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APA: Academic Article from Library Database

APA Academic or Peer Review Journal Article

When citing articles found in the library database, APA does not require the name of the database or a link to the article. BUT, your instructor may require that you include a link to the article. Be sure to check your assignment instructions.

  • Author names are always formatted as Lastname, comma, then their initials.
    • Do not use full first names.
    • Periods and spaces separate first and middle initials. 
    • Commas are used the separate different authors.
  • Article titles are written sentence style, which means you capitalize like you are writing a sentence. Capitalize the first word and any proper nouns in the title.
  • Journal Titles use the formal capitalization (like the name of a book or movie) and they are italicized.
  • Note where periods and commas separate pieces of information. If your article has a DOI, do not put a period after the DOI number.
  • To find the volume, issue, page numbers, and DOI look on the first page of the article or in the header or footer of the article pages. 
References:

Authors. (year of publication). Article title (capitalized sentence style). Journal Title (italicized), volume (and issue number, if available), page numbers. DOI 

Giri, R. K., Khatri, R. B., Mishra, S. R., Khanal, V., Sharma, V. D., & Gartoula, R. P. (2015). Prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among post-partum mothers in Nepal. BMC Research Notes, 8(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-015-1074-3

In-Text Citation:

(Giri et al., 2015)

APA EBSCO Database Cite Button

The library databases have a Cite button that will do your Reference entry for you. BUT, they do come with a warning that tells you to double check before you use them. As with online citation generators, they can have errors. We will show you how to use the Cite button and where to find the information so you can check that it is correct. The citation button is a great shortcut, as long as you can spot the errors!

Here is an example from an EBSCO database. Some of the article information is at the top of the page. You may have to scroll down a bit to find the volume, issue, and page numbers.

Most citation generators mess up on the capitalization of the article title. Can you spot the error?

APA Gale Database Cite Button

The library databases have a Cite button that will do your Reference entry for you. BUT, they do come with a warning that tells you to double check before you use them. As with online citation generators, they can have errors. We will show you how to use the Cite button and where to find the information so you can check that it is correct. The citation button is a great shortcut, as long as you can spot the errors!

Here is an example from a Gale database (Opposing Viewpoints). The article information appears at the top of the article page.

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