Final answer:
In a reference list, write the author's last name, followed by a comma and their first and middle initials, without including any titles like Dr. Alphabetize the entries by last name and use a hanging indent and double spacing for the format.
Step-by-step explanation:
When writing authors' first and middle names in a reference list, the standard format is to provide the author's last name followed by a comma, then the initials of their first and middle names (if the middle name is provided). For example, if the author's name is James Robert Smith, the entry would be formatted as Smith, J. R. When listing multiple authors for the same work, they should be separated by commas, with an ampersand (&) preceding the last author's name. In a bibliography or reference page, entries are alphabetized by the authors' last names, and sources with unknown authors are alphabetized by the first significant word of the title, excluding articles like 'a', 'an', and 'the'. The entire page should be double-spaced, with each entry beginning at the left margin and subsequent lines indented one-half inch, creating a hanging indent. When citing a book, include the author's last name, initials, the year of publication in parentheses, the title of the book in italics with important words capitalized, and the publisher's name.