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PSY 201 - Research Methods Lab - Fall 2023: Citing in APA

DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

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.

Citing Your Documents in APA

There are a variety of tools, both online and in print, to help you properly format your citations.

Print

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.

Tips to Remember

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  • Do not spell out author's first or middle names. Use first and middle initials only.
  • Double space all references.
  • Use a hanging indent for the first line of each reference.
  • Capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle and proper nouns.
  • Alphabetize the reference list by the last name of the author.