvard, MLA, or Chicago. You focus on the argument; RefFinder handles the formatting.

Try it free and see how your reference list should look.