How to Create Hanging Indents in Your Bibliography

No matter what citation style you use, you will have to apply "hanging" indents to your bibliography/Works Cited list. Here's how to do it!

Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word

  1. Highlight the citation
  2. From the Home tab, click the bottom-right hand arrow in the Paragraph menu, or right-click the mouse & choose Paragraph
  3. Select the Indents and Spacing Tab
  4. Under Special: change the drop down menu to Hanging
  5. Click OK

Screenshot in MS Word depicting steps described above

Hanging Indent in Google Docs

Option 1

  1. Highlight the citation, then click the Format tab
  2. Select Align & Indent
  3. Select Indentation Options
  4. Use the Special drop-down menu to select "Hanging"

Screenshot in Google Docs depicting steps described above

Option 2

  • Use the ruler at the top of the page
  • Drag the arrow and bar together to 0.5, then drag just the bar back to 0

In Google Docs, use the ruler. Drag both the arrow and bar together over to 0.5, then drag just the top bar back to the left