Bibliographies and Hanging Indents

Posted: February 28, 2012

[caption id="attachment_9804" align="alignright" width="424"]© Helder Almeida - Fotolia.com[/caption]There is a significant difference between writing styles used for providing newspaper and magazine content and that for scholarly or research journals. One obvious difference is the need for a bibliography to document sources.

[caption id="attachment_9804" align="alignright" width="424"]© Helder Almeida - Fotolia.com[/caption]There is a significant difference between writing styles used for providing newspaper and magazine content and that for scholarly or research journals. One obvious difference is the need for a bibliography to document sources.

A bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the sources used in your research and has its own unique formatting requirements. One of which is the hanging indent. The first line of each bibliographic entry in the format “hangs out” 5 spaces, or 1/2" (1.25 cm) over the rest of the citation.  This formatting requirement helps to visually separate bibliographic entries from one another. 

State of New York. Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC Proposes

Wind Energy Guidelines for Conducting Avian Studies. Albany, NY: New York, January 24, 2008.

Wind Power: Impacts on Wildlife and Government Responsibilities for Regulating

Development and Protecting Wildlife, U.S. Government Accountability Office. September 2005. Pages 21-30. GAO-05-906

To more efficiently and automatically format the hanging indent follow these steps.

1. Highlight the paragraph that you want to have formatted as a hanging indented paragraph.

2. Once highlighted, on the Ribbon, next to the word "Paragraph" click the “arrow” to open the paragraph formatting window.