What is URL in APA?
URL acronyms are part of our daily lives, since it is quite likely that you access information through web links. But, What is a URL in APA? How is it different from a DOI? When should we use one or the other? Keep reading and discover everything you need to know about URLs according to APA standards.
From the beginning: what is a URL in apa?
URL is the acronym in English for Uniform Resource Locator and it is a unique address that is given to the elements available on the World Wide Web, that is, everything that we find in the “www”. Being such a specific identification element, when you cite elements from the World Wide Wide, you will always end your references using the URL or the DOI (another personalized address and much more precise).
The URLs are easy to locate, since you can take them (copy them) from the address bar of your browser, but they have a small problem: they can change without much problem.
For example, imagine that you are taking information from an online magazine and that, due to image problems or any other situation, it changes its name. The publication's systems department will also take care of changing the name of the website from which you took the information and, therefore, the URL you used in the reference no longer works.
In this way, unfortunately the information is lost, something not desirable if you are a reader/researcher interested in using the same text as part of your research. This is something that could happen under any context, for example, if the server on which the web page is hosted is no longer used.
DOI to the rescue
Taking into account the vulnerability of the URL, the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a much more accurate, desirable and preferred tool according to the Standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) to identify web elements, as it will last over time.
Taking into account its permanence, it is becoming more and more frequent that online magazines and articles (especially those dedicated to science) show their DOI, that is, a series of characteristic numbers and letters that are located at the end of the text.
The DOI is considered as a fingerprint and permanent that can be used at any time to locate an item in the endless ocean called the Internet.
Since they guarantee that online articles can be found regardless of publication name changes or server failures, more and more online publications use DOIs, and they achieve this by acquiring them from registration agencies. These organizations "register" the articles in the International DOI Organization, which assigns that kind of identity card to online publications.
On how to write DOIs and URLs
APA standards establish publication formats for each detail, and URLs and DOIs are no different.
In this regard, it is indicated that if the research or degree work is going to be published online or in PDF format, it is better that the URL links are active, that is, that by clicking on them you can access the pages indicated.
Another important point is that the default configuration of MS Word for hyperlinks. With them we refer to that blue color that appears in the web addresses that indicates that it is a web page.
Ending URLs and DOIs with a period is prohibited, as it will surely affect the functionality of hyperlinks. And about the start, it should be like any hyperlink: http:// o https://. It is also suggested that these types of links be handled with "copy, paste", that is, that you do not try to reproduce them letter by letter, number by number, since it is very possible that you make a mistake in the description and lose the link.
Gone is that of “Retrieved from”, followed by the URL or the DOI. Now you have to write it directly, without "presentation".
Finally, manual line breaks in hyperlinks are not supported, at least not by the program you write them in itself.
To shorten or not to shorten?
Once the doubt that it is a URL in APA has been overcome, an important question arises: should we shorten the URLs and the DOIs? There are many programs on the Internet that are responsible for shortening that URL or DOI that seems too long or complex.
The APA standards allow the use of these shortened links, yes, as long as it is verified that the link really works, although it is recommended to use these tools for "short-term" work, that is, a school project and not a thesis. grade.
However, if you still decide to use it and the URL stops working, remember that the reference contains a lot of other precise data that can be used to access the research.
This will also depend on who the research is aimed at, because if it is going to be published in a journal, it is up to the publisher to indicate whether they prefer long hyperlinks to be shortened or written as they are.
About DOIs and URLs
It is important to be clear about several details:
The first is that the DOI has more preponderance than the URL. If you have the URL of an article, but also its DOI, you should skip the first one and end your reference with the DOI.
Another important consideration is that the URL becomes unnecessary when an article is accessed through a database or if you have a printed version of it.
Search well
When working on a degree project or scientific research, you must be patient and open your eyes very wide so that you can collect the information.
Check the document carefully to make sure that, in fact, it does not have a DOI and that, therefore, you should choose to write the URL from which the information is extracted.
The more details you have to build your references, the less room for error you will make and, furthermore, you will serve the next investigators who can use the information collected by you to complete theirs.