What is the DOI?
A DOI is a unique string of letters and numbers assigned by a publisher to an article. It provides a persisent or stable link to the item on the internet. The American Psychological Association recommends using the DOI when citing documents in APA style.
Where can I find it?
The DOI is typically located on the first page of the electronic journal article, near the copyright notice. In databases such as PsycINFO, you can find the DOI on the article's detail page.
There are a variety of tools, both online and in print, to help you properly format your citations.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: APA. Ask at the circulation desk).
Online
In addition to the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines, 7th edition, consider the following:
These are the basic elements of a journal article citation:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
In addition to tools like those listed above, look for the Cite feature in the databases.
A word of caution! Online tools are excellent but they are not necessarily correct. They read data as it is passed to them, so if the data is incorrect, the citation will be too. You need to understand APA format so you can edit and proof the results of the online products.
