- from APA: Do use the full URL of the work though to make things easier for retrieval.
VA Office of Research and Development. (2016). Cooperative Studies Program #563 – Prazosin and combat trauma PTSD (PACT) (Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT00532493). Retrieved fromhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00532493
- …[T]he most important thing to keep in mind when citing a work is this: Can the reader use your citation to find the source material?
She also said that APA is a modular citation style, so it’s possible to cobble together a citation for anything as long as the basic elements are there; those elements being:
Author(s). (Year). Title. Source.
With this in mind, I think the first example you linked to is the one I would tweak to my own satisfaction:
Patient Centered Cloud-based Electronic System: Ambient Warning and Response Evaluation (ProCCESs AWARE). (2014). Retrieved from http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2 (Identification No. NCT02039297)
It sort of follows my old prof’s rule-of-thumb; what’s missing are the names of the authors. (And the URL is no longer correct, but that’s the Internet for you.) 😉
Looking at the Clinical Trials website, here’s what I’d write:
Pickering, B. W. (2014). Patient Centered Cloud-based Electronic System: Ambient Warning and Response Evaluation (ProCCESs AWARE). Identification No. NCT02039297. Retrieved fromhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02039297
- To be honest, I’ve only seen trials cited in-text but not in the reference list, like the following example. (Of course, if it’s a published trial then the article reference is in fact in the reference list.)
- I’ve also seen clinical trial data referenced as unpublished raw data like in this example, but I think the two examples you shared are the best format to follow.
- My advice, don’t sweat the details. Your http://who.int/ictrp/How_to_cite.pdf
will be helpful to some extent, but I find that Purdue’s OWL site is magically simple to interpret.https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/
Use the basic format of any online reference in APA format
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.Title of Journal, volume number, page range. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
And this example of an Internet report: Internet Report Posted Online
Montreal Region Task Force On Crime, Interim Report Number Two. (2006, November).Statistics and trends in crime. Retrieved February 12, 2007, from http://montrealislandcrime.qc.ca
So my approach to this example from your WHO page would be….
| ClinicalTrials.gov. National Library of Medicine (U.S.). (2000, February 29 – ). Sleep disorders and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Identifier NCT00287391. Retrieved February 22, 2007 from: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00287391?order=1 |
The key to any use of a style manual is consistency. If you can massage your reference to fit the general format of a basic reference, it will be accepted as correct.
- The resources listed with Purdue OWL (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/12/) may help particularly, this one from APA,
Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and Presentations (ISBN: 1433807076X)
It’s probably wrong of me that I really enjoy these kinds of questions. Even when I get the details messed up. I love the illusion of perfection and order.
Thanks!