Siirry pääsisältöön

Information Studies & Linguistics and communication & Saami language and culture: Writing

Managing references

Referencing electronic resources

When using works (e.g. journal article, e-book) obtained from academic research databases or platforms, APA style rules are:

  • do not include the database or platform name
  • do not include URLs
  • include a DOI if the work has one
  • if a work does not have a DOI, treat the work as a print version.

Material without page numbers

  • Provide a heading, section name, or paragraph number.
  • For ebook chapters without pagination, omit the page range from the reference.

Web citations require much of the same information as print sources, but also provide the location of an online source:

1. Permanent identifier, etc. DOI, URN, Handle, or permalink.
Search for DOI:

2. Reference to web archive, Internet Archive or Memento, either existing version or version archived by you.

3. Avoid using the URL.

Research methods

Hyvää suomen kieltä

Title and abstract

You have to carefully consider the title of your article or thesis and write the abstract keeping in mind how the people researching the same topic will best find it.

The title attracts readers to read the abstract - the abstract attracts readers to read the whole article or thesis.

Title
When choosing the title consider also how a colleague searching for information will find it: use words that accurately describe the topic, avoid vague and abstract terms!

Write the abstract first
Start your writing process with the abstract because it is a concise version of your article or thesis and helps you crystallize the main points of your study.

Increase findability
Using synonyms in your text increases the probability that more information seekers will find your article or thesis in the database. In information seeking the title and the abstract are the most important fields in the relevance ranking.

Further reading:
Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE. Retrieved from https://oula.finna.fi/Record/oula.1230454.