APA Style Guide to Electronic References - NEW!

APA has recently released a revised style guide for electronic references. This guide replaces section 4.16 of the APA 5th edition (pp. 268-281).The library has purchased two copies. One is available at the reference desk, and one can be checked out for 3 days from reserves. The call number is PN 171.F56 A63 2007. (You can read about some of the changes on the APA site.)

What has changed?

Citation of online journal articles has changed:

• Always include the issue number
• Do not include a retrieval date
• Do not include the library database name
• Include available DOIs

Examples

What is new?

The guide provides example citations for electronic books, online dissertations and theses, abstracts, bibliographies, curriculum and course materials, raw data, Wikis, computer programs, grey literature, podcasts, blogs, and listservs. As these are new and not changes, the library has already added examples for sources commonly used by students to the APA Color-Coded Guide.

How will this impact faculty members?

As a professor/instructor:

Your students will probably have questions about the changes. Beginning in January 2008, all library APA materials, including the Color-Coded Guide, the online tutorial, and the APA Library Survivor workshops will teach the new citation style for online journal articles. Tutors at the LARC will also use the new style. We hope that for consistency's sake (and the students' sanity), departments requiring APA will use the new version.

As a researcher:

EndNote does not yet use the new style for online journal articles. If you are submitting an article to a journal which requires APA, you may want to contact the editor and see which APA version to use.

Want to learn more?

We will have APA information sessions for faculty later in the semester. You can also set up a personal appointment, or have a librarian attend a departmental meeting.

Questions? Comments? Contact Reference Desk, refdesk@radford.edu, 540-831-5696, or IM RULibSpot.