1 APA Style: ELECTRONIC DATABASES General Format

APA Style: ELECTRONIC DATABASES
This handout provides information on how to…
� document articles from Begley Library’s electronic databases for an APA style
reference list.
� cite sources within your paper (parenthetical citation) according to APA style
� cite sources on a separate references page according to APA style.
This information is not all-inclusive.
For a complete guide to using APA style, see the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6 th edition, available in Begley Library.
To reference a work from an electronic database, include the following information:
� Author(s)
� Year of publication
� Article title
� Publication title
� Volume number
� Page number(s)
� Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
General Format
Rules to follow when constructing your APA reference list:
1. The order in which you put your reference together will vary depending on whether the
information you’ve accessed over the database was originally published in a journal,
magazine, newspaper, reference book, or other source. Ask a Librarian, Learning Center
staff member, or your instructor if you need assistance deciding what kind of source your
information is from.
2. When referencing material obtained from an electronic database, follow the format
appropriate to the work retrieved (i.e., journal, newspaper, etc.).
3. When indicating the author(s) of the article, use the following format: last name, first initial,
second initial if given. For example, John P. Smith would be Smith, J. P.
4. When creating a reference list, arrange citations in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
Works without an author should be in alphabetical order by the first significant word in the
title. “The” and “a” are not significant words. For more information see Section 6.25 of the
Publication Manual.
5. The formats for one author, two authors, three to six authors and more than six authors
illustrated in the journal examples below should be followed when referencing articles from
other sources as well.
6. Note that words are not capitalized in titles except for the first letter of the first word and the
proper nouns.
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7. Include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) if one was assigned by the publisher. The DOI is
typically added to the first page of the article, near the copyright notice. Add the DOI in this
format: do1:xx.xxxxxxxx.
8. If no DOI was assigned to the article and you retrieved it online, include the home page URL
of the journal, newspaper, or magazine in this format: http://xxx.xxxxxxxx If accessed from a
database, do a quick web search for the periodical’s homepage URL instead of using the
database URL.
Examples:
Journal Article (1 author) with DOI
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page number. doi:
xx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (1 author) without DOI
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page number.
Retrieved from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (2 authors) with DOI
Author, A. A. & Author, B.B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page
number. doi: xx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (2 authors) without DOI
Author, A. A. & Author, B.B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page
Retrieved from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (3-6 authors) with DOI
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C.C, & Author, D. D.(Year). Title of article. Title of Journal,
volume, page number-page number. doi: xx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (3-6 authors) without DOI
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C.C., & Author, D. D. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal,
volume, page number-page number. Retrieved from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (more than 6 authors) with DOI
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C.C., Author D. D. Author, E.E., … LastAuthor, Z.Z. (Year).
Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page number. doi: xx.xxxxxxxx.
Journal Article (more than 6 authors) without DOI
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C.C., Author D. D. Author, E.E., … LastAuthor, Z.Z, (Year).
Title of article. Title of Journal, volume, page number-page number. Retrieved from
http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Magazine Article with DOI
Author, A. A., & Author, B. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Magazine, Volume, page
number-page number. doi: xx.xxxxxxxx.
Magazine Article without DOI
Author, A. A., & Author, B. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Magazine, Volume, page
number-page number. Retrieved from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
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Newsletter Article with DOI
Author, A. A. Title of article. Title of Newsletter, volume, page number-page number. doi:
xx.xxxxxxxx.
Newsletter Article without DOI
Author, A. A. Title of article. Title of Newsletter, volume, page number-page number. Retrieved
from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Newspaper Article (no author) with DOI
Title of article. (Year, Month, day). Title of Newspaper, p. number. doi: xx.xxxxxxxx.
Newspaper Article (no author) without DOI
Title of article. (Year, Month, day). Title of Newspaper, p. number. Retrieved from
http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Newspaper Article with DOI
Author, A.A. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, p. number. doi:
xx.xxxxxxxx.
Newspaper Article without DOI
Author, A.A. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, p. number. Retrieved from
http://xxx.xxxxxxx
Newspaper Article (discontinuous pages) with DOI
Author, A.A. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, pp. number, number. doi:
xx.xxxxxxxx.
Newspaper Article (discontinuous pages) without DOI
Author, A.A. (Year, Month, day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, pp. number, number.
Retrieved from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Reference Book Article with DOI
Author, A. (Year). Title of article or chapter. Title of reference book (Vol. #, pp. #-#). doi:
xx.xxxxxxxx.
Reference Book Article without DOI
Author, A. (Year). Title of article or chapter. Title of reference book (Vol. #, pp. #-#). Retrieved
from http://xxx.xxxxxxxx.
Specific Examples
• Journal article with DOI
Powers, M.V. & Workman, P.(2007). Inhibitors of the heat shock response: Biology and
pharmacology. FEBS Letters, 581, 3758–3769. doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2007.05.040
• Magazine without DOI
Quagliata, R. (2010). Hail hits Montalcino. Wine Spectator, 5, 13-13, Retrieved from
http://www.winespectator.com/
• Newspaper article
Ejikeme, A. (2010, June 5). The oil spills we don’t hear about. The International Herald Tribune,
p. 8. http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
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• RReference
Bo ook Article
Cubissm.
In Encyclo opædia Britannnica
online. Retrieved from
http://www w.britannica.coom/EBcheckeed/topic/1457444/Cubism
Sammple
Parent thetical Cittations
(Ciiting
WITHIIN
your Paaper)
In genneral,
parent thetical citations
are useed
within the text of your paper. The primary
purpoose
for citing g informationn
within the ppaper
is to aallow
the readder
to quicklly
go back too
the reeferences
pa age and find the full citatiion.
The seccond
reason is to be suree
that you arre
citingg
material an nd giving the proper creddit.
The ggeneral
format
for a parenthetical
citaation
is:
For example,
let’s s say the citaation
in yourr
references llooks
like this:
Zepf, B. (2005). Drug D Therapyy
for Patients wwith
Alzheimeer’s
Disease. American Faamily
Physician, 71. Retrieveed
from
http://www w.aafp.org/online/en/home/
/publications/jjournals/afp.hhtml.
Your parenthetica al citation wiithin
the textt
of your paper
would loook
like this:
As yoou
can see, if f someone iss
reading your
paper, theey
will easilyy
see the (Zeppf,
2005)
citatioon,
and can easily find itt
in the refereences
page……Author
andd
Date.
Otherr
Formats:
The aabove
examp ple was for citing
a journal
article thaat
has an authhor
and publication
datee.
This fformat
is fine e if you indeed
have thosse
parts. Buut
what if it’s a website, oor
somethingg
with nno
author?
A commmon
situation
is an enccyclopedia
article
with noo
author or AANY
article wwith
no
authoor.
The ppresent
peril. (1865, June 24). Harper’ss
Weekly,9, 3386.
Retrieveed
from
http://www w.harpers.org/ /subjects/WeeeklyReview
If there
is no auth hor, but theree
is a title, usse
the title inn
the parenthhetical
citatioon
along withh
the yeear
it was pu ublished:
•
(Last name e of author(s) ), date of publlication)
Families
dealing withh
Alzheimers disease encoounter
difficulty
accessing social
services fo or which they are qualified (Zepf, 2005). .
The Civil War
was fought, with both siddes
believing that God wass
on their sidee
(“The
Present Peril l”, 1865).
To sitte
a specific PART of a ssource,
a bit more informmation
is requuired.
You mmust
indicatee
the paage,
chapter r, figure, tablle,
or equatioon
at the apppropriate
point
within thee
text. See
exammples
below:
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Assuming g the citationns
in the refeerences
pagee
look like this:
Costaa
Rica (2006) . The World AAlmanac
andd
Book of Factts.
Retrievedd
from
http://www w.oclc.org/suppport/documenntation/firstseearch/databasses/dbdetails/
/details/Worldd
Almanac.h htm
NOTEE:
Please not te that there iis
no author foor
this referennces
citation. This situatioon
is frequentlly
encountere ed for encycloopedias
and wwebsites.
The
title takes thhe
place of thhe
author
when listin ng the citationn
in the references
page ass
well as whenn
cited within the text of the
paper.
The Paren nthetical Citaation
could loook
like this:
The ccountry
of Cos sta Rica, wheen
translated iinto
English, lliterally
means
rich coast ( “Costa Rica”, ,
par. 33,
2006).
To the
reader, this s would indicate
that thee
particular iddea
or quotee
was found iin
the third
paraggraph
of the encyclopediia
article found
online.
Also note that the ere was NO aauthor
for this
article. If you cannot ffind
an authoor
for the
articlee
and/or web bsite, use thee
title, then tthe
page/paraagraph
numbber,
then thee
year if
availaable.
NOTEE:
On interne et sites, including
electroonic
encycloopedias,
webb
pages, and,
at times,
databbases,
the pa age numberss
as they apppear
in the PRINTED
verssion
are not ggiven.
Thereefore,
the paragraphs
need
to be inclluded
as partt
of the citation
information.
You ccan
get inven ntive with hoow
you cite ssources
by inncluding
the author as paart
of your
text aand
citing the e year in parrenthesis
as described beelow:
Sourcce-reflective
statements give you an opportunity to assert yoour
authorial voice.
Writerrs
use source e-reflective staatements
to pprovide
editorial
comment, clarification, qualification,
ampliffication,
disse ent, agreemennt,
and so on.
In the followwing
example, , the absencee
of a source-
reflecctive
statemen nt creates unccertainty
as too
whether the writer has finnished
citing aan
Internet
sourcce
or has mere ely moved froom
quoting dirrectly
to paraphrasing.
Sosteric c (1996, Introoduction)
has noted that "exponential
grrowth
of the primary
literature coupled c with aan
explosive ggrowth
in the cost of distribbuting
scholarrly
informationn
has put se erious strain oon
the financiaal
resources oof
libraries and
universitiess."
This
demand fo or and cost of distributing pprimary
literature
suggests that we can eexpect
more
electronic journals j to apppear
online in
the next feww
years—sureely
a benefit tto
scholarly
communication.
The above e samples arre
provided a
concerned d. The mostt
common sit
not repres sented here, please the P
Psycholog gical Associiation;
6 th as accurate eexamples
ass
far as formaat
is
tuations are presented aabove.
If youur
situation iss
Publication MManual
of thee
American
ediition
(Ready Reference SShelf).
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Sample References Page
Here is a sample of how your page should be set-up.
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This guide is based on the publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6 th edition.
The 5 th edition version was created by Carrie Laier, January 2006 and revised by Mark Lasek, July 2006.
Updated for the 6 th edition by Tom Mangano and Sarah Russo, September 2010.
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