DOI Numbers in Library Databases
Some electronic content is assigned a unique number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). If a DOI is provided for a journal article, include it after the page numbers of the article as "doi:doi number".
You do not need to put a period after a DOI number.
Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
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Not sure whether your article is from a journal? Look for these characteristics:
Articles may also come from magazines or newspapers.
Author
If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.
When an article has one to seven authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has eight or more authors list the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.
Titles
Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize the titles of articles.
Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.
Dates
If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.
Volume and Issue Numbers
Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers
Retrieval Dates
Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.
Page Numbers
If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. doi: doi number
Example |
Bailey, N.W. (2012). Evolutionary models of extended phenotypes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 561-569. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.011 |
In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Bailey, 2012) |
In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number) (Bailey, 2012, p. 562) |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. doi: doi number
Note: Separate the authors' names by putting a comma between them. For the final author listed add an ampersand (&) after the comma and before the final author's last name.
Example |
Pempek, T.A., Yermolayeva, Y.A., & Calvert, S.L. (2009). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3(2), 227-238. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010t |
In-Text | See chart |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. Retrieved from Name of Database.
Note: The APA Manual (6th ed.) recommends using the URL of the journal home page for online articles without a DOI. However, we recommend using the name of the database where you found the article for articles without a DOI.
Example |
Carlisle, D. (2012). In the line of fire. Nursing Standard, 26(39), 18-19. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. |
In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Carlisle, 2012) |
In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (Carlisle, 2012, p. 18) |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number if given. Retrieved from Name of Database.
Note: In the reference list invert all authors' names; give last names and initials for only up to and including seven authors. When a source has eight or more authors, include the first six authors’ names, then three ellipses (…), and add the last author’s name.
Note: The APA Manual (6th ed.) recommends using the URL of the journal home page for online articles without a DOI. However, we recommend using the name of the database where you found the article for articles without a DOI.
Example |
Bogan, E., & Paun, E. (2011). The assimilation of immigrants into the British labor market. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 3(2), 272. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. |
In-Text | See chart |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if given). Retrieved from URL
Example |
Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area. Electronic Green Journal, 1(30). Retrieved from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4 |
In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) (Flachs, 2010) |
In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3) Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out. |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number.
Example |
Jungers, W.L. (2010). Biomechanics: Barefoot running strikes back. Nature, 463(2), 433-434. |
In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Jungers, 2010) |
In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page number) Example: (Jungers, 2010, p. 433) |
When a journal article has eight or more authors:
References List
List the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name.
Example |
Chan, S. S., Chan, W., Cheng, Y., Fung, O. M., Lai, T. H., Leung, A. K., & ... Pang, S. C. (2010). Development and evaluation of an undergraduate training course for developing international council of nurses disaster nursing competencies in China. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(4), 405-413. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2010.01363.x |
In-Text Paraphrase |
(First author's last name et al., Year) Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016) |
In-Text Quote |
(First author's last name et al., Year, p. Page number quote is from) Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016, p. 103) |
When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.
Example In-Text:
Paraphrasing content from first source by this author (Daristotle, 2015a). "Now I am quoting from the second source by the same author" (Daristotle, 2015b, p. 50).
Example Reference List entries:
Daristotle, J. (2015a). Name of first article. Made Up Journal, 26(39), 18-19. Retrieved from Pretend Library database.
Daristotle, J. (2015b). Title of second article. Another Made Up Journal, 35(1), 48-55. Retrieved from Another Pretend Library database.
Type of Group | First Time Paraphrased | Second and Subsequent Times Paraphrased | First Time Quoting | Second and Subsequent Times Quoting |
---|---|---|---|---|
Groups readily identified through abbreviations |
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) |
(NIMH, 2003) |
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003, p. 5) | (NIMH, 2003, p. 5) |
Groups with no abbreviations | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005, p. 2) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005, p. 2) |