How to Write Anything (or…How to Cite Anything) How to cite from a database in APA

How to cite from a database in APA style. Say you’re searching an online database because you’re writing a paper about Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, and you find a journal article comparing their commitment to human rights. How do you cite that journal article in your paper, giving proper credit to the database?

To cite a scholarly journal article from a database in APA style, you’ll need to gather seven elements: the author name; the publication date; the article title; the name of the journal; the volume and issue number; the page range; and the digital object identifier (also known as the D-O-I) or the URL.

Databases often provide multiple ways of viewing an article. In this database, the article can be viewed both within the database browser window, and as a PDF.

On the main database screen, source information is listed just above the article text, and the PDF has headers and footers that also contain source information, just as they would in a print journal.

Start with the authors of the report. List last names first, and use initials for first and middle names. If the article doesn’t list a middle initial, leave it out. Also, don’t include institutions or academic degree credentials in your citation, even if they’re listed in the article. If an article has two or more authors, use an ampersand before the last author’s name. You can list up to seven authors in an APA citation. If an article has eight or more authors, list only the first six authors followed by three ellipsis dots and the last author’s name.

List the year and month of the specific journal issue. Here, that information is listed near the very top of the page, and also prominently to the right of the article. In this case, the journal identifies by season, not month, so use the season with the year. If no date is listed, indicate that by writing “N-D” in parentheses.

Next, list the title of the article. Include both the title and subtitle. Add the name of the journal. As before, it’s listed near the top of the page, and also prominently to the right of the article.

Find the volume and issue number. Here, they are listed alongside the journal title and date near the top of the page, and also to the right of the article. Here are the rules for whether to include both numbers in your citation: If the publication is paginated continuously through each volume, add only the volume number to your citation. If each volume begins on page 1—as it does here— include both the volume and issue number.

Next, add the page range to your citation. When an article appears on consecutive pages, indicate the range using the first and last page numbers. In a database, sometimes the article text will list the page numbers in the body of the article. First and last page numbers can also be found on the article’s PDF file, which may also list the full page range in the first page footer, as here. If an article doesn’t appear on consecutive pages, list all page numbers, separated by commas.

Finally, list the D-O-I, or digital object identifier, here found in this journal issue’s table of contents. If no D-O-I is listed, use the URL of the journal’s home page. This should be the address of the journal’s own Web site, not its page within the database. In your citation, the words “Retrieved from” should precede the URL, as shown.

Once you’ve found all of the elements for your citation, double-check your punctuation. When you add this citation to your references list, be sure to indent each line except for the very first one. This is called a hanging indent. Author names should be listed last name, comma, first initial. The publication date should be listed year, comma, month or season. This should be in parentheses, with a period outside the second parenthesis.

Only the first words in the title and subtitle should be capitalized, unless they are proper nouns, as “Lincoln” is here. The article title should be followed by a period. The journal name should be in title case and italic font. It should be followed by a comma. The volume number should be in italic font, and the issue number—enclosed in parentheses—should directly follow it, with no space before the first parenthesis. The issue number should not be in italic font, and its closing parenthesis should be followed by a comma and a space. The page range should be indicated by a hyphen and followed by a period. Lowercase “D-O-I,” followed by a colon, should precede the digital object identifier. There shouldn’t be any closing punctuation after this last element.

And that’s how you cite from a database in APA style.