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APA Database Citation

This article will show you how to write APA database citation. Actually, the format for citing database information is the same as the usual way of citing a particular reference (e.g. journals, magazines, newspapers). You will know more about this in the next part of the article. For now, take a look first at the guide in citing the authors.

Citing the Author

One Author

In-text citation Reference list
Last name 

Kidder

 

*For all in-text citations, write only the last name without the initials.

Last name, A. A. 

Kidder, L. M.

 

*Reverse the name of the author, and write only the last name and initials separated by a comma.

 

Multiple Authors 

Note: In listing the authors, follow the same order as it is written in the source.

 Two to Seven Authors

 

In-text citation Reference list
Last Name A & Last name B 

Sanchez & Ku

 

*Use ampersand (&) instead of “and.”

Up to five names can be included but in the subsequent in-text citation for works with more than two authors, write only the last name of the first author followed by et al.

Last name, A. A., & Last name, B. B 

Sanchez, T., & Ku, R.

 

*Use ampersand (&) instead of “and.”

 

More than Seven Authors

 

In-text citation Reference list
Last name A et al. 

Hirtle et al.

 

*Write only the first author’s last name followed by et al.

Last name, A. A., Last name, B. B., Last name, C. C., Last name, D. D., Last name, E. E., Last name, F. F., . . . Last name, G. G. 

Hirtle, B., Kluger, M. T., Smith, C. L., Hammond, E., Gibson, M., Nixon, L. R.,… Washington, R. C.

 

*Only seven authors can be included in the reference list. After the name of the sixth author, write three ellipsis points followed by the last author’s name.

 

Corporate Author

In-text citation Reference list
Name of the organization or group 

Australian Bureau of Statistics

(same as in-text)

 

No Author

In-text citation Reference list
Title of the article or work 

“Music and Society”

 

*If the title is short, you can write the full title in the in-text citation. But for long titles; include only the first few words enclosed in double quotation marks.

Title of the article or work 

Music and Society

 

 

This part covers everything you need to know about in-text citation and reference list for databases. You will find here the elements, guidelines, formats and specific examples that will certainly help you in citing databases the APA style.

In-Text Citation

Elements

  1. Author
  2. Year of Publication
  3. Page or paragraph range

Guidelines

  • In-text citations are usually written with the last name of the author and year of publication inside a parenthesis. But if the last name of the author is included within the text, only the year of publication is enclosed in a parenthesis.

 

Examples:

(De Waal, 2001)

De Waal (2001) found…

 

  • For direct quotations, include the name of the author, year, and page number or the paragraph number.

 

Examples:

(Spinger, 1999, p. 7)

According to Springer (1999, p. 7)

 

  • For works with no date, use n.d.

(Silva, n.d.)

Silva (n.d.) posited…

 

Reference List

Elements

  1. Author
  2. Year or Date of Publication
  3. Title of Article
  4. Title of Resource
  5. Volume number (issue number, if available)
  6. Page range
  7. URL or DOI

Guidelines

  • Include as much reference information you can get from the source.
  • For articles from a private database, locate the URL from the web.
  • Write the homepage’s URL when citing an article which is also available from other sources.
  • Italicize the title of newspapers, magazines, and journals.
  • The date is written in this order: year, month day.
  • Include the URL or DOI. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string used by scholarly publishers to provide persistent link to content in the internet.

Journal from a database

 Basic Format: Author. (Year). Title of article. Title of Online Journal, Volume number (issue number if available), pages. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ or doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

 

Example: Martin, J., & Tokada, K. (2007, December). Face recognition in chimpanzees. Behavioral Sciences Journal 21(4), 39-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.121.6.1145

 

Magazine from a Database

Basic Format: Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Online Magazine, Volume number (issue number if available), pages. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ or doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

 

Example: China’s export prospects: Fear of the dragon. (2010, January 9). The Economist. Retrieved from http://academic.lexisnexis.com

 

Newspaper from a Database

Basic Format: Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Online Newspaper, pages. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

 

Example: Spending at Humana trims profit. (2012, May 1). New York Times, p. B2. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com