Alphabetical order, done the way style guides expect
Reference lists in APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles are ordered alphabetically by the first element of each entry (usually the first author’s surname, or the title when there’s no author). Sorting them with a normal A–Z sort goes wrong in several ways this tool avoids:
- Leading articles (“The”, “A”, “An”) are ignored when an entry starts with a title, so The Chicago Manual of Style files under C.
- Accents and diacritics don’t push entries to the end: Álvarez sorts with the A’s.
- Punctuation and case are ignored, so de Vries and De Vries sort together.
- Numbers sort naturally.
Letter-by-letter or word-by-word
Most styles sort letter by letter, ignoring spaces (Newman before New York). Chicago allows word by word, where a space comes before any letter (New York before Newman). Choose the option your guide uses.
Entries over several lines
If your references are separated by blank lines (common when each entry wraps over several lines) auto-detect keeps each entry together. Remove duplicates is on by default because merged reference lists often repeat sources.
Worked example
Here is what the Bibliography Sorter returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Entries are separated by: Auto-detect; Ignore leading The / A / An: on; Word-by-word (Chicago option): off. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
Zinsser, W. (2006). On writing well (30th anniversary ed.). Harper Perennial.
The Chicago manual of style (18th ed.). (2024). University of Chicago Press.
Álvarez, J. (2019). Writing across cultures. Routledge.
Pinker, S. (2014). The sense of style. Viking.
de Vries, A. (2020). Plain language. Example Press.
King, S. (2000). On writing: A memoir of the craft. Scribner.Álvarez, J. (2019). Writing across cultures. Routledge.
The Chicago manual of style (18th ed.). (2024). University of Chicago Press.
de Vries, A. (2020). Plain language. Example Press.
King, S. (2000). On writing: A memoir of the craft. Scribner.
Pinker, S. (2014). The sense of style. Viking.
Zinsser, W. (2006). On writing well (30th anniversary ed.). Harper Perennial.Questions
How do I alphabetize a reference list?
Paste the list with one entry per line (or blank lines between entries). The sorted list ignores leading “The”/“A”, accents and punctuation.
How do you alphabetize entries with no author?
By the first significant word of the title, ignoring “A”, “An” and “The”.
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