DOI or URL? APA 7th Edition Guidelines, by Smart Student on YouTube. 7 min 13 s.
- Video length
- 7 min 13 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Check the article's first page or its database record for a DOI. It appears as a string starting with 10., such as 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.
If a DOI exists, end the reference with it as a full link: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. Drop the words DOI: or doi: in front of it.
Paste the DOI link into your browser to test it. It should open the article's landing page, not an error or a paywall stub.
If there is no DOI and the work is a webpage, online report or free article, end the reference with the page URL copied from the address bar.
For a journal article from a library database with no DOI, stop after the source details. Do not add the database name or database URL.
Look up a missing DOI on Crossref at search.crossref.org using the article title and author surname.
Use Google Scholar's quote icon to grab a ready-made citation, then fix the capitals and the DOI link to match APA 7.
Delete any full stop after the DOI or URL and remove the phrase Retrieved from before the link.
Tips and common mistakes
Use the DOI whenever one exists, even if you read a printed copy, because it never changes.
Shortened links like bit.ly or tinyurl are not accepted in APA references because they can break.
A URL that only works with your student login is useless to readers, so leave it out.
Keep the whole reference list double-spaced with a hanging indent so the links line up cleanly.
Questions
Do I still need a URL if the article has a DOI?
No. The DOI replaces the URL in APA 7. Include only the DOI link at the end of the reference.
What exactly does a DOI look like in a reference?
It is written as https://doi.org/ followed by the number, for example https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68. There is no full stop after it.
Should I write Retrieved from before a link?
No. APA 7 dropped that phrase. Only add a retrieval date for pages designed to change, such as a live dashboard or wiki.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
