MAN GO CRAZY :
Maintaining Balance and Integrity In the Social Sciences -- Database in APA By Rhonda K. Kitchens
APA shares citation elements with MLA.
Essentially citation elements are shared between all citation styles from Chicago to Turabian’s to a customized citation style preferred by the Australian Journal of Zoology. Â
It is order, detail, punctuation and a variety of other rules that differ.
KINGDOM: Animalia ORDER: Decapoda MEDIA: Acrylic Painting
Shared elements Not the same style. KINGDOM: Animalia ORDER: Lagomorpha MEDIA: Photography
Citation Elements Author (s) Title Publication Source(s) | Publisher Page numbers Publication Date Publication Details ( Volume, Issue‌)
APA differs from other styles in many ways. One key way it is that uses a DOI ( Digital Object Identifier) number.
Author, First Initial. Parenthesis date end parenthesis period. Title with nothing
Author - The First Element of APA Section By Section
capitalized but for first word, word after colon and proper nouns. Name of Journal
Basic Form of a Database in APA
in Italics comma, Volume in italics Parenthesis issue number end
Kitchens, R. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences.
parenthesis comma, Start page number to ending page number. DOI number or Retrieved from URL of publication DOES NOT END WITH A PERIOD
SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.scflibraryjournal.edu
Author - The First Element of APA The author is last name first initial and the second when available. There are other rules specific to no author, corporate and organization authors. Let’s look at those as these are also true no matter what format of resource you are citing in APA.
APA is the citation style of the American Psychological Association is and is often used by many the Sciences and Social Sciences.
Author In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. Author is Rhonda Kitchens. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5.
• One Author
Kitchens, R. (2013). Man go crazy :
– Last name, First initial.
Maintaining balance and integrity in
– Middle initial if present.
the social sciences. SCF Libraries
– No titles. No Mrs. or PhD.
Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.scflibraryjournal.edu
Author In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. Author name is not on article. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5.
• No Author – Start with Title. Add publication date after title.
Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. (2013). SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http:// www.scflibraryjournal.edu
Author In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. Authors are Rhonda Kitchens, Sue Miller and John Smith. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5.
• Multiple authors – All authors up to 7 : Last Name, First initial. Middle initial if available. – Use & and not and to connect last author’s name. – 8 authors. List six and connect last with three ellipsis. Example: Kitchens, R., Smith, S., Apple, M., Fami, A., Smith, T. R., Bugs, B., ….Smith, J.
Kitchens, R. , Miller, S. & Smith, J. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.scflibraryjournal.edu
Author In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. The author is the State College of Florida Libraries. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5.
• Organization – Name as it appears.
State College of Florida Libraries. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.scflibraryjournal.edu
TITLE Few things are capitalized in an APA but for: • • •
The first word in the title Proper Nouns Word following a colon, usually a subtitle
FEW Things are capitalized. It does not matter how they appear in the original document. The goal is to have a consistent, quality list of references cited that’s easy to comprehend. Students often ask why all this precision is necessary. The goal is to present work from a variety of sources into one form so the researcher or reader does not have to struggle to understand it.
Title In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. The author is the State College of Florida Libraries. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5. •
Few things are capitalized in the title State College of Florida Libraries. (2013). of an APA citation Man go crazy : Maintaining balance –
First word : The
–
Following the colon: Taking
–
If there was a proper noun
–
In the crab life: Notes from the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting
–
In the crab life: How comedian Don Rickles turned insults into respect
and integrity in the social sciences. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http:// www.scflibraryjournal.edu
Publication Name
Use the Publication Name as it appears in an APA citation. The publication name should italicized. If it is run together with a capital letter in the middle of the name – that is how it should appear. WiredForever If it has no capitalizations – that is how it should appear. wired
Italicize the Journal, Magazine or Newspaper Name in APA.
There’s a sequence of numbers that appear in an APA citation after the publication name. Never should there be any abbreviations for volume, issue, page or hash tags. It is simple. The name of the publication name is followed by a comma. The volume number is a italicized number followed by a comma. If there is an issue, it is contained in parenthesis and followed by a comma. Page numbers stand alone and always have beginning and ending value ending with a period. When thinking about it, keep in mind it is a simple, clean presentation.
M SI
E L P
Volume, Issue, Date and Page Numbers In APA Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. The author is the State College of Florida Libraries. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed r March 1, 2013. Title: Man go crazy : Maintaining e t t a m n’tbalance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5. s e o d d n t i u , ber ou fo Remem oks where y proper in lo how it eed to put it style. n tioof ou n College a t i c it. YState y Florida Libraries. (2013). an r o f t forma
The crab is in: Taking the pinch out of citing a database in APA. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.scflibraryjournal.edu
DOI Number Or Retrieved from Statement
The Database in APA statement ends in only one of two ways. It will end with a Digital Object Identifier or with “Retrieved from JournalURL.com.� It does not end with a period. The DOI is clearly marked in the detail section of most databases. It is not the access or any other numbers.
Detailed record from the database Academic Search Complete
DOI Number Or Retrieved from Statement
If it is not there, find the URL for the journal or magazine that the article is in and use the “Retrieved from” statement to end the citation. A citation for Bunny Basics would end: Retrieved from www.washingtonian.com Here you are leaving a map for posterity, not what you see now. APA regards a database name as apt to change. It requires you direct readers and researchers to the most stable place.
A detailed record from the database Reader’s Guide Full Text.
With DOI Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. The author is the State College of Florida Libraries. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: MAN GO CRAZY: Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0061140
State College of Florida Libraries. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone. 0061140
Without DOI Sample. Article in the Database Academic Search Complete. The author is the State College of Florida Libraries. Journal is SCF Libraries Today. Volume 8, issue 2. Published January 1, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2013. Title: MAN GO CRAZY: Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. Pages 1-5.
State College of Florida Libraries. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining balance and integrity in the social sciences. SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5. Retrieved from www.LibrariesToday.com
But there are always variations. While it is unlikely to memorize all of these, one should know where to find guidance and examples. Databases have movies, newspapers, podcasts and other variations. Some are reference databases that carry essays that come from larger works.
Author, First Initial. Parenthesis date end parenthesis period. Title with nothing
Review Elements of APA for a Database Citation Section By Section
capitalized but for first word, word after colon and proper nouns.� Name of Journal in Italics comma, Volume in italics
Basic Form of a Database in APA Kitchens, R. (2013). Man go crazy : Maintaining
Parenthesis issue number end
balance and integrity in the social sciences.
parenthesis comma, Start page number to
SCF Libraries Today, 8(2), 1-5.
ending page number. DOI number or
Retrieved from http://
Retrieved from URL of publication DOES NOT END WITH A PERIOD
www.scflibraryjournal.edu
These are two ways to keep up with variations in style. • Buy a current MLA Style book. Find the names of the current one on APA’s official site: APA Style : www.apastyle.org/ • These can often be bought used at a substantial cost savings. Just make sure it is the most current edition. All citations styles change. • Another recommended way is to use :Diana Hacker’s Research & Documentation Handbook Online.
Final Thoughts
WARNING: While there are citation generators online, they depend on being given the right information and often produce results that need to be corrected. A sound basic knowledge of citation elements helps in proofing these “instant” citation machines. Sometimes a database will provide a citation for a resource. The rule is “copy and correct.” Even these are rarely correct.
By Rhonda K. Kitchens, eLearning Librarian @ the State College of Florida kitcher@scf.edu Scf.edu/library