Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by 
The Chicago Manual of Style by 
When you search a library database, the URL in the browser window is usually NOT a persistent or stable URL (also known as PURLs (persistent universal resources locators)). That means, if you try to use the URL again at a later date to access the article, it won’t work. You need to make sure you use the persistent URL when linking to articles in library databases.
To find persistent URLs in library databases, click on the title of the article in which you are interested. The persistent URL will be called different names and appear in different locations depending on the database.
The tabs above give just a few examples, each database works a little differently.
A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is not a persistent URL, but it does operate kind-of like one. The DOI for an object will never change, even though the URL where the object is located might change. The DOI ensures that you'll always be able to locate the item.
10.1234/456-mydoc-456584893489 is an example of the DOI format. It always begins ‘10’ indicating this is a DOI name; the second part of the prefix is typically four digits, and is allocated to the DOI assigner. The suffix is created by the assigner, and can be any length and incorporate other numbering schemes.
A DOI can be assigned to any Object. For example: a scholarly journal article; a scholarly journal; a DVD or an item of equipment, etc.
Place ‘https://doi.org/’ in front of any doi number in order to locate the item (or use the link below).
All U.S. government documents have persistent URLs. You can search for government documents via the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. The PURL will have this root URL: http://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/_______
In EBSCO databases, once you click on the title of document, in the right-hand column list of options, you’ll see “Permalink.” Click it for the persistent URL.
In ProQuest databases, after clicking the title, click the “Abstract/Details” tab and scroll towards the bottom of the page. There you’ll find the “Document URL.”
In JSTOR, after clicking the title, just above the article text is some bibliographic information. The stable URL is listed in that information.
In NexisUni, after clicking the title, to the far right of the title there is an "Actions" link with a dropdown. Click "Actions" for a "Link to this Page."
Now that you've got lots of citations and notes about your research, it's time to make sense of it all. There are many ways you can do this. If you've put all your notes about sources on notecards, you can stick them on a wall in the order you think you'll use them. Using tape or putty will allow you to rearrange them as necessary. You could use a whiteboard to draw a mind map of the how you'll structure your ideas using the sources as the pieces of the puzzle and your research question as the center. You can create a mind map online using a tool like Mindomo. Or you could try a citation manager to create virtual notes and tags on each source of information.
The most important thing is to find a strategy that works for you. Pen and paper might work great now, but as you advance in your field, you may need a technological approach. We subject librarians are here to give you suggestions. Please feel free to reach out to us.
Why do we cite? There are many reasons why it is so important to cite the sources you use in your research.
Many databases and even Google Scholar include automatic 'Cite' features that convert all of the information about your article into a neat citation but, beware!! Computer-generated citations often contain errors. You must know your citation style well to identify missing or incorrect information in these citations. If you do not know your style well, see below for some style guides that you can borrow from University Library or search IUCAT to find other style guides relevant to your discipline.
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You may have heard that taking good notes while you are doing research will help you avoid plagiarism. While that's an excellent point, there's more to it than that. Keeping notes can be a strategy for you to summarize the main points of the author's argument, track gaps where you need to do more research, and keep track of quotations and paraphrases. You'll be creating building blocks that you can construct your paper with later. Remember, if you do paraphrase an author's words you still need to cite them. Check out Step 5 for further help with citations.
Citation management tools allow you to keep citations, full-text articles, and other research resources organized in one place. These tools can also be used to format your bibliographies and the citations in your papers according to the appropriate style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) To use these tools, you should be familiar with the target citation style in order to input information correctly and notice any errors in your bibliography. Please contact a subject librarian for further assistance.
EndNote is software that helps manage citations for bibliographies. Includes an add-in for Microsoft Word. For questions about EndNote, please contact your subject librarian.
Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. It includes a Microsoft Word plug-in and web importer. For questions about Mendeley, please contact Rachel Hinrichs, the Mendeley specialist librarian, or your subject librarian.
Zotero is a free Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources. It includes an add-in for Microsoft Word. For questions, please contact your subject librarian.
The IU Indianapolis University Writing Center (UWC) is a free service available to all IU Indianapolis students, faculty, and staff, at both the graduate and undergraduate level. It is a place where students can go for help with writing assignments and projects. The UWC offers students the opportunity to work one-on-one with experienced readers and writers.
The UWC offers two convenient locations: Cavanaugh Hall (CA 427) and University Library (UL 2125).
To schedule a tutoring session at either the Cavanaugh Hall location or University Library location, you may telephone the CA location at (317) 274-2049, telephone the UL location at (317) 278-8171, or visit either UWC location. You must provide both your name and your University ID number, at the time you schedule the session.
