Los Angeles City College Library
STUDY AID
APA (6th ed.)
Online Sources
APA (AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION) STYLE - CITING ONLINE SOURCES
Citing Periodical Articles Retrieved from Online Databases
Provide original print publication information (such as author, publication date, article title, periodical name, volume,
issue, and page numbers) then add electronic retrieval information according to one of the following rules:
1. DOI Assigned (most preferable)
Provide the DOI (Digital Object Identifiers), if one has been assigned to the content. No further retrieval information is
needed. The DOI is typically located on the first page of the electronic document, near the copyright notice. The DOI can
also be found on the database landing page for the article. (See APA Manual, 6th ed., pp. 188-192).
Author, A. A., & Author, B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of
Journal, Volume number(issue number if applicable), pages. doi:xxxxx.xxx
(no period after DOI)
Chase, Z., & Laufenberg, D. (2011). Embracing the squishiness of digital
literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54, 535-537.
doi:10.1598/JAAL
Lehman, K. A., Burns, M., Gagen, E. C., & Mohr, D. C. (2012). Development of the
brief inventory of perceived stress. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68,
631-644. doi:10.1002/jclp.21843
2. No DOI Assigned
If no DOI has been assigned to the content, provide the home page URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the periodical. If
you are accessing the article from a library database, you may need to do a quick web search to locate the URL.
(See APA Manual, 6th ed., pp. 191-192)
Author, A. A., & Author, B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of
Journal, Volume number(issue number if applicable), pages. Retrieved from
http://www.domainname.com/pathname (no period after URL)
Frosch, D. (2012, July 3). Officer's death reminds a city of work to be done.
The New York Times, p. A9. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Hosenball, M. (2009, Dec 21). The drone dilemma. Newsweek, 154(25), 13.
Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com
Hyde, J. (2012). Learning the art of give and take is an essential nursing
skill. Nursing Standard, 26(40), 63. Retrieved from
http://nursingstandard.rcnpublishing.co.uk
Larkin, H. (2009). Adverse childhood experiences linked to health risk
behaviors. Policy & Practice, 67(3), 14+. Retrieved from
http://www.aphsa.org/Publications/PolicyPractice.asp
McGlynn, D. (2012, June 29). Whale hunting. CQ Researcher, 22, 573-596. Retrieved
from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher
3. Archival Documents (no DOI Assigned) Retrieved from Databases (Such as JSTOR or ERIC)
Some archival documents (e.g. discontinued journals or monographs) can only be found in electronic databases such as
ERIC or JSTOR. When the document is not easily located through its primary publishing channels and has no DOI
assigned, give the entry page URL for the online archive (database). (See APA Manual, 6th ed., p. 192)
Baker, A. A., & Lee, J. J. (2011). Mind the gap: Unexpected pitfalls in doing
classroom research. Qualitative Report, 16, 1435-1447. Retrieved from
http://www.eric.ed.gov
Stern, M. (1995) Party alignments and civil rights: Then and now. Presidential
Studies Quarterly 25, 413-427. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org
Citing Electronic Books Retrieved from Online Database
Enter the author, publication date, book title, publisher name and location (if available) then add electronic retrieval
information such as DOI (if provided) or database name. (See APA Manual, 6th ed., pp. 202-205)
Note: Electronic books available from LACC databases do not have DOI assigned, so citing the database name is recommended.
Berk, L. E. (2004). Awakening children's minds: How parents and teachers can
make a difference. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
LaPensee, K. (2008). Vaccines and vaccine development. In B. W. Lerner & K. L.
Lerner (Eds.), Infectious diseases: In context (Vol. 2, pp. 870-874).
Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Wallis, C. (2011). Addiction is caused by genetic and environmental factors. In
R. Espejo (Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints Series: Chemical dependency. Detroit,
MI: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from The genetics of addiction,
CNNMoney.com, 2009) Retrieved from Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Citing Web Documents
Include the same elements (e.g., authors, dates, titles), in the same order, as you would for a reference to a fixed media
(print) source and add as much electronic retrieval information as needed for others to locate the source you cited.
(See APA Manual, 6th ed., pp. 187-188, 205-209)
Entry in a Web-based Reference Work
Graham, G. (2010). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia
of philosophy (Summer 2012 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu
/entries/behaviorism
Governmental Document Published on the Web
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division for Heart Disease and
Stroke Prevention. (2011). Aortic aneurysm fact sheet. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets
/fs_aortic_aneurysm.htm
QUOTATIONS OF ONLINE MATERIAL WITHOUT PAGINATION
For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph numbers preceded by the abbreviation para.
(Myers, 2000, para. 5)
If the document is long and includes headings and neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading and the
number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material.
(Beutler, 2000, Discussion section, para. 2)
R e v i s e d J u l y 2 0 1 2 b y B . V a s q u e z a n d A. M e z y n s k i