Retrieval Statements (electronic sources and locator information) (6.31)
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a string of numbers and characters that allows a reader to locate bibliographic information about an article. It is unique to each article. Whether in print or electronic, if a DOI is assigned to an article USE it in your citation. If a DOI is given then no other retrieval information is needed. This is true for any publication on the Internet, in print, or in a database. Place a DOI at the end of your citation in the following format doi:xxxxxxxxxxxx
Maintain spacing and characters exactly for retrieval purposes. If off by one character, readers will not be able to retrieve the article. Try it out here, copy and paste the following DOI into the DOI resolver to see how it works.
Example:
Mallory, G. A. (2010, November/December). Professional nursing societies and evidence-based practice: Strategies to cross the quality chasm [Special issue]. Nursing Outlook, 58(6), 279-286. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2010.06.005
Click here to go to the DOI System website and resolve your DOI.
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are used for items found on the free Web, when no DOI is available. URLs are constantly changing, moving, or being deleted. Researchers should check each URL before submitting a paper to make sure it still links to the correct content. The URL follows the statement Retrieved from. Do not put a period after the URL, this may be mistaken for part of the URL.
Maintain spacing and characters exactly for retrieval purposes. If off by one character, readers will not be able to retrieve the content.
Example:
Frank, S. & Bronheim, S. (2007, Spring). Building integrated systems to address sudden unexpected infant death. Retrieved from http://www11.georgetown.edu/research/gucchd/nccc/documents/MI_BL.pdf