I used a citation tool (e.g., Citefast) to create a reference for a psychology article I found online. How do I check if the APA format is correct?
Answer
Unfortunately, the automatic citation tools can't always "read" all the correct information for a journal article. For example, Citefast didn't detect the authors of the article. If you had told Citefast you were citing a "Journal" rather than a "Webpage", it would have prompted you to double-check and fill in extra information like the date and the authors.
Google Scholar is a handy way to search for the full-text of academic articles and to check how the article would be formatted in a bibliography, depending on what style you choose.
See this tutorial showing how to use the Google Scholar button to generate a bibliography entry in APA for a particular article: http://ior.ad/hMP
For example, that article should look like this in an APA bibliography:
Feldman, S., Careccia, R. E., Barham, K. L., & Hancox, J. (2004). Diagnosis and treatment of acne. American Family Physician, 69(9), 2123-2138. Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0501/p2123.html
The APA in-text citation for this article would look like this:
"Four factors are believed to cause acne (Feldman, Careccia, Barham, & Hancox, 2004, p. 2123)."
For more information about the APA style, see the library research guide on the APA style: http://research.uwcsea.edu.sg/apa