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In this presentation I'm going to review the importance of formatting
as correctly as possible in APA.
For your EdTech research assignment.
you will be identifying an area you want to investigate further,
include any instructional objectives, and then
create an annotated bibliography on the resources you find useful.
You'll want to search for references in Google Scholar
and Albertsons Library to access peer-reviewed full-text articles.
Remember, using Albertsons library will enable you to access many full-text
articles
that you might be prompted to pay for in Google Scholar.
Do NOT pay to access resources--instead try searching for the resource
through Albertsons library. In this example
we'll be looking at Matt's EdTech research
assignment and just a few tweaks he needs to take
to make his APA more accurate and accessible for his readers.
Let's take a look at his first reference. In this example,
Matt has correctly formatted the reference by including the authors' names--
last name first followed by the year of publication in parentheses,
and a period. The title of the article is in sentence case
with the first word after the colon in uppercase.
The reference ends with the title of the journal in italics.
This is all correct. As you have probably figured out, you can easily differentiate
between a book
and an article reference. In APA style, a book title is in italics,
and an article title is also in italics. Books and articles are always in
sentence case.
The first word is in uppercase but the rest of the words are in lower case--
except of course for proper nouns. But what might be missing from this
reference?
Usually, an article is referenced in a journal by page numbers.
Is there a volume or issue number for this journal?
Also you'd want to search for either a DOI
(digital object identifier) or URL
where the reader can locate the resource. Let's put on our Sherlock Holmes had and
do more research!
By conducting a search in Google Scholar,
we find the resource. If you click "Cite,"
this is what Google returns for an acceptable
APA style reference. This is
okay, but we still know that there might be a volume number to the journal and page
numbers.
And what about a digital object identifier
or DOI? Let's search using Albertsons library
next by copying and pasting the article title in the general search bar on the
homepage at Albertsons library.
We quickly locate the article and can see that it is peer-reviewed
and available for viewing. So let's take a look!
By clicking full text view
we can see me that this article does indeed have
a volume number and also page numbers. So we would want to add that to our
APA reference. But what about DOI?
Ss there also one for this publication?
I would guess probably so, since it's a peer-reviewed journal
and a recent publication. Let's check.
We will return to the Albertsons library resource
and scroll down the page to view other details.
Sure enough, there is a DOI provided in the list.
You would want to add this to the end of your reference citation.
So here's Matt's original citation, which is correct,
but could still use more information, and the new citation with the added volume
number, pages,
and DOI. Which reference would be easier to use to locate this resource?
Notice where the page numbers go--
right after the volume number. Also the
volume number like the journal title is in italics.
Note the sentence case of the article title, and finally
notice the DOI at the end which will direct you to the article.
And remember, never pay for articles you can freely obtain
through our Boise State Albertsons Library. If you are directed to a database
that requires you purchase the article do some investigation and see if it's
available through the library.
Also you can chat 24/7 with a librarian
and get all sorts of help. And one more word of advice--
use our EdTech library guides at Boise State
and the help our own personal departmental librarian.
Librarians love to help guide you in your research,
so make them part of your research team.
And finally, enjoy your new research and APA skills.
These will serve you well now and in the years ahead.