In a paragraph with a hanging indent, the first line begins flush left; the second line, and any other succeeding lines, begins 1/2 inch from the left margin. (A normal paragraph uses the opposite format: only the first line indents, and any subsequent lines align flush left.) This type of indent also goes by the terms "outdent" and "flush and hanging."
Use hanging indents in the reference list of an APA paper. Each source's citation entry counts as one paragraph, so each entry begins flush left. If a long entry extends past one line---common for sources that need longer citations, such as journal articles or Web resources---indent those subsequent lines. Some sources, such as books with short titles, only comprise one line each; in those cases, the hanging indent won't appear.
In your word processing program, locate the arrows that control the paragraph indents, usually just above the top of the page. Drag the bottom arrow until it reaches the mark halfway between the left margin and the 1-inch mark. Or use your word processor's menu for controlling paragraphs; in the section that addresses indentation, choose "Hanging" as a special option if available.
Never create the hanging indent by pressing "Enter" at the beginning of each subsequent line or by adding spaces until the lines reach their proper place; only use the automatic method. Manually moving the lines can damage the formatting, especially if the citation is copied, moved or published elsewhere. Additionally, manual formatting makes it much more difficult to change anything in the citation, if you find any mistakes later, when you're proofreading your paper.
The hanging indent helps readers locate particular sources more quickly. In the text of an APA paper, sources are cited by author and publication date; hence, when readers search in the reference list for a source's full publication information, they look for the author's name. To ease this process, each entry in the reference list begins with the author. The hanging indent further aids the reader by setting apart the first word or two in each entry; this visually emphasizes each author's name, making it easy for the reader to scan the list of resources to find the desired source.