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Citations & More

Learn to choose a topic, cite and organize your sources, and get help polishing your paper

Academic Integrity

Why cite?

  • To show where you got your information -- the reader can see you have good background for your research
  • To give credit to others who helped shape your ideas
  • To avoid plagiarism. See NNU's Academic Integrity Policy below
  • To help your reader locate the sources you used

What is a DOI?

DOI = Digital Object Identifier

A DOI is a unique numbering system managed by the International DOI Foundation.  If you're really curious you can go to the foundation website and learn all the details. 

Basically, the idea is that by assigning digital objects a unique number that never changes it will be easier to find these objects on the Internet.  It is similar to an ISBN number for a book that is published and an ISSN number for a periodical.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
When the American Psychological Association published its 6th edition style manual in 2009 it began requiring the use of DOI's at the end of the citation for any article published in digital format. If you are using a library database and click on the "cite" tool and view the APA style format you will see that it appears at the end of the citation..sometimes.  Sometimes it won't be there.

Always check with your professor and see if he or she has a preference.

What if I Use an Article or Book Chapter and the Database does not include the DOI?

A variety of methods is available for obtaining the DOI if the database generated citation does not include one for the item:

  • If you accessed the article from a print journal in the library, look for the DOI on the first page of the article (near the top or at the bottom of the page). If one is not listed, then....
  • Use the CrossRef.org DOI locating service. Enter the author article and title. If a DOI is available it will be listed. Copy and paste it into your working document at the end of the source citation. If a DOI is not available via Crossref.org, then....
  • Google the journal title. Use the search function to locate the article title. The DOI should be listed at either the top or bottom of the article. You may also need to use the Cite feature on the journal cite to locate the DOI. If, after all this, you still cannot locate a DOI, don't worry about it. You did your due diligence to locate the DOI. Just cite the source without the DOI, or you may opt to use one of the following:
    • Available from [insert name of Database here, i.e., Business Source Complete]
    • Retrieved from [insert web address/URL here]
    • Retrieved from [insert web address for journal]

Follow the OWL at Purdue guide for citing articles from periodicals. 

 


 

https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/a-doi-and-url-flowchart.htmlDOI versus URL flowchart from the American Psychological Association

Citation Tools in Library Databases

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

After clicking on the article title, click the Cite option listed in the navigation column to the right.  Scroll to find the the citation style you need for your assignment. Copy and paste the source citation into your working document.

APA-style citation with DOI

 

EBSCO APA Citation without DOIAPA-style citation without DOI

 

MLA Style CitationMLA-style citation

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

At the results page, check the box next to the articles for which you wish to generate citations. Just above the results and to the right are four options: Cite, Email, Print, and Save. After you have checked the box(es) for the article(s), choose the Cite option. 

Check the box to the left of the article to select the item for generating a source citation.

A drop down menu provides a menu of the various citation styles. Select the appropriate style. The citations will appear in the box below the drop down menu. Copy and paste the citations into your working document. 

Use the drop down menu to select the citation style. The generated citations will appear in the box below. Copy and paste them to your working document.

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

Scroll to the bottom of the selected article. You will see options for APA, Chicago, Harvard, and MLA. Select the option for APA. Copy and paste the source citation into your working document. NOTE: You do not need to copy the URL. Instead, you can say, "Retrieved from Credo Reference."

Credo Reference APA Style Citation

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

At the results page, below each article reference and to the right of the star icon is a single quote mark (") icon.

Select this icon and a list of citation styles will appear. Copy and paste the citation for your source from the appropriate style.

Citation style menu for Google Scholar. Copy and paste the source citation from the appropriate style.

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

 

On the results page each article will have box on the right sight labeled "Cite This Item." Click the box, and three options for citation: MLA, APA, and Chicago. Copy and paste the appropriate citation to your working document.

Just below the three citation styles is a heading for "Export Citation." If you are exporting the citation to a system, such as Zotero, click the "Export a RIS file," link and the citation will be exported to Zotero.

JSTOR citation

 

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

 

After clicking on the article title, click the Cite Now option listed at the top right. Click on the style of choice. Copy and paste the source citation into your working document.

CQ Researcher Citation Tool

 

Source citation styles available in CQ Researcher: APA, Blue Book, Chicago, MLA

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

After clicking on a country article, scroll down to the end of the contents. Click the Cite this Document tab, and select the citation style. Copy and paste the source citation into your working document. For the APA style, you would replace the url with only the database name, in this case, Global Road Warrior. 

APA style citation example: 

World Trade Press. (2018, June). Canada: Country snapshot. World Trade Press. Retrieved from Global Road Warrior.

Global Road Warrior Citation Tool

Citation styles available through Global Road Warrior: Chicago (17th ed.), MLA (8th ed.), APA (6th ed.)

NOTE: Always verify the formatting of electronically generated reference citations with either OWL @ Purdue, the citation style manuals, a librarian, or a writing center tutor.

After clicking on the article title from the list of results, select the Cite option listed at the top in the navigation bar. Select the citation style. The source citation will be listed at the top of the article. Copy and paste the source citation into your working document.