CINAHL offers a citation tool that formats citation information from several popular citation styles, including ABNT, AMA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, Vancouver, and APA. This tool allows you to copy and paste the APA formatted citation into your reference list with a little editing and double-checking the APA Manual on your part. This is a great tool to use as a template, not as a 100% solution, as there are occasional mistakes in these references that you should be aware of. Don't just copy/paste what you first see. Make corrections first!
First, to find the APA formatted citation, click on the article's title link:
To the right of the article's record, you'll see the "Cite" tool that will take you to several citation formatting examples:
You can copy and paste the citation style of your choice into your paper for your reference list or bibliography. However, notice that there are several mistakes in the citation that you should fix. Use your style manual to help you!
Below are some common mistakes that CINAHL's citation formatting tool might create that you should be aware of:
1. Article titles should be in sentence case. So only capitalize the first letter of the first word of the official title and the first letter of the first word after a colon. All other words should be lowercased. Only capitalize names and proper nouns.
2. Be sure you're using the correct URL. It is preferred to use an article's DOI. However, if one is not available, use the URL to the journal's homepage instead of trying to use an ezproxy link or direct link to the article itself. These links to not work for non-UAB affiliates. Always include "Retrieved from" before the appropriate URL.
3. Sometimes you will see a journal's ISSN number within the citation. Delete this as it is not needed in APA.
Fix errors by comparing CINAHL's citation example to your citation manuals! Once fixed, copy and paste the reference citation into your Word document.