LibGuides: Surg Tech: Citing Library Databases

How to Cite Scholarly Sources from Library Databases in APA

Academic Journal from a Database
eBook from a Database

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.

References:

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.

Examples:

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

APA Journal Article Reference Checklist

Reference Page

Author names are always formatted as Lastname, comma, Initials.
- Do not include full first names.
Book titles are italicized and capitalized sentence style.
- Sentence style capitalization means you capitalize the first word, proper nouns (names & places) and the first word in a subtitle (after the : colon).
Note where periods and commas separate pieces of information. There is no period after the DOI
The copyright and publisher information can be found on the title and copyright pages near the front of the book

Author. (year). Title italicized and capitalized sentence style. Publisher. DOI

Silo, L. M. (2010). The turquoise ledge: A memoir. Viking Books. https://doi.org/11111

In-Text Citation

(Last name, year)

(Silo, 2010)

Citation Shortcuts in the Library Databases

Citing an Article from EBSCO
Citing an Article from Gale

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?