Alvernia Home >Library Home > Article Databases > Citation Guides

APA Style Guide for Articles from Library Databases

• APA Update for Library Databases References
• Retrieval Date
• Where do I Find the Digital Object Identifier?
• How do I List an Article with no Digital Object Identifier?
  

APA Update for Library Databases References

The American Psychological Association updated the section on electronic resources in the 5th edition ofthe Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The updated APA Style Guide to Electronic References can be accessed from the Alvernia College Library Citation Guide Web page.

Two major changes for articles from library databases are

1. the retrieval date
2. listing the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) instead of a database name.
   
   

 

Retrieval Date

The retrieval date is only included for documents with no fixed publication date, edition, or version number. No retrieval date is necessary for content that is not likely to be changed or updated, such as a journal article or book.

 

Digital Object Identifier

When available, list the Digital Object Identifier instead of a library database or a URL.

To address the problem of changing and nonworking URL’s, scholarly publishers are beginning to assign a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to journal articles. The DOI is a unique and persistent link to the article.

Where do I find the DOI?

The DOI is often listed in the article citation or on the first page of the document. Examples with a DOI are listed below:

EBSCO Database Citation

 

Publisher Web Site

          Baicker, K. (2006). The labor market effects of rising health insurance. Journal of Labor Economics, 24(3), 609-634. doi: 10.1086/505049

How Do I List a Reference For an Article That Does Not Have a DOI?

The APA Style Guide to Electronic References is open to interpretation about how to list the source of library database articles that do not have a DOI. When in doubt, check with your course instructor about their preference for listing citations on your references page.

List either the name of the library database or the home page URL of the journal as the source of the article.

          Salt Lake City pharmaceutical disposal. (2007, August 20). Nation's Cities Weekly. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

                                                       or 

          Salt Lake City pharmaceutical disposal. (2007, August 20). Nation's Cities Weekly. Retrieved from http://nntp.nlc.org/articles/current_issue.aspx

The journal homepage url can often be found by clicking on the hyperlinked title of the publication. If not listed, it can be found by searching the title of the publication on Google.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated: June 26, 2008

Your comments are welcome.