APA Referencing Guide 7th Edition: Databases

Do you need to include the full URL?

When you are citing a subscription database do NOT include the full long URL.  

Rule: Subscription Database
Don't: Since a subscription database item is only available if the reader has access, you should not include the long URL of the item. 
Do:  Do include the homepage URL of the database to show the reader the name of the publisher and how one would be able to access the item if they obtained  a subscription to the database.

Bad Example: Tuggy, M.L., & Gilliam, M. (2013, July 28). Knee Injury. Elsevier. https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/
content/medical_topic/21-s2.0-1016324?scrollTo=%23heading80

Good Example: Tuggy, M.L., & Gilliam, M. (2013, July 28). Knee Injury. Elsevier. www.clinicalkey.com

See: APA blog What to Use—The Full Document URL or Home Page URL?

General Format  

Helpful Tip

• When citing sources that you find from a Database, you may need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time.
  • Authors: If the entry does not list author(s) names, you should use the corporate author (i.e. DynaMed).
  • Dates: Look for the last updated or last revised date usually posted at the top or bottom of the article.
  • Retrieved: Include the date you accessed the information.
  • DOI: If an online scholarly journal article has no DOI and is published online, include the URL instead with the date retrieved.  A DOI (digital object identifier) is an identification number that never changes and links the reader to the document on the internet. A DOI is preferred over a URL.  

 

Online Database: For works from databases that publish works of limited circulation (such as the ERIC database) or original, proprietary material available only in that database (such as EBSCO), include the name of the database or archive and the URL of the work. If the URL requires a login or is session-specific, meaning it will not resolve for readers, provide the URL of the database or specific archive home page or login page instead of the URL for the work.

 

Articles in Academic Journals: 

For the titles of articles capitalize only:

The first letter of the first word of the title and subtitle,

The first word after a colon 

 

General Format

In-Text Citation:

(Author Surname, Year/last updated)

References:

Personal or Corporate Author. (Last update if not known, put n.d.). Title of a specific document. Publisher. Retrieved date from [if needed] URL database homepage

Example: DynamedPlus

In-Text Citation: DynamedPlus

(DynamedPlus, 2017)

References: Dynamed

DynamedPlus (2017, July 18). Diabetes mellitus type 2 in children and adolescents​. EBSCO. Retrieved August 3, 2017 from www.dynamed.com

Example: Epocrates

In-Text Citation: Epocrates

(Shah & Kantharia, 2017)

References: Epocrates

Shah, A.N., & Kantharia, B.K. (2017, January 23). Acute atrial fibrillation. Epocrates, Inc. Retrieved August 2, 2017 from www.epocrates.com

Example: PubMed

In-Text Citation: (PubMed, 2022)

References: PubMed

PubMed. (2021, July 21). A Comprehensive Review of COVID-19 Virology, Vaccines, Variants, and Therapeutics. Retrieved May 28, 2022 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34241776/.  DOI: 10.1007/s11596-021-2395-1